stencil duplicators
Erik Biever
of obsolete technology, the stencil duplicator. After all, I have
looked in vain for such newsgroups as alt.stencil-duplicators,
alt.stencil-duplicators.mimeographs, alt.stencil-duplicators.gestetner,
and alt.stencil-duplicators.electrostencillers. Are there any other
mimeo fanatics out there?
Erik Biever
er...@puccini.crl.umn.edu
Jim....@umich.edu
Perhaps this is an appropriate place for a discussion of that paragon
of obsolete technology, the stencil duplicator.
Too high-tech. Let's talk ditto machine. Now there's the height of 60s
duplicating technology. Rooms full of sixth graders sniffing fluid off
freshly minted test papers.
There was even a device that would take a photo or line drawing, and through
some inscrutable thermal process, produce a ditto master. I don't think you
could do that with a stencil machine.
I was a popular kid at my school because we had our very own ditto machine
in the basement. My friends and I used to publish our own comic books.
My high school diploma was printed on a ditto machine.
William D Ricker
> Perhaps this is an appropriate place for a discussion of that paragon
> of obsolete technology, the stencil duplicator.
For Mimeos, you might have better luck somewhere in the
alt.sci-fi hierarchy, since so many of the S.F. Fanzines were/are
produced on mimeos. There are several Gerstetners still in
operation in fandom, including at least one electrostenciller.
bill
--
From the portable computer of:
Bill Ricker [Normal sig quote attributed to
w...@world.std.com A.J.Liebling]
Erik Biever
>
>In article <Cpn58...@news.cis.umn.edu>, er...@puccini.crl.umn.edu (Erik Biever) writes:
>
> Perhaps this is an appropriate place for a discussion of that paragon
> of obsolete technology, the stencil duplicator.
>
>Too high-tech. Let's talk ditto machine. Now there's the height of 60s
>duplicating technology. Rooms full of sixth graders sniffing fluid off
>freshly minted test papers.
>
>There was even a device that would take a photo or line drawing, and through
>some inscrutable thermal process, produce a ditto master. I don't think you
>could do that with a stencil machine.
You could do that by using special thermal ditto masters and running them through
an ancient thermal copier, like a 3M Thermofax(tm). Somewhere I have a box of
thermal ditto masters, but no thermal copier. I was using them with an electric typewriter
(another piece of vintage obsolete tech) that didn't have enough punch for normal
masters.
There were also thermal stencils (I remember printing from them once), but I haven't
seen any for a long time.
>I was a popular kid at my school because we had our very own ditto machine
>in the basement. My friends and I used to publish our own comic books.
Too high-tech. I used a hectograph to publish various pieces of nonsense.
>My high school diploma was printed on a ditto machine.
Wow. You must have gone to a cool high school. Ditto machines are cool.
-- Erik Biever
Erik Biever
>For Mimeos, you might have better luck somewhere in the
>alt.sci-fi hierarchy, since so many of the S.F. Fanzines were/are
>produced on mimeos. There are several Gerstetners still in
>operation in fandom, including at least one electrostenciller.
Yup, that's why I have a basement full of Gestetners (a 260, a 360, a 420, and a 1525),
a couple of ancient Rex-Rotary M4s and two e-stencillers. And a hectograph. I have
been a fanzine editor and apahack, but it's been a while since last I pubbed my ish.
-- Erik Biever
Jim....@umich.edu
Too high-tech. I used a hectograph to publish various pieces of nonsense.
You've out-classed me there.
>My high school diploma was printed on a ditto machine.
Wow. You must have gone to a cool high school. Ditto machines are cool.
It was certainly cool as high schools go. Our school colors were clear and
gray. You should have seen the band uniforms!
Michael Ryan
> Perhaps this is an appropriate place for a discussion of that paragon
> of obsolete technology, the stencil duplicator.
stencil duplicator? so they're radically different from ditto machines...and i have no idea what they are. ()
can someone please give a thumbnail description?
thanks
//michael
---
::
:: michael ryan
:: ry...@xsoft.xerox.com
:: 415 813 7620
:: ob disclaimer: opinions expressed are not those of xerox, corp.
Erik Biever
> >My high school diploma was printed on a ditto machine.
> Wow. You must have gone to a cool high school. Ditto machines are cool.
>
>It was certainly cool as high schools go. Our school colors were clear and
>gray. You should have seen the band uniforms!
Hmm, I would have expected the colors to be purple and white. The Fighting Dittoes.
-- Erik Biever
Erik Biever
>stencil duplicator? so they're radically different from ditto machines...and i have no idea what they are. ()
>
>can someone please give a thumbnail description?
Soitainly!
