The mimeograph was a forerunner of the present-day photostats machines. It used a technique called stencilling, first made possible by Edison’s electric pen and duplicating press. The electric pen would make stencils, by making minute perforations on the paper. The duplicating press would press ink through the stencil on to a new sheet of paper. Edison’s patent on this covered the electric pen that made the stencils as well as the flatbed duplicating process. The machine was marketed to the public by A.B. Dick, to whom Edison had sold the patent. It was Dick who named the new device a mimeograph.
Further improvements were made on this in the early 20th century. A hand-cranked drum was added to it, which was later replaced by a motorized one. This increased the speed and also simplified the process. Also called a ‘mimeo’ for short, the stencil duplicators were mostly used in schools and offices, at first.
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