The Secret Life of Machines

James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, patented the first copying machine, because of the disastrous inaccuracies that had occurred due to copying drawings by hand. Drawings to be copied were written in a special ink which bled into the copy when squashed through a mangle. Episode Contents: Models: Electrostatic copying with homemade sulphur plates. A desktop illustration of the mechanics of projecting an image onto the selenium drum. Machines: A Van De Graaf generator by Rex. Another automaton by Tim called the General made from lots of copier goodies. Guests: Various pre-xerox copiers; 50's thermal copiers, 20's wax stencil duplicator, Victorian copy books. Also the blueprinting method used for technical drawings. An early electrostatic copier, the 1385. A modern colour copier. Films: Some funny cartoons about static electricity. Old interviews with the inventor of xerography Chester Carlson. An amazingly trashy Japanese copier tv advert. Extro: A scrap paper yard.