Multi History Stuff.......

Can you believe this stuff we found?

Here is a pic from 1905 showing women hand cranking Multigraphs.

Here are some pics of the type of machines these gals are running I owned a few years ago. They were sent to a children's museum in Huston.

Here are some early brochures.........

And here is the very best. A 1927 Multigraph restored. This is the finest example of a restoration I have ever seen. Enjoy.

         For some more history of AM

http://stampedout.net/information-022-am_his.html

http://www.dogtagsrus.com/addressograph%20graphotype.htm

http://site.xavier.edu/POLT/TYPEWRITERS/varityper.html

Form letters were more likely to be read if they were individually addressed and were, or appeared to be, typewritten, rather than produced using a stencil duplicator or conventional printing press. The first commercially successful machine to produce form letters that appeared to be typewritten was the Gammeter Multigraph, which was introduced by American Multigraph Co. in 1902. The next machine that produced such form letters with a distinct technology was the Hooven Automatic Typewriter, which is discussed in this Museum's exhibit on Special-Purpose Office Typewriters. A third technology that was used to produce such form letters was embodied in the Addressing Multigraph and the Addressograph Dupligraph.

The Gammeter Multigraph made use of a drum with parallel horizontal slots into which were set pieces of printers type that matched the font on a typewriter. See specimen to left.  A form letter was composed on the drum either by hand or using a  typesetter machine (Plate 36A). When the typesetting was complete, the drum was transferred to a printing machine (Plate 36), where form letters were printed using a large inked ribbon as the drum was rotated.  After form letters were printed on a Multigraph, names and addresses could be added using a conventional typewriter, and the letters could be signed with pen and ink. 

Multigraph also sold combination typesetting/printing machines. By changing attachments, one could use Multigraph machines with printers ink to print billheads, circulars, forms, and price lists. 

Plate 37, Office with Multigraph Machines, 1905 (Minnesota Historical Society, Neg. No. 7636) 

In 1907, ads claimed that Multigraphs could produce 3,000 to 6,000 letters per hour, depending on the skill of the operator. A Multigraph used by students is pictured in the 1911 catalog of Hesser Business College, Manchester, NH.  In 1917, Multigraph printers were $190 to $765. In 1924, Multigraph systems, including a typesetting machine and a printer, were $150 to $500. 

The Roneotype, which was introduced in the U.K. by the Roneo Co. in 1908/09, was similar to the Multigraph, and there appears to have been technical collaboration between the Roneo and Multigraph companies. According to J. S. Dorlay (pp. 34-35), "The cylinder of the [Roneotype] machine carried a detachable curved brass 'segment', grooved laterally over its entire surface to take type-faces cast with a key or shank to fit the grooves. The types were stored in the grooves of inclined gravity founts from the bottom of which they were collected in required order onto a composing fork and transferred to the segment. After use they were restored to the top of the fount. The types printed through a broad inking ribbon which covered the entire segment. Matching typewriter ribbons were supplied so that customers could fill in names and addresses, and a signature printing attachment using ink of a different colour completed the illusion of an individually typewritten letter."  The Flexotype was another machine similar to the Multigraph. 

Plate 37A, Roneo Distributing Fount, 1921 ad

In 1927, American Multigraph introduced the Addressing Multigraph, which "typewrites a letter, signs a signature, fills in the address and typewrites the envelope, all at a single revolution of the drum." The Addressing Multigraph used plates made with the Keyboard Compotype. Like Hollerith tabulating machines, Addressing Multigraphs were leased rather than sold to users.
 
The Addressograph Co.'s Dupligraph was similar in purpose to the Addressing Multigraph. In 1907, the body of a form letter to be printed on a Dupligraph was set using loose type. The Dupligraph simultaneously printed the body of the letter, a name and address (using an Addressograph plate), a choice of salutation (Dear Sir or Gentlemen), and a signature (in a different color ink). The Dupligraph produced 800 to 1,200 completed letters an hour. It was $300. In 1927, the body of the form letter to be printed on a Dupligraph was no longer set with loose type but rather was embossed on zinc plates using a Graphotype machine. Each of the plates used for the body of the letter had a capacity of 8 lines of type. "Electric models produce 2,000 completed letters an hour--complete with name, address, salutation, date, body of letter and personal signature in actual signature ink." (Office Equipment Catalogue 1927.)

In 1930, the Addressograph International Corp., as it was by then named, acquired the American Multigraph Co.  In 1931 the name of the merged firm was changed to the Addressograph-Multigraph Corp.

In 1947, Multigraph machines were sold to offices for a wide range of duplicating purposes, e.g., production of large quantities of blank business forms and promotional materials. (Addressograph-Multigraph, 1947 Annual Report)

 In 1979, the company name was changed to AM International Inc.  AM International was still operating in 1985.

For more amazing information about the evolution of office duplicating machines follow the link below.....

http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm

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