Hektograph Helps

My mother used to make copies for her church callings using hektograph technology. This was in the days of copies made on the gestetner, which was a huge machine with ugly black staining ink; or on a ditto machine that used a "spirit master" and printed in purple ink that had an absolutely wonderful (and probably intoxicating) smell.

I actually did not know what the copies my mother made were called--I was going to google "making copies in a cake pan with gelatin" but instead, I was perusing the 1912 issues of "The Children's Friend" on Hathi Trust, and came upon this recipe and instructions in the January 1912 issue. Reproduced here for your enjoyment, and as a possible science project for people who might be interested.

I was surprised to realize that they had this technology in 1912, since my mother was using it in the 1960s when she didn't want to have to bother about typing a master for the gestetner, which was the only choice at church. Photocopiers would soon come into being (Xerox), but not yet. So, when she wanted to make multiple copies at home, she pulled out the gelatin and the cake pan. I loved helping with this! It was so cool to rub the paper on the gelatin and come away with a copy!

I honestly don't think those instructions for this "very good" hektograph are crystal clear, though. I think this more modern explanation might work better for us.  Mainly because I am pretty sure the audience of 1912 was more familiar with the hektograph process than we are.