mimeograph, duplicating machine that uses a stencil consisting of a coated fibre sheet through which ink is pressed. Employing a typewriter with the ribbon shifted out of the way so that the keys do not strike it, the information to be duplicated is typed on the stencil. The keys cut the coating on the stencil and expose the fibre base, making it possible for ink to pass through it. Corrections can be made by a sealing fluid that permits retyping over the patched-error position. Signature or drawings are added on the stencil with a hand stylus.
Either of two machines is used to produce copies from stencils. In one, the stencil is fastened to the ink-saturated surface of a hollow, rotating cylinder. As the cylinder rotates, ink flows through the cuts in the stencil to the sheets of paper fed under the cylinder. The other machine has two cylinders around which a silk-screen belt rotates. The stencil is attached to the screen, and the ink is distributed to the surface of the rotating cylinders by two rollers. The ink is thus pressed through the small openings in the screen and through the stencil openings, or image areas. Paper is fed between the stencil and an impression roller to create the copy. Up to 5,000 copies can be made in either process from a single stencil. Stencils may be stored for considerable periods of time for reuse.
The mimeograph became largely obsolete with the development of xerography and other photocopiers.