One technology that rekindles thoughts from the past is something that I use on a daily basis-the copy machine. I usually take for granted the ease of making copies of documents I need for my students or for personal matters. The machines today are so sophisticated that they can copy on two sides, staple, collate, shrink, enlarge, and perform other functions that I haven't yet discovered.
Thinking back to when I was a little girl in elementary school in the late '80s-probably in third or fourth grade-being the teacher's pet that I was, I often had to make copies for the teacher. Back then it was not as simple as pressing a button. The teacher had to first hand-write or type (with a typewriter) the information that needed copying on this messy blue carbon paper. Next I would take the carbon paper to a big machine with a round drum. I remember ripping the top sheet off the carbon paper and laying it across the drum. Then the drum had to be rolled one time to make a master. The machine had to be filled with a smelly, clear liquid in order to work. Somehow, once the master was made, the machine was ready to roll. I would make copies, in blue ink, and you had to stand there and count the number of copies you needed. The earliest machines I remember had to be cranked by hand. I think we later got automatic machines. What a process!
Kiana,
ReplyDeleteI can remember all to well those old copiers and carbon paper. Back then , I never imagined how advanced a copy machine could become. Today's copiers are user-friendlier than in the past. Now we can set the copier to start printing and walk off to complete another task while its printing. Of course sometimes we may get a paper jam, but it is not like the past when we had to stand and count each copy that comes out. Thanks for the memories.
Emmorfia
This was a great rhyme of history to discuss. I remember the messy Duplo machines and copiers of the past and can only thank the evolution of machines for the ones we have today. As I think to the problems I encounter with the copiers at my school I should learn to take it with stride because I could be using that messy blue paper instead of the few paper jams I encounter. What features would you like to see on the copiers of the future?
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