Nemmind typewriters and carbon copies. Remember mimeograph machines, before Xerox and photocopying?
Merry Andrew<
I, for one, fondly remember the mimeograph machine. The odor left on the paper "mimeographed" was highly intoxicating to us kids.
We thought that certainly we would pass out from the fumes. No one I know ever did.
What was it about that smell? I loved it.
It smelled of alcohol, didn't it?
c.i.
c.i.<
The odor was similar to -- but more pungent than -- isopropyl alcohol.
I used to type on stencils for the school paper (mimeographed), and then for some underground papers (with an alcohol mimeograph, first; with an ink mimeograph later) and then, still, for an amateurish press agency (we used to personally deliver the notes to papers, radio and tv stations).
It's strange what you say about fountain pens. My 9 year old daughter is taught at school to write with a fountain pen: important for caligraphy.
Do I recall correctly that the very early photocopyers (Xerox, I believe) also lent an intoxicating odor to the finished paper product?
The inventor of the dry toner used to be in our social group. He passed away a couple years ago. c.i.
