In the 2020s photocopiers are getting a bit exotic, although they are not gone yet. But these days, you are more likely to simply print multiple copies of a document. However, it wasn’t long ago that making a copy of a document was a tall order. Carbon paper was fine if you were typing and only needed a few copies. But in the late 1800s to early 1900s, several solutions were available, including a beautiful early mimeograph known as the Cyclostyle at [Our Own Devices], examined in the video below.
The Cyclostyle was possibly inspired by a hectograph (something we looked at before). The Cyclostyle was originally a special stylus used to remove wax from a paper stencil. Then, a process similar to screen printing would make copies for you.
The video mentions several other copying systems, including one that used shellac and corrosive ink. He also talks about Edison’s electric system to produce stencils that eventually led to both tattoo guns and the A.B. Dick mimeograph.
If you want to jump straight to the hardware and skip the history — but we don’t recommend that — you can start at minute 7 of the video. The specific machine probably dates to 1910 or so and was made in the UK and sold in Canada. A.B. Dick dominated the market in the United States.
A great look at a grand old machine. We’ve looked at copiers similar to this one and up to the original Xerox machines. If you really want to do “real” printing, why not 3D print a letterpress?
I remember well the mimeograph machines of my childhood, and the ditto machines he mentions at the end of the video, both used a lot by school teachers. I still have copies made by them decades ago. They each had their characteristic smells and looks, especially the dittos with their strong alcohol smell and ink that was usually purple, or sometimes peacock blue. I remember ones of these machines however that were as fast as any photocopier today.
Kids first high. Yes it was pretty strong.
Yes – I was at the front of the class to hand them out!
Roll them up and sniff.
“In the 2020s photocopiers are getting a bit exotic, although they are not gone yet. But these days, you are more likely to simply print multiple copies of a document.”
Weird. I’ve never used a photocopier for that reason. The reason I use a photocopier, is to copy a document someone else made. Like legal documents etc, for safekeeping. Nowadays I rather scan them, but I got a box at my parents house with copies of important documents, that I didn’t write. Copy of my passport, insurance information, etc.
Yea, unless Al was talking about dedicated copier machines, I photocopy stuff all the time at work. Usually on a multifunction machine. We deal with certification documents for materials and we photocopy everything to keep with the materials so the originals can be kept safe. I’m sure plenty of other industries have their own reasons to be doing the same.
Our Own Devices is a great channel, like a less waffley and annoying Technology Connections.
Have to disagree, I find Our Own Devices to be much worse at presentation, with most of the video being stock footage and narration instead of footage of the machine that’s sitting right there on the table.
Porque-no-los-dos.jpg
Hard to have the machine sitting right there on the table when you’re talking about radar chaff or recoilless guns.
*Ian McCollum has entered the chat*
Lmao it’s all about connections.
Fun fact: In Italy people often call a photocopy a Cyclostyle (Ciclostile). Today I’ve learned what the origin of that word is.
I think the origin of the idea of stenciling is as old as humankind itself. Witness 40K year old cave paintings where negatives of a hand print were created by placing a hand on the wall and blowing red ocher to outline the hand. Silk screen printing was practiced in China millennia ago using a negative image to produce a positive. The inventions of the last 100 years are mechatronic. Show me the tech!
For some reason I got it in my head that it would be fun to use a Ditto to copy a Christmas letter to all our friends and family. After scouring the internet I don’t think there is a practical way of doing it in 2024 without basically reinventing or taking loads of time to home-manufacture the wax sheet things. I guess I should just be happy that typewriter ribbons are still rather available.
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I distinctly remember school teachers in the early 80’s still calling copies of worksheets etc “dittos” but they must have been actual photocopies because I sure would have remembered the smell, apparently.
For those much younger I think either ridgemont high or maybe animal house or revenge of the nerds or something has scenes of dumpster diving for the stencil used in mimeograph machines which are different than dittos.
When I started teaching college in 1979 copies of exams, syllabus, etc. were made with a departmental ditto machine. Ah, the fragrance of solvent on fresh copies! That continued through the early 90s (a rather poorly-funded university) until the department got a Risograph(?). It was a stencil machine that worked like a photocopier. Scan the original, the machine automatically made a stencil, then pumped out copies. Quality was almost as good as a photocopy at less than a tenth of the cost per copy.
It wasn’t until around 2010 that the cost of photocopies came down to the point that running 140 copies of a 4-page exam became practical at my institution.
Side note: Anyone remember the hectograph? As a teen I made one for our church bulletin when their stencil machine went on the fritz. Place a ditto master on a pan of stiff gelatin, add solvent to transfer the master to the gelatin. Peel off the master, place blank paper on gelatin and peel off a copy. “Hecto” because in theory you could make about a hundred copies from one master, but the quality deteriorated after about 40 copies. It could be reused by (I think) wiping it down with solvent, but eventually it got loaded with the purple pigment and you had to make a new one.
About 15 years ago I needed to cheaply print off a bunch of handouts and a friend sold me an old photocopier he had with an essentially full toner cartridge. I figured I’d use it until the cartridge needed replacement then trash it. We still have it hooked up over in the corner in the front office where it’s mostly forgotten about but every time I have a quick and simple copy job and think to use the old photocopier instead of one of the flatbed multipurpose printers I’m always amazed by its rugged simplicity and reminded of a simpler time when electronic devices were designed to make your life easier by doing one specific task in the most effortless way possible. The photocopier isn’t kept powered on and is often left unplugged but I can lay a document on it, hit the power button then tap the green copy key and it dutifully and instantly whirls into action. No calibration stuff, no boot screens, no menus or pop-ups, no prompts about WiFI signals, no update installation…. from cold startup to actively generating a photocopy in under a second. A throw back to a time my children will sadly never know. When did we stop valuing our own time and willingly allow ourselves to become slaves to our own devices? It sounds crazy but experiencing that old photocopiers steadfast reliability and responsiveness in contrast to the two modern multifunction printers seated beside it offers some powerful insights into how we became in some respects subordinate to our own technology and devolved to accept the now constant stream of ads on YouTube, exacting payment in the one commodity no human has enough of – time.