The smell of Mimeographs and Dittos - Life in America

[Music] before printers copiers and cloud computing came to define the way we share information with others we copied pages one hand crank at a time there were two types of similar but not identical drum based machines the mimeograph and the ditto machine these two machines were competing technologies in the copying business in the 1950s and 60s mimeograph machines often are mistaken for ditto machines and many do use the names [Music] interchangeably [Music] [Music] the mimeograph can be traced to inventor thomas edison who patented what he called the electric pin and duplicating press in 1876. he sold the patent to a b dick who coined the term mimeograph or mimeo and invented the mimeo stencil edison also agreed to help dick market the product under the name edison mimeograph marketed by the a b dick company of chicago the mimeograph became the first widely used duplicating machine [Music] wilhelm ritzerfeld gave us the ditto machine in 1923. this machine used a similar crank based process but involved the use of alcohol-based solvents which dissolved the ink from a master sheet and transferred it onto another piece of [Music] paper [Music] [Music] while these machines were utilized for printing all sorts of documents it became popular among schools in particular because of its relatively low cost and ease of use [Music] like all innovations it evolved over time at first everything was entirely manual with a hand cranked drum then motorized drums came along and sped up and simplified the process even more [Music] this duplicating machine allowed teachers to easily produce printed activity sheets and exams in mass quantities the ink it used ended up looking deep blue or purple and they had a unique smell to them that was thoroughly enjoyable for students the smell of a freshly printed ditto is one of those smells we never forget [Music] one of the most desired student jobs was to head to the mimeograph and make copies for the teacher when worksheets or quizzes were handed out and passed around nobody was focusing on the assignment but instead everyone could be seen sniffing the amazing fragrance coming off the page a pop culture reference to this can be found in the film fast times at ridgemont high at one point a teacher hands out a dittoed exam paper and every student in the class immediately lifts it up to breathe in the smell [Music] in a bittersweet twist this machine died out when cheaper copy machines became available we celebrated the convenience of it but most mourned the loss of this fun task how many of you remember the smell of a freshly copied mimeograph the smell is one that takes you back in time [Music] you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 31,482

Rating: 4.967051 out of 5

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, school, smelling paper, mimeograph, ditto, copies, edison, ab dick, duplicator, high school, paper smell, purple worksheet

Id: RflUTILxre4

Length: 6min 2sec (362 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021