French press is full-immersion brewing: coarse coffee steeps in hot water for ~4 minutes, then a metal mesh plunger pushes grounds to the bottom. Expect a rich, heavy-bodied cup with aromatics and oils intact, plus some fine sediment.
Early press-pot designs appeared in 1852 (Mayer & Delforge), but the modern sealed-plunger style was patented by Italians Attilio Calimani and Giulio Moneta in 1929 and refined by Faliero Bondanini in 1958 (the classic “Chambord”).