Things we used to do

[Illaveago]

What was the apparatus that schools used in the sixties to make copies before photocopiers were invented and which smelt strongly of meths.

 

[midlife]

Gestetner ?

Shaun

 

[Profpointy]

What was the apparatus that schools used in the sixties to make copies before photocopiers were invented and which smelt strongly of meths.

and had a special sort of printing that was clearly text of some sort but you clouldn't actually read !

 

[mybike]

and had a special sort of printing that was clearly text of some sort but you clouldn't actually read !

Spirit copier or Banda machine (thanks wiki). They used to use them at college especially for diagrams.

Gestetner ?

Shaun

Gestener machines were a bit different. you had a wax stencil that was either typed on, without a ribbon, or drawn on and then wrapped around a drum which was filled with ink. As the drum was revolved, by hand or motor, a sheet of paper would be fed through & the ink would flow through holes in the stencil onto the paper. It could get messy.

 

[midlife]

Spirit copier or Banda machine (thanks wiki). They used to use them at college especially for diagrams.



Gestener machines were a bit different. you had a wax stencil that was either typed on, without a ribbon, or drawn on and then wrapped around a drum which was filled with ink. As the drum was revolved, by hand or motor, a sheet of paper would be fed through & the ink would flow through holes in the stencil onto the paper. It could get messy.

Was the ink usually purple and had a really nice smell?

Shaun

 

[marknotgeorge]

Speaking of schools, televisions on tall trolleys. When I first started school they were old black and white jobbies with UHF and VHF knobs. Later on came video recorders - usually those huge Grundig V2000 machines that nobody outside of education ever bought, or a toddy thing that could only play and not record. These were always set up by one of the kids in the class as the teacher generally didn't have a clue.

 

[midlife]

....music lessons at school from the radio with the presenter telling you to be a tree!

Shaun

 

[slowmotion]

What was the apparatus that schools used in the sixties to make copies before photocopiers were invented and which smelt strongly of meths.

Roneo?

 

[Illaveago]

Was the ink usually purple and had a really nice smell?

Shaun

Yes I think it was purple and it came out soaking wet. I thought it smelt of meths!

 

[Milkfloat]

Yes I think it was purple and it came out soaking wet. I thought it smelt of meths!

It was a 50/50 mix of isopropanol and methanol and absolutely heavenly to sniff when the teacher handed a fresh batch of papers to you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator

 

[steveindenmark]

Yes I think it was purple and it came out soaking wet. I thought it smelt of meths!

Quink ink?

 

[Dirk]

Watching TV in 405 lines. (That's pre 625 for those who don't understand )

 

[mybike]

Was the ink usually purple and had a really nice smell?

Shaun

The spirit copier did, not sure the gestetner machines did. The ink for those came in tubes, like big toothpaste tubes with similar texture. I was wrong before, I think we used to spread the ink on the drum, for some reason my father didn't allow me to do that.

 

[Illaveago]

Owning a penknife and whittling with it. You could also play splits with your friends.

 

[martint235]

Watching TV in 405 lines. (That's pre 625 for those who don't understand )

Half the people on here won't remember 625 lines. I always remember being told that my dog couldn't be watching TV because they couldn't visually process 625 lines. No idea if that was true though