Fun With Mimeographs!

Who here remembers the mimeograph machine (pictured)? I used one of these when I was in elementary school. I always volunteered to help the teacher, and one of the tasks was making copies of things like quizzes for the class. It worked like this:

I used a special piece of paper and typed the words. When this was done, I pulled out the pieces of paper where the letters were. This makes holes in the paper, creating a stencil.

Next, I affixed the stencil to the drum in the middle of the machine (marked by A).

Blank paper was placed in the tray on the left (B).

Ink would be placed somewhere in the machine (I don't remember that part) but the ink would ooze through the drum.

I turned the crank (C) that turned the drum. Ink oozed from the drum through the stencil and onto the blank sheet.

The copy would come out in the tray at right (D).

Although this was fun in itself, the best part was the smell of the ink. It is a very specific smell probably created by many carcinogenic chemicals, but that's okeh. That smell was wonderful. I don't know why, but it was.

Anyway, the copies would be kinda damp so I would have to be careful collecting them and passing them out.

Sometimes technology can ruin a good thing.