Description
Both Rectigraph and Photostat machines consisted of a large camera that photographed documents or papers and exposed an image directly onto rolls of sensitized photographic paper that were about 350 feet (110 m) long. A prism was placed in front of the lens to reverse the image. After a 10-second exposure, the paper was directed to developing and fixing baths, then either air- or machine-dried. The result was a negative print, which took about two minutes in total to produce, which could in turn be photographed to make any number of positive prints.
The photographic prints produced by such machines are commonly referred to as "photostats". The verbs "Photostat", "photostatted", and "photostatting" refer to making copies on such a machine in the same way that the trademarked name "Xerox" was later improperly used to refer to any copy made by means of electrostatic photocopying. People who operated these machines were known as photostat operators.
It was the expense and inconvenience of photostats that drove Chester Carlson to study electrophotography. In the mid-40s Carlson sold the rights to his invention – which became known as xerography – to the Haloid Company and photostatting soon sank into history.
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