On August 8, 1876 Thomas Edison received US patent 180,857 for "Improvement in Autographic Printing" (Link to USPTO Patent Database Page or PDF of full patent). This technology later became widely known as the mimeograph after AB Dick Company licensed the technology from Edison as noted in this page in Edison's journal notes the agreement in 1887.
AB Dick marketed that product as the Edison Mimeograph. They sold the machine, ink and paper much like digital print suppliers do today. This marketing brochure from 1889 provides all the details for the system that was already in use by over twenty thousand users.
Today marks a milestone in the development of mechanical duplicating. Share your stories of using the mimeograph in the comments.
Discussion
By Roger Lyngholm on Aug 11, 2008
Upon joining the local Jaycee chapter in the 60's, and because I was a sales rep for a printing press company, it was obvious that I should be the bulletin editor. The printer who had furnished the club a newsletter gratis for the past several years retired so I was charged with finding a replacement. As a press salesman at that time, I couldn't prevail upon the local printers for free printing. So I asked the local Chamber of Commerce for help and they offered the use of their ABDick mimeograph in the evening. No longer constrained by a 2 page newsletter, our members were encouraged to submit articles, to help in typing the masters and in hand cranking the machine. Soon, what was once a single sheet of paper printed front and back grew into a tome of 24 mimeographed pages. That is until the Chamber discovered we were using their supply of masters and ink at an alarming pace and suggested we find some other way to publish. At about that time, one of our members was working for a company that had just got a new machine that could make copies callled a Xerox. The mimeograph soon bacame a distant memory and I was out of a job as a bulletin editor.
By Mark on Aug 12, 2008
It's simple...That Smell..."Can't you smell that smell" just thinking about it. It takes me to my childhood, as I am sure it does for many. All those tests we took in school. How can we ever forget the mimeograph? It was my first experience in printing, getting elected to go to the main office to make copies of our weekly test, cranking that handle, breathing the fumes, and taking the tests back to the class room. Memories I will never forget.