Carbon paper
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Carbon paper (originally carbonic paper) consists of sheets of paper that create one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of an original document when inscribed by a typewriter or ballpoint pen. The email term cc, which stands for "carbon copy", is derived from this use of carbon paper.
History
[edit]In 1801, Pellegrino Turri, an Italian inventor, invented carbon paper to provide the ink for his mechanical typing machine, one of the first typewriters.[1] Ralph Wedgwood obtained the first patent for carbon paper in 1806.[2]
Carbon paper in its original form was paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, bound with wax. The manufacture of carbon paper was formerly the largest consumer of montan wax. In 1954 the Columbia Ribbon & Carbon Manufacturing Company filed a patent for what became known in the trade as solvent carbon paper: the coating was changed from wax-based to polymer-based. The manufacturing process changed from a hot-melt method to a solvent-applied coating or set of coatings. It was then possible to use polyester or other plastic film as a substrate, instead of paper, although the name remained carbon paper.[3] Copies created with solvent carbon paper were far less susceptible to smearing compared to ones made with wax-based carbon paper.
Carbon paper was the principal medium of reproduction for samizdat, a publication method used in the former Soviet Union in order to publish books without having to use state-controlled printing houses and risk the censorship or imprisonment.
Modern uses
[edit]The advent of word processing and the decline of typewriting meant that any number of copies of a document could be printed on demand, and the decline of carbon paper, which had already been partially superseded by photocopying and carbonless copy paper, became irrevocable. A few specialist or remnant uses remain. Examples of these[as of?] are receipts at point of sale (though they have mostly been relegated to being backups for when electronic POS devices fail) or for on-the-spot fine notices, duplicate checks, and some money orders (though the United States Postal Service has recently[when?] converted to an electronic format), and tracking slips for various expedited mail services requiring multiple copies. In India, form-filling is on a sufficient scale that carbon paper is still widely used.[4] As of 2013, in Canada, only one eight-person company still manufactured carbon paper; in the United Kingdom, one company; and in the United States, only two small companies.[5][6]
There have been some experimental uses of carbon paper in art: as a surface for painting and mail art (to decorate envelopes). Carbon paper is commonly used to transfer patterns onto glass in the creation of stained glass.[7]
Carbon paper disks are still used in school physics labs as part of experiments on projectile motion and position.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Italian Inventors and their Inventions". YourGuideToItaly.com. 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ↑ "Ralph Wedgwood: Pioneer of Office Copying". Archived from the original on 2011-05-17.
- ↑ "Transfer element and method of making the same 1959 Patent app. (via Google search)". Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ↑ Riggs, Ransom (December 10, 2009). "Makin' Copies: The Complete History". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
- ↑ "Inside the UK's last carbon paper factory". BBC News. 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
- ↑ Morgan Campbell (2013-02-08). "Copy this: North York's Form-Mate is the last supplier of carbon paper in Canada". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2014-11-08. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
- ↑ "Carbon Paper - Glass Crafters Stained Glass Supplies". Archived from the original on 2018-02-05. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
- ↑ Goodwin, Peter (1990). Practical Physics Labs. Walch. ISBN 9780825116834.
External links
[edit]- Carbon Paper Being Used in Fuel Cells
- The Exciting History of Carbon Paper!
- How Carbon Paper is Made
- A comment on carbon paper Archived 2019-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
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