Talk:Thermofax

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[edit] Origins

I'm looking at the assertion that the process was introduced by 3M in the "late forties."

The first occurrence of the word "thermofax" in The New York Times is in 1951: "New Duplicating Device," September 29, 1951, p. 32. In its entirety, the article reads:

A new duplicating device and paper, trade-marked "ThermoFax," were announced yesterday by the Magna-Crest Corporation, 730 Fifth Avenue. The new device uses a controlled beam of heat to copy black-and-white originals directly.

The relation to 3M is unclear... it certainly sounds like the same process, and the use of the phrase "black-and-white" is telling (since a limitation of the Thermofax process was its dependence on carbon, so that only black ink--and not necessarily every black ink--