Spirit duplicator

A stencil printer, printer or alcohol blue dye, also known under the term Ormigverfahren, is a form of Hektographie in which a pretty simple device is used for reproduction. With the stencil, you can ( depending on the quality of the matrices up to 250 copies) of a specially made original a limited number of prints - the die - produce. It was used in administrations, schools and educational institutions since the beginning of the 20th century. Wide dissemination existed until the late 1970s, mid-1990s, the stencil, however, were increasingly displaced by the widespread advent of photocopying technology.

Operation

Before printing, first a print template must be made, the die also: Spiritusmatrize. It is a stronger ( 120-150 g/m2), smooth ( coated ) sheet of paper that is coated on the print job to be delivered with the paint. For this you lay the leaf on a special film that works much like carbon paper, and writes or draws. However, the breakdown is not written to a new sheet, but on the back of the paper to be described. This copy is thus a mirror image and serves as a template for printing. The coating of the film consists of a special, alcohol-soluble wax, and the pressure of writing it will remain adhered to the back of the paper. By changing the sheets can be produced more colored matrices.

The die is clamped onto a drum and rotated them. Under the drum to be printed absorbent paper is pulled after it was razor thin wetted by a fine sponge with alcohol. The alcohol dissolves tiny particles from the matrix, and the paper to be printed includes them - a deduction arises. From the matrix a little wax color is taken from each pass.

Pros and Cons

The advantages lie in the very simple, purely mechanical principles, in the convenient preparation of the matrices with a typewriter or by hand, in the light corrigibility by scraping or cutting out and in the way in one go to print multi-colored. The running costs are limited to those films which are available in several colors ( usually blue ), and on the alcohol. The machine - hand operated for the most part - are reliable and durable.

The disadvantage is the limited number of copies that can be made ​​per die - seldom more than 100, then the deductions are colorless because the wax ink layer is depleted. There can be no copies in the classical sense create, all matrices must be made ​​by hand. The prints fade with time.