Mimeograph machine

The mimeograph machine (commonly abbreviated to mimeo) or stencil duplicator was a printing machine that was far cheaper per copy than any other process in runs of several hundred to several thousand copies. It was not capable of photocopying a document, as a special stencil had to be prepared by hand. Popular until the early 1990s in the preparation of tests and notes for use in classrooms, and especially in science fiction fandom, it has since been largely supplanted in the First World by photocopying and offset printing. mimeograph machine The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ... Look up Copy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Copy may mean: Copy (written) refers to written content in a large number of contexts including magazines and advertising, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout. ... A small, much-used Xerox copier in a high school library. ... A document contains information. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is the community of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy literature, and in contact with one another based upon that interest. ... Offset lithography printing process Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or offset) from a plate first to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. ...

The stencil proper was made of waxed mulberry paper. This rather floppy waxed sheet was backed by tissue or carbon paper and a sheet of stiff card, the sheets being bound together at the top. This assemblage placed in a typewriter to create the original. The typewriter ribbon action had to be disabled so that the bare, sharp type element struck the stencil. The impact of the typewriter key displaced the wax, making the tissue paper permeable to the oil-based ink. If the striking surface of the letters on the typewriter became clogged with wax, the letter forms would close up, turning letters like "o" or "b" into solid black blobs. If carbon paper was used behind the stencil, it would generate a proof copy on the card backing. Alternately, proof could be read by placing the stencil on a light table. Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs. ... This Smith Premier typewriter, purchased around the end of the 19th century, was found abandoned in the Bodie ghost town. ... Piece of paper Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the compression of fibers (or fibres). ... Mineral oil or liquid petrolatum is a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline. ... An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ... Look up letter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

A variety of specialized styli could be used on the stencil to render lettering or illustrations by hand against a toothy plastic backing card. On-stencil illustration was an art. Mistakes could be corrected by brushing them out with "correction fluid" and retyping once it had dried. This substance was known as "corflu" in the United States and "obliterine" in Australia and the UK. Styli used in writing in the Fourteenth Century. ... Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products. ...

The stencil was wrapped around the drum of the (manual or electrical) machine which was filled with ink. When a blank sheet of paper was drawn between the rotating drum and a pressure roller, ink was forced out through the marks on the stencil. True mimeo paper was softer and a bit shaggier than standard bond paper. The ink was most black, although green, red, blue, brown, and purple inks were available. The purple ink tended to halo after printing. If one put the stencil on the drum wrong-side-out, one's copies came out mirror-imaged. The process could be messy for inexperienced users. In addition the striking surface of the letters on the typewriter would quickly become clogged with wax; the closed letter forms, such as "o" or "b" making a stencil cut that resulted in black blobs instead of white space in the center. The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ... Pressure (symbol: p) is the force per unit area acting on a surface in a direction perpendicular to that surface. ... Black is a color with several subtle differences in meaning. ... Green is any of a number of similar colors. ... Red is any of a number of similar colors at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... Blue is any of a number of similar colors. ... The color brown is produced by mixing complementary colors, such as red and green, orange and blue, or yellow and purple. ... Purple is any of a group of colors intermediate between deep blue and red. ... A mirror is a surface with good specular reflection that is smooth enough to form an image. ... Look up letter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Another device called an electrostencil machine could make mimeo stencils from an already-printed original. It worked by scanning the original on a rotating drum with a moving optical head, and burning through the blank stencil with an electric spark in the places where the optical head detected ink. It was slow and filled the air with ozone and other pollutants, and text produced from electrostencils was of lower resolution than that produced by typed stencils, though the process was good for reproducing illustrations. A skilled mimeo operator using an electrostencil and a very coarse half-tone screen could make acceptable printed copies of a photograph. This took considerable care both in preparing the stencil and in maintaining evenness of the ink flow during printing. During the declining years of the mimeograph, some people made stencils with computers and dot-matrix impact printers. Table of Opticks, 1728 Cyclopaedia Optics (appearance or look in ancient Greek) is a branch of physics that describes the behavior and properties of light and the interaction of light with matter. ... For other uses, see Ozone (disambiguation). ... Pollutants are substances which directly or indirectly damage us or the environment. ... A sepia-tinted photograph of an English couple, taken in 1895. ... A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer refers to a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. ...

Gestetner, Risograph, and other companies still make and sell highly automated mimeograph-like machines externally similar to photocopiers, as the mimeo process is faster and less expensive than xerography for moderate to large print runs, although the image quality is inferior. The modern version of a mimeograph is called a digital duplicator or copyprinter and contains a scanner, a thermal head for stencil cutting, and a large roll of stencil material entirely inside the unit, making the stencils and mounting and unmounting them from the print drum automatically, making it almost as easy to operate as a photocopier. Risographs are the best known of these machines. The Gestetner, named for its inventor David Gestetner, was a duplicating machine. ... The Risograph is a high-speed digital printing system designed mainly for high-volume photocopying. ... CanoScan9950F Desktop scanner, with the lid raised. ... This article is about the atmospheric phenomenon. ...

Mimeography proper continues to be a working technology in the Third World.

Origins of the Mimeograph

Thomas Edison received US patent 180,857 for "Autographic Printing" on August 8, 1876. The patent covered the electric pen, used for making the stencil, and the flatbed duplicating press. In 1880 Edison obtained a further patent, US 224,665: "Method of Preparing Autographic Stencils for Printing", which covered the making of stencils using a file plate, a grooved metal plate on which the stencil was placed which perforated the stencil when written on with a blunt metal stylus. Edison did not coin the word "mimeograph", which was first used by Albert Blake Dick when he licensed Edison's patents in 1887. Others who worked concurrently on the development of stencil duplicating were Eugenio de Zaccato and David Gestetner, both in Britain. Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847–October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Edisons electric pen was the first electric motor driven office appliance produced and sold in the United States, developed as an offshoot of Edisons telegraphy research. ... David Gestetner (1854-1939), was born in Csorna Hungary. ...

The term "Mimeograph" was originally protected as a trademark, however over time the term became generic and is now an example of a genericized trademark [1]. "Roneograph" (also "Roneo machine") was another trademark used for mimeograph machines. A trademark or trade mark[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to uniquely identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to distinguish the business and its products or services from those of other businesses. ... Look up Generic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural...

Mimeographs were used extensively in the production of fanzines in the middle 20th century, before photocopiers became widespread. In sufficient quantities, however, they are still more economical. A fanzine (see also: zine) is a nonprofessional publication produced by fans of a particular subject for the pleasure of others who share their interest. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Certain typographical practices were peculiar to mimeographical publication, due to the tendency of the stencil to tear, thus becoming useless. Underlining was neither used in spaces nor on the letters with descenders. The expression of irony by crossing out letters was done with a forward slash, not a hyphen. This differs from the method in hypertext. The descenders are the parts of the characters that lie below the baseline, highlighted in red. ... In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ...

Penelope Rosemont pioneered a surrealist technique of peeling the backing away from the stencil to create a "mimeogram". Penelope Rosemont (born 1942 Chicago, Illinois). ... Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous unique techniques and games to provide inspiration. ... Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous unique techniques and games to provide inspiration. ...

See also

• duplicating machines
• List of duplicating processes
• Spirit duplicator (a.k.a. 'Ditto machine')