Edison's Mimeograph No. 12 Antique 1800s Duplicating Machine Albert Blake Dick

Edison's Mimeograph No. 12 Antique 1800s Duplicating Machine by Albert Blake Dick Condition note: Very good, used condition. Naturally distressed with age, but solidly intact. All the woodwork is in very good condition for its age. This include includes the original oak box, steel plate, stencil, frame, stylus, roller, tube of black ink and a bottle of stopping fluid. Sold as seen in the images. Item description:Before the laser printer, before the Xerox, and before the carbon copy, there was the mimeograph machine. In 1876, Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931) filed a United States patent for autographic printing by means of an electric pen. A second patent further developed his system to “prepare autographic stencils for printing.” Albert Blake Dick (1856-1934) licensed the patent and began manufacturing equipment to make stencils for the reproduction of hand-written text. In 1887, the A.B. Dick Company released the model “0” flatbed duplicator selling for $12. It was an immediate success. Dick named the machine The Edison Mimeograph. The process is as follows: “To prepare a handwritten stencil, a sheet of mimeograph stencil paper is placed over the finely grooved steel plate and written upon with a smooth pointed steel stylus, and in the line of the writing so made, the stencil paper will be perforated from the under side with minute holes, in such close proximity to each other that the dividing fibers of paper are scarcely perceptible.” This stencil was placed in the frame and when inked, produced a copy of the hand-written text on paper below. The item for sale here is an antique 1889 Thomas Edison No. 12 Mimeograph, in its original oak box, with ink, stopping fluid, roller and stylus, in very good condition. It also contains the stencil of the last letter duplicated by this machine (dated 1966 - see last image INVERTED). The top label has mostly worn away. The brass hinges and latches are intact and firm. The mimeograph is in a oak box with machine dovetail, along with the wooden ink roller. The inking slate and printing frame are stamped "Made by A.B. Dick Co. Pat. May 28. 1889". The oak box measures 16 3/4" wide, 13 1/4" deep. and 5 1/4" high (42.7cm x 33.7cm x 12.7cm). Total item weight: 5.8kg. Please see images and condition note before purchasing.