[GreenKeys] TTY Ribbons

[Doug Alderdice]

Ah, yes, the hectographs aka "Ditto" machines.  I believe Ditto was the 
trademark for one of the manufacturers, AB Dick, maybe.  They were a staple 
in schools and small offices for a long time.  When I started teaching 25 
yrs ago my district still had a lot of those machines in service and I even 
bought a case of pin-fed Ditto masters to be used in dot matrix (and other 
impact) printers ... cutting edge technology, hi hi.  I even bought my own 
(used) machine since access to the school's machines could be difficult at 
test or exam time.  I still have the machine, it's squirreled away in a 
storeroom at school.

Randy's description of the transfer process is spot-on, with the exception 
that it was the *paper* that passed over the wick and was slightly 
moistened by the alcohol and then was pressed against the master and the 
image transferred.  If the master passed against the wick, it would have 
smeared the you-know-what out of the master image and rendered it useless.

And yes, the smell was unmistakable.  When you'd pass out fresh Dittos in 
class there'd be kids who'd immediately upon receipt of their copy put the 
paper up to their faces and sniff deeply.

73,

Doug, KA2WFT


At 07:53 AM 8/10/2011 -0500, Randy and Sherry Guttery wrote:
>On 8/10/2011 5:46 AM, Bruce Gentry wrote:
> > Does anyone remember the
> > Addressograph-Multigraph office offset machines? They were small
> > offset printing presses intended for single color small production
> > printing in schools, hotels, stores,  and factories.
>I kind of think you may be talking about a spirit duplicator
>- which indeed most commonly produced a purple print.  The
>process used a two-sheet "master" - which was either typed
>on or (if one pressed hard enough) - could be hand-written.
>The "face" of the bottom sheet contained a wax coating which
>contained an aniline purple dye. As the "image" was
>impressed on the top sheet (by typing or other means) the
>wax would transfer to the back forming a reverse image
>containing the purple dye.  Once the master was completed -
>it was mounted face-down (wax side out) on a drum of a
>duplicating machine (often miss-named mimeograph - which was
>actually a different process). The drum was rotated (either
>by hand or in some units - an electric motor) which rotated
>the master past a wick to "wipe" the dye containing wax with
>just enough alcohol to dissolve it a bit - and then to press
>against another piece of paper transferring the image. We
>still have such a duplicator we bought new for our church in
>1972 - which they quit using in the late 80s or early 90s -
>and we put into storage. The main thing most people remember
>about spirit duplicators - like many of us think about
>teletypes - is the smell... the type of alcohol they use has
>a most distinctive smell that stayed with the "copies" for
>quite some time...
>
>--
>randy guttery
>
>A Tender Tale - a page dedicated to those Ships and Crews
>so vital to the United States Silent Service:
>http://tendertale.com