Almanac: Carbon paper

On October 7, 1806, the duplicative stationery that made copies was patented by English inventor Ralph Wedgwood. Mo Rocca reports on the story of carbon paper, which was long ago overtaken by copy machines, but whose memory is just an email away.
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[@525Lines]

Carbon paper, onion sheets, those little white plastic rectangles that let you cover up a typo. It all seems so antique now but that was part of college not too long ago.

[@MattPhonee]

I'm so happy I found this! I made my own carbon sheet to use in my manual typewriter and it works beautifully! Charcoal and patience can really make an idea happen...

[@napoleonbonaparte1260]

mind to share how to diy carbon paper? I'm not satisfied with my nylon ribbons and modern carbon ribbons are hard to come by.

[@matthewb.7172]

I still see carbon paper occasionally. I just moved into an apartment and the checklist used it

[@yukonhyena2957]

its so weird using one of these as my lab notebooks! haven't used one of these before, smells nice too. it doesnt have a black sheet between my original and my copy which is bizarre, i wonder how the actual copy is made on the copy sheet

[@jrmcferren]

That uses NCR or "No Carbon Required" paper. With NCR paper, an impression coming to the top of the paper makes a mark appear. The original is effectively ordinary paper, the duplicate(s) are NCR paper which with the pressure of the impression makes the ink on the duplicates show. NCR paper forms are one of the reasons dot matrix printers are still around as well as the impression from the pins not only transfers ink from the ribbon to the top copy, but also allows ink to appear on the duplicates.

[@hoobsgroove]

what about bank tellers or shops when you're putting in a cheque

[@ericpham8205]

this is good for small business

[@SupaEMT134]

Wait-
Is that really what cc: stands for???

[@tltinatl]

Yep.

[@stephenbullard5321]

Lol yeah that’s what it stands for

[@SupaEMT134]

Yeahokaysure, old ppl

[@martyjoseph9507]

Like who wouldn't know this

[@ericpham8205]

thermo type writer

[@ericpham8205]

i thought the chinese invented it