Comments on: The ditto princess

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:08:06 +0000

Well, Meryl, as long as we’re trumpeting our school successes, I don’t like to brag but even in third grade at McCulloch School in Detroit I was the lead (of two) on the science squad in Miss Meisel’s science room with direct responsibility for the two guine pigs, Timmy and Princess Grace.

By: hs935684

hs935684 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:30:26 +0000

The Ditto fluid was methyl hydrate – highly poisonous. I used to wash the purple dye off my hands with it, which wasn’t that great an idea from the point of view of health. However, it was effective. I think that it was some time in the 1970s when our school board ordered all machines and fluid removed from schools. Methyl alcohol can cause blindness and/or death if you drink it, as some unfortunate sailors in the, then, Royal Canadian Navy discovered while serving aboard H.M.C.S. Magnificent, an aircraft carrier.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:58:28 +0000

Man, I love Van Halen. Totally irrelevant, but so true.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:59:09 +0000

Slide Rules…I think I still have one in a box somewhere

By: Rahel

Rahel — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:06:38 +0000

Oh, yes, I remember ditto machines and paper and the special smell. Paper that was printed by ditto machine also had a special texture.

By: Joseph Hertzlinger

Joseph Hertzlinger — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:56:37 +0000

Anybody else here remember slide rules?

By: Laura SF

Laura SF — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:55:16 +0000

Yes, I remember the ditto machines (aka mimeographs). The purple ink, the smell, the dampness… I even remember how they worked: you had to type onto these special packets, some kind of cloth-like paper backed with a purple-inked sheet like carbon paper. To make the copies, you detached the typed sheet, turned it over so it was purple-ink side up, and clamped it onto the machine – onto the drum . Then you would spin the drum by cranking the handle. The drum would press against the fresh white paper and pull them up, transferring the ink – I guess with some kind of toner that was stored inside the drum (it was the toner that made it damp and gave off the smell). I remember the fwipp-fwipp noise it made, too…

I also remember a very early form of photographic-transfer machine – with a hot, bright light – very slow, very expensive. Teachers would use it very rarely, for very special needs, like copying a page out of a big, old book. I don’t remember if it created a single paper copy… actually, I have a memory of pink tissue paper along with it – so maybe it created another kind of film impression, that could be run off in in a different way? Does anyone recall?

By: John M.

John M. — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:25:31 +0000

I believe the actual word was “Mimeograph”, was is not?

By: Mark James

Mark James — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:18:21 +0000

The ditto fumes were probably carcinogenic, and the experience may have unconsciously led to your smoking for all those years.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:21:30 +0000

I remember being sent to the school secretary to pick up the freshly dittoed test papers.
The scent was almost as good as warm chocolate chip cookies.