List of duplicating processes
Encyclopedia
This is a partial list of duplicating processes used in business and government from the Industrial Revolution
forward. Some are mechanical and some are chemical. There is naturally some overlap with printing processes and photographic processes, but the challenge of precisely duplicating business letters, forms, contracts, and other paperwork prompted some unique solutions as well. There were many short-lived invention
s along the way.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
forward. Some are mechanical and some are chemical. There is naturally some overlap with printing processes and photographic processes, but the challenge of precisely duplicating business letters, forms, contracts, and other paperwork prompted some unique solutions as well. There were many short-lived invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
s along the way.
Duplicating processes
Within each type, the methods are arranged in very rough chronological order.- Methods of copying handwritten letters
- Manifold stylographic writer, using early "carbonic paper"Carbon paperCarbon paper is paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, usually bound with wax. It is used for making one or more copies simultaneous with the creation of an original document...
- Letter copying book process
- Manifold stylographic writer, using early "carbonic paper"
- Mechanical processes
- PantographPantographA pantograph is a mechanical linkage connected in a special manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen...
, manually operated, and can also enlarge or reduce the document
- Pantograph
- PrintmakingPrintmakingPrintmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, which includes engravingEngravingEngraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
and etchingEtchingEtching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
- Relief printRelief printA relief print is an image created by a printmaking process where protruding surface faces of the matrix are inked; recessed areas are ink free. Printing the image is therefore a relatively simple matter of inking the face of the matrix and bringing it in firm contact with the paper...
ing including woodcutWoodcutWoodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges... - Intaglio (printmaking)Intaglio (printmaking)Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...
or copperplate engraving - Planographic printing
- Line engravingLine engravingLine engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is now much less used and when is, it is mainly in connection with 18th or 19th century commercial illustrations for magazines and books, or reproductions of paintings.Steel engraving is...
- Relief print
- PrintingPrintingPrinting is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
/Applied ink methods- Printing pressPrinting pressA printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
- Gelatin methods (also indirect method)
- HectographHectographThe hectograph or gelatin duplicator or jellygraph is a printing process which involves transfer of an original, prepared with special inks, to a pan of gelatin or a gelatin pad pulled tight on a metal frame.-Process:...
- CollographyCollographyCollagraphy is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid substrate . The word is derived from the Greek word koll or kolla, meaning glue and graph, meaning the activity of drawing.The plate can be intaglio-inked, inked with a roller or paintbrush, or some combination thereof...
, autocopyist - Chromograph, Copygraph, Polygraph
- Hectograph
- FlexographyFlexographyFlexography is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is basically an updated version of letterpress that can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper...
- Spirit duplicatorSpirit duplicatorA spirit duplicator was a low-volume printing method used mainly by schools and churches. It was also used by members of science fiction fandom and early comic book fandom to produce fanzines...
(also Ditto machine, Banda machine)
- Printing press
- Lithographic processes
- Transfer lithography
- Anastatic lithography
- Autographic process
- Offset lithography
- PhotolithographyPhotolithographyPhotolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...
- StencilStencilA stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
-based copying methods- Papyrography
- Electric penElectric penThomas Edison's electric pen, part of a complete outfit for duplicating handwritten documents and drawings, was the first relatively safe electric motor driven office appliance produced and sold in the United States.- Development :...
, invented by Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial... - Trypograph (also file plate process)
- CyclostyleCyclostyle (copier)The Cyclostyle duplicating process is a form of stencil copying invented by David Gestetner in London in 1890. A stencil is cut with the help of small toothed wheels on a special paper underlaid with carbon paper which serves as a printing form. Gestetner named the Cyclostyle after a drawing tool...
, Neostyle
- StencilStencilA stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
-based machines- Mimeograph (also Roneo, Gestetner)
- Digital Duplicators (also called CopyPrinters, e.g., Riso and GestetnerGestetnerThe Gestetner, named after its inventor David Gestetner, is a duplicating machine brand and company.David Gestetner, born in Csorna, Hungary, moved to London, England, and in 1881 established the Gestetner Cyclograph Company to produce stencils, styli, ink rollers, etc. He guarded his invention...