Stencil dupers, sometimes known as mimeographs (former trademark of AB Dick),
produce copies by forcing ink through a stencil onto the pages. There are two main
types of stencil dupers. The single drum type (AB Dick, Heyer, etc.) mounts the stencil
on the surface of a perforated drum. As the drum rotates, ink is forced through the
surface of the drum and through the stencil onto the page. Twin cylinder machines
(Gestetner, Rex-Rotary,etc), mount the stencil on a silkscreen that is wrapped around
two rotating cylinders. Ink is squeezed onto the surface of the cylinders, then passes
through the silkscreen and stencil to get to the page. Stencil duplicators can make nearly
unlimited copies, subject only to limits of ink supply and how soon the stencil falls apart.
This can be as high as 10,000 with vinyl stencils.
The spirit duper ("Ditto"), is a more recent development. It produces the fragrant,
purple copies that we remember from our school days. Master copies are produced by
transferring a mirror image in aniline dye to a piece of paper that is mounted on the
cylinder. As the cylinder rotates, solvent (techically known as "ditto juice") is applied
to the master, allowing some of the dye to transfer to sheets of paper that are pressed
against it. When dye is depleted, no more copies can be made from that master. The
upper limit is somewhere near 100.
The hectograph, that noble device, is a early precursor of the spirit duplicator. It is
simply a shallow tray of gelatin. A master copy (not a mirror image) is applied to the
gelatin for several minutes, tranferring dye into the surface. When the master is removed,
its mirror image can be observed in the gelatin. Now comes the fun part. Sheets of paper
are pressed against the gelatin, allowing the dye to transfer to the surface of the paper.
Care must be exercised to keep chunks of gelatin from sticking to the copies, producing
gaps in later copies. The name ,"hectograph," comes from the presumed ability to produce
100 copies from a master, but in practice it is difficult to exceed 40 before they become too
faint to read. Hectograph copies resemble "Ditto" copies, but have a distinctive "wavy"
effect caused by movement in the gelatin while copies are being made. They also lack the
aromatic component of the spirit process.
-- Erik Biever
Erik Biever
>
>Hmm, I thought making stencil masters had something to do with lifting
>wax off the master, getting it stuck on the typewriter ribbon.
...or getting the keys gunked up, if you weren't using the film that was
intended to keep that from happening.
>The neat thing about Ditto masters was that you could make multi-color
>copies if you switched to different colored carbon (-like, actually the
>coating was a lot thicker than carbon paper) paper for different parts
>of the master. All of the colors were pre-faded for your convenience.
Yes, that's Ditto's largest advantage over stencil dupers -- the ability to
do simultaneous colors. The only way to do that with a stencil duper
is to find some colored ink (if you can!) and do multiple runs.
>Also, you could correct typos by scraping the carbon gunk off of the
>back side of the paper with an X-acto knife, if you were smart you put
>the master into the typewriter upside down so that you could wind the
>open end out of the top to make corrections, instead of having to crank
>it through and out the back end of the typewriter, possibly losing your
>registration while you were at it.
Yes, that's the expert method of fixing errors on ditto masters. If you are
particularly adept with the X-acto knife, you can sometimes edit an
erroneous letter into the one you wanted in the first place.
> I seem to remember that you corrected
>stencils with some kind of bottled glue, but they weren't nearly as
>nice about letting us students use stencils because they cost more
>(and the machine sounds like an unholy mess).
Stencil corrections are made with an aromatic fluid (right up there with
ditto juice) known to the cognoscenti as 'corflu.' Corflu is usually dark
blue, but I have a bottle of some really cool pink Rex-Rotary stuff.
Printing with real ink can be messy, but it washes up pretty easily. One
can alway avoid ink-stained clothes by duping in the nude.
>On April Fool's Day (1977) our 5th grade teacher printed a quiz in
>mirror-image form to trip us up, by writing on the back side of the
>carbon sheet instead of the front side of the paper. Not so easy
>with a xerox machine...
You could do it by photocopying a reversed original produced with
carbon paper, an excellent marriage of obsolete and current technology.
-- Erik Biever
Jim....@umich.edu
[ an excellent description of stencil vs ditto duplicating ]
The only thing I would add is the process of making the masters. Ditto
masters are usually a two-part thing. The bottom part (sorry for using so
many technical terms) is like carbon paper (another obsolete duplicating
technology), face up, and the top is like a standard sheet of paper. You
type or draw onto the top sheet, and the pressure transfers ink from the
bottom sheet to the back of the top sheet. So the back of the top sheet is
a mirror image, in ink, of what you drew on the front. That's what goes
onto the cylinder of the machine.
I'm less familiar with stencil masters, but the ones I've seen were simply a
sheet of easily perforated plastic (vinyl? mylar?), backed with heavy paper.
You put it in your typewriter, set it at maximum striking pressure, and as
you type it perforates the plastic. Making a stencil master freehand is
nearly impossible, but can be done with special tools. Like all stencils,
you can't make large dark areas, or light areas completely surrounded by
dark areas.
There are also thermal processes for making masters from arbitrary artwork.
Ditto masters made this way are thinner, and therefore more fragile, than
standard masters, so you have to be careful with them, and you don't get
quite as many impressions off them.
