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A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator or stencil machine) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the process is a mimeograph.
Mimeographs, along with spirit duplicators and , were common technologies for printing small quantities of a document, as in office work, classroom materials, and church bulletins. For even smaller quantities, up to about five, a typewriter would use carbon paper. Early fanzines were printed by mimeograph because the machines and supplies were widely available and inexpensive. Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, photocopying gradually displaced mimeographs, spirit duplicators, and hectographs.
A major beneficiary of the invention of synthetic dyes was a document reproduction technique known as stencil duplicating. Its earliest form was invented in 1874 by Eugenio de Zuccato, a young Italian studying law in London, who called his device the Papyrograph. Zuccato's system involved writing on a sheet of varnished paper with caustic ink, which ate through the varnish and paper fibers, leaving holes where the writing had been. This sheet – which had now become a stencil – was placed on a blank sheet of paper, and ink rolled over it so that the ink oozed through the holes, creating a duplicate on the second sheet.
The process was commercialized1878: Library Journal 3:390 Advertisement via Google Books Antique Copying Machines from Office Museum and Zuccato applied for a patent in 1895 having stencils prepared by typewriting.Eugenic de Zuccato (1895) Patent US548116 Improvement for stencils from typewriting
The word mimeograph was first used by Albert Blake Dick when he licensed Edison's patents in 1887.
Dick received Trademark Registration no. 0356815 for the term mimeograph in the US Patent Office. It is currently listed as a dead entry, but shows the A.B. Dick Company of Chicago as the owner of the name.
Over time, the term became generic and is now an example of a genericized trademark. ( Roneograph, also Roneo machine, was another trademark used for mimeograph machines, the name being a contraction of Rotary Neostyle.)
By 1900, two primary types of mimeographs had come into use: a single-drum machine and a dual-drum machine. The single-drum machine used a single drum for ink transfer to the stencil, and the dual-drum machine used two drums and silk-screens to transfer the ink to the stencils. The single drum (example Roneo) machine could be easily used for multi-color work by changing the drum – each of which contained ink of a different color. This was spot color for mastheads. Colors could not be mixed.
The mimeograph became popular because it was much cheaper than traditional print – there was neither typesetting nor skilled labor involved. One individual with a typewriter and the necessary equipment became their own printing factory, allowing for greater circulation of printed material.
Once prepared, the stencil is wrapped around the ink-filled drum of the rotary machine. When a blank sheet of paper is drawn between the rotating drum and a pressure roller, ink is forced through the holes on the stencil onto the paper. Early flatbed machines used a kind of squeegee.
The ink originally had a lanolin base Mimeograph Ink Vehicle Formula Chemical Industry and later became an oil in water emulsion. This emulsion commonly uses turkey-red oil (sulfated castor oil) which gives it a distinctive and heavy scent.
A variety of specialized styluses were used on the stencil to render lettering, illustrations, or other artistic features by hand against a textured plastic backing plate.
Mistakes were corrected by brushing them out with a specially formulated correction fluid, and retyping once it has dried. (Obliterine was a popular brand of correction fluid in Australia and the United Kingdom.)
Stencils were also made with a thermal process, an infrared method similar to that used by early photocopiers. The common machine was a Thermofax.
Another device, called an electrostencil machine, sometimes was used to make mimeo stencils from a typed or 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 produced ozone. Text from electrostencils had lower resolution than that from typed stencils, although the process was good for reproducing illustrations. A skilled mimeo operator using an electrostencil and a very coarse halftone screen could make acceptable printed copies of a photograph.
During the declining years of the mimeograph, some people made stencils with early computers and dot-matrix impact printers.
Often, the stencil material covering the interiors of closed (e.g. a, b, d, e, g, etc.) would fall away during continued printing, causing ink-filled letters in the copies. The stencil would gradually stretch, starting near the top where the mechanical forces were greatest, causing a characteristic "mid-line sag" in the textual lines of the copies, that would progress until the stencil failed completely.
The Gestetner Company (and others) devised various methods to make mimeo stencils more durable.
Compared to spirit duplication, mimeography produced a darker, more legible image. Spirit duplicated images were usually tinted a light purple or lavender, which gradually became lighter over the course of some dozens of copies. Mimeography was often considered "the next step up" in quality, capable of producing hundreds of copies. Print runs beyond that level were usually produced by professional printers or, as the technology became available, xerography.
Although mimeographs remain more economical and energy-efficient in mid-range quantities, easier-to-use photocopying and offset printing have replaced mimeography almost entirely in developed countries. Mimeography continues to be used in some developing countries because it is a simple, cheap, and robust technology. Many mimeographs can be hand-cranked, requiring no electricity.
Letters and typographical symbols were sometimes used to create illustrations, in a precursor to ASCII art. Because changing ink color in a mimeograph could be a laborious process, involving extensively cleaning the machine or, on newer models, replacing the drum or rollers, and then running the paper through the machine a second time, some fanzine publishers experimented with techniques for painting several colors on the pad.
In addition, mimeographs were used by many resistance groups during World War Two as a way to print illegal newspapers and publications in countries such as Belgium.Stone, Harry (1996). Writing in the Shadow: Resistance Publications in Occupied Europe (1st ed.). London: Cass. ISBN 0-7146-3424-7.
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