Niagara stencil duplicator!

[Triton]

oh wow, picked this thing up at an auction and its really cool! i could find absolutely naught about it on the aethernet but perhaps some of you could tell me more? my knowledge of mimeographs is extremely limited but as far as i can tell its complete. if anyone has any idea the value of it or what steps would have to be taken to get it to a working condition (as far as i can tell its almost there, needs cleaned badly though) i would much appreciate it!



i forgot to mention, i paid the tidy sum of One US dollar for this lovely machine! auctions are wonderful!

[HAC]

From what I remember of working one of these in the bad old days, you will need special mimeograph paper to type your original on, as well as the special ink used to make the prints. The paper had a sort of wax on it, and typing removed the wax. (ie cutting a stencil). That is wrapped around the drum of the (manual or electrical) machine, which is filled with ink. When a blank sheet of paper is drawn between the rotating drum and a pressure roller, ink is forced out through the marks on the stencil, maiking a copy. I think the paper you used to print on was  different as well, it always seemed a bit
softer than normal typing paper.
 I will never forget the smell of fresh mimeographcs, always reminds me of my first job at CP, Clerk-Typist....

Cheers
Harold

[Rosalind Fairchild]

oooo, mimeograph. Looks interesting.
Everytime I get near a mimeograph, or mimeographed papers, I must smell them for ages.

[akumabito]

Excellent find!


You've seen the Wikipedia article already, I assume?

[HAC]

oooo, mimeograph. Looks interesting.
Everytime I get near a mimeograph, or mimeographed papers, I must smell them for ages.

Ah yes, the smell of Gestetner fluid...(which was a slightly different process, that used very similar equipment)

Cheers
Harold

[sidecar_jon]

Ah the smell!..reminds me of school!

[Don4736]

When I was in high school I worked part time for a stationary store and we used this machine to make copies for many customers.
I remember cutting stencils doing work on newsletters for Liggett Drug stores.  Our machine was 'new' and was automatic. We also sold this machine and I provided service on them.
Niagara's biggest competitor was the A.B Dick company.
I can tell many interesting stories about the machines.

[Cybrasty]

This is quite serendipitous - today out of the blue I decided to check brass goggles after years of not stopping by, and what do I see? A device I've been researching recently!

This is a beautiful machine, much nicer than the print-o-matic I am experimenting with. With some TLC, I bet you can make it sing again.

As others have mentioned, the mimeograph is pretty much a forgotten technology. I am currently experimenting with using off-the-shelf wax paper to make new stencils, but this is still slow going (the original stencils used a type of grooved iron plate to draw/write on the paper, and I am trying to get my hands on one). You can also use thermal stencils, the ones used in tattoo shops. I haven't gone this road as the machine to make those is quite pricey, but it makes the process much simpler. Of course, you can still find original stencil paper on occasion (they sometimes show up on ebay) and use a typewriter to create a stencil on those.

You would also need an ink and inkpad to get printing. For the ink pad you can just use a piece of fleece cut to size and wrapped around the drum. For the ink, you can use screen printing ink (or even block printing ink) diluted a bit linseed oil (unlike mine, your machine has a tank/reservoir so I would guess it needs a thinner ink).

You can see how it all works together in this fine 60s instructional video.

Hope you can get it working