)
- TypewriterTypewriterA typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
-based copying methods- Carbon paperCarbon paperCarbon paper is paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, usually bound with wax. It is used for making one or more copies simultaneous with the creation of an original document...
- Blueprint typewriter ribbon
- Carbonless copy paperCarbonless copy paperCarbonless copy paper , non-carbon copy paper, or NCR paper is an alternative to carbon paper, used to make a copy of an original, handwritten document without the use of any electronics...
- Carbon paper
- Photographic processes:
- Reflex copying process (also reflectography, reflexion copying)
- Breyertype, Playertype, Manul Process, Typon Process, Dexigraph, Linagraph
- DaguerreotypeDaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
- Salt printSalt printThe salt print was the dominant paper-based photographic process for producing positive prints during the period from 1839 through approximately 1860....
- CalotypeCalotypeCalotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. The term calotype comes from the Greek for 'beautiful', and for 'impression'....
(the first photo process to use a negative, from which multiple prints could be made) - CyanotypeCyanotypeCyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints...
- Photostat machinePhotostat machineThe Photostat machine, or Photostat, was an early projection photocopier created in the 1900s by the Photostat Corporation; "Photostat" - which was originally a trademark of the company - is also used to refer to the similar machines produced by the Rectigraph Company.-Background:The growth of...
- RectigraphPhotostat machineThe Photostat machine, or Photostat, was an early projection photocopier created in the 1900s by the Photostat Corporation; "Photostat" - which was originally a trademark of the company - is also used to refer to the similar machines produced by the Rectigraph Company.-Background:The growth of...
- Airgraph (also V-mailV-mailV-mail, short for Victory Mail, is a hybrid mail process used during the Second World War in America as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad...
) - Kodagraph autopositive paper
- Kodagraph repro-negative paper
- Diffusion transfer
- Verifax, Copyproof
- Photomechanical transfer (also PMT)
- Duostat, duoprint
- Retroflex (printing process)
- Dual spectrum process
- LightJetLightJetLightJet is a trademark of Océ Display Graphics Systems, a division of Océ N.V. for a brand of hardware used for printing digital images to photographic paper and film. Lightjet printers are no longer manufactured . The term "Lightjet" is often used to generically describe a digitally made...
- Ozalid
- Reflex copying process (also reflectography, reflexion copying)
- Chemical processes
- Aniline process
- CyanotypeCyanotypeCyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints...
(used for blueprintBlueprintA blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
s) - Diazotype (also whiteprint, ammonia print, or gas print)
- Heat-sensitivity methods
- ThermofaxThermofaxThermo-Fax is 3M's trademarked name for a photocopying technology which it introduced in 1950. It was a form of thermographic printing and an example of a dry silver process. It was a significant advance as no chemicals were required, other than those contained in the copy paper itself...
(also thermography) - Eichner drycopy process
- Adherography
- Thermofax
- Electrostatic methods
- ElectrofaxElectrofaxAn electrofax is an electrostatic printer and copier technology where the image is formed directly on the paper, instead of first on a drum as it would be in xerography...
- XerographyXerographyXerography is a dry photocopying technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938, for which he was awarded on October 6, 1942. Carlson originally called his invention electrophotography...
, Photocopying
- Electrofax
- Ultraviolet-sensitivity methods
- APT processAPT processThe APT process is a photographic transfer system that can photographically transfer lines or solid blocks of colors onto acetate sheets . A very similar process is used in silk screen printing. The process relies on UV-sensitive inks that cure when exposed to light and stick to the plastic sheet,...
, for transferring drawings to animation celCelA cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
s
- APT process
- Image scanning and digital printingDigital printingDigital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large format and/or high volume laser or inkjet printers...