As for my school colors, the rival mainstream school in town used purple and
white. I never thought about these being ditto colors...
Erik Biever
>The only thing I would add is the process of making the masters. Ditto
>masters are usually a two-part thing. The bottom part (sorry for using so
>many technical terms) is like carbon paper (another obsolete duplicating
>technology), face up, and the top is like a standard sheet of paper. You
>type or draw onto the top sheet, and the pressure transfers ink from the
>bottom sheet to the back of the top sheet. So the back of the top sheet is
>a mirror image, in ink, of what you drew on the front. That's what goes
>onto the cylinder of the machine.
Yes, I didn't provide much detail there. Another way to prepare ditto or
hectograph masters is with hectograph ink and pencils -- except that they
are impossible to find. I have a couple of hecto pencils and bottles of
hectograph ink that I bought in an office supply store in about 1973. Perhaps
they are still being produced somewhere in the Third World - but I doubt it.
>I'm less familiar with stencil masters, but the ones I've seen were simply a
>sheet of easily perforated plastic (vinyl? mylar?), backed with heavy paper.
>You put it in your typewriter, set it at maximum striking pressure, and as
>you type it perforates the plastic. Making a stencil master freehand is
>nearly impossible, but can be done with special tools. Like all stencils,
>you can't make large dark areas, or light areas completely surrounded by
>dark areas.
Conventional stencils have a wax-like substance (it actually was wax in
earlier times) coating on a porous substrate. Typing or drawing on the
surface pushes the coating away, letting ink pass through the lower layer
to the printed page. Freehand drawing on stencils is a nearly lost art,
though there area very few people still doing some in science fiction
fanzines. The tools -- styli, lettering guides, and shading plates - are
hard to find.
Electronic stencils are made of vinyl and are cut with an electrostenciller.
The e-stenciller has a rotating drum, with the original copy and the stencil
mounted side-by-side. As the drum rotates, the original is optically
scanned and its image is burned into the vinyl stencil. This is not truly
obsolete technology, as Gestetner probably still makes the machines.
I do own a really obsolete Rex-Rotary e-stenciller, which has vacuum tubes.
>There are also thermal processes for making masters from arbitrary artwork.
>Ditto masters made this way are thinner, and therefore more fragile, than
>standard masters, so you have to be careful with them, and you don't get
>quite as many impressions off them.
There were also thermal stencils, but I haven't seen any since 1980 or so.
>As for my school colors, the rival mainstream school in town used purple and
>white. I never thought about these being ditto colors...
I'm amazed. It should have been obvious...
-- Erik Biever
Michael Ryan
>Not so easy with a xerox machine...
[in, lighthearted, response to this generic use of our trade name...]
... or any other vendor's machine using photocopying technology.
thanks for the insight
//michael
p.s. gotta do it. it's part of the gig.
John Wilson
wax off the master, getting it stuck on the typewriter ribbon.
The neat thing about Ditto masters was that you could make multi-color
copies if you switched to different colored carbon (-like, actually the
coating was a lot thicker than carbon paper) paper for different parts
of the master. All of the colors were pre-faded for your convenience.
Also, you could correct typos by scraping the carbon gunk off of the
back side of the paper with an X-acto knife, if you were smart you put
the master into the typewriter upside down so that you could wind the
open end out of the top to make corrections, instead of having to crank
it through and out the back end of the typewriter, possibly losing your
registration while you were at it. I seem to remember that you corrected
stencils with some kind of bottled glue, but they weren't nearly as
nice about letting us students use stencils because they cost more
(and the machine sounds like an unholy mess).
On April Fool's Day (1977) our 5th grade teacher printed a quiz in
mirror-image form to trip us up, by writing on the back side of the
carbon sheet instead of the front side of the paper. Not so easy
with a xerox machine...
John Wilson
John Wilson
Michael Ryan <ry...@xsoft.Xerox(TM).com> wrote:
>well, i'm still not quite clear on the diff between one and two cylinder
>machines. i assume the silkscreen is between the cylinders and the stencil.
Silly, the 2 cyls are for 2-sided output! :-)
Suuure...
John
Michael Ryan
>In article <1994May12.1...@xsoft.xerox.com>, ry...@xsoft.xerox.com (Michael Ryan) says:
>>stencil duplicator?
[ some really good info deleted]
> Twin cylinder machines
>(Gestetner, Rex-Rotary,etc), mount the stencil on a silkscreen that is wrapped around
>two rotating cylinders. Ink is squeezed onto the surface of the cylinders, then passes
>through the silkscreen and stencil to get to the page.
well, i'm still not quite clear on the diff between one and two cylinder machines. i assume the silkscreen is between the cylinders and the stencil.
Q: is the stencil stretched between the 2 cylinders or is it mounted on one with paper on the other? if this is completely off base, what's on each cylinder?
thanks for the key explanation
//michael