# Gestetner Cyclostyle—Dawn of the Copying Machine

**URL:** <https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/gestetner-cyclostyle-dawn-of-the-copying-machine/4202>\
**Category:** Continuity\
**Tags:** office-machines, printing, mimeograph\
**Created:** [10 January 2024 13:57 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/gestetner-cyclostyle-dawn-of-the-copying-machine/4202 "2024-01-10T13:57:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/johnwalker/32/17415_2.png) [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\
**Post date:** [10 January 2024 13:57 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/gestetner-cyclostyle-dawn-of-the-copying-machine/4202/1 "2024-01-10T13:57:12Z")

</div>

[![](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/uploads/default/original/3X/0/e/0e51b35b2b2a3f126ee2e3cf6aee230bc68a98fe.jpeg "Gestetner Cyclostyle: the Original Office Copy Machine") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBSYUbaAZg)

The [Gestetner Cyclostyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclostyle_(copier)), which came on the market in 1881, pioneered the production of modest numbers of copies of documents through a process in which ink is forced onto paper through a stencil made of waxed or glazed paper. The machine was invented by [David Gestetner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gestetner), who named it based upon the rotating stylus pen used to manually create stencils by punching closely-spaced holes through the waxed paper. (Using separate holes to allow the ink to flow through the stencil preserved its strength in un-punched areas.)

The stencil process later came to be called [mimeography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph), which became a generic term for stencil duplication.