Spirit duplicator

A spirit duplicator (also referred to as a Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine in the UK or Roneo in France and Australia) was a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld and commonly used for much of the rest of the 20th century. The term "spirit duplicator" refers to the alcohols which were a major component of the solvents used as "inks" in these machines. The device coexisted alongside the mimeograph.

Spirit duplicators were used mainly by schools, churches, clubs, and other small organizations, such as in the production of fanzines, because of the limited number of copies one could make from an original, along with the low cost and correspondingly low quality of copying.

The spirit duplicator was invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld. The best-known manufacturer in the US and the world was Ditto Corporation of Illinois, while copiers available in the UK were commonly manufactured by Associated Automation Ltd of Willesden, London NW10 ( A subsidiary company of the Computer Makers Elliott-Automation Ltd) for the Block & Anderson company, under their "Banda" brand. In both cases the trademark became a generic name for both the copiers and the process in their respective markets.

Spirit duplicator technology gradually fell into disuse starting in the 1970s after the availability of low-cost, high-volume xerographic copiers. By the turn of the 21st century, the use of the technology was rare. The technology remains useful where electrical power is unavailable, or where the only remaining originals of legacy documents requiring duplication are in "spirit master" form. Tattoo artists use the master copies these machines produce as the transferred design makes a very durable print on the skin that resists smudging as excess ink is wiped off during the process. It is perhaps the only modern-day usage of such a device; industry-specific machines that produce the prints are now available as artists in the past have coveted and exhausted the supply of older models leftover.

The faintly sweet aroma of pages fresh off the duplicator was a memorable feature of school life in the spirit-duplicator era. A pop culture reference to the aroma can be found in the 1982 film Fast Times At Ridgemont High. At one point a teacher distributes a duplicated schedule of class quizzes, and almost every student immediately lifts it to his or her nose and inhales. The rest of the students follow suit seconds later. (Video on YouTube)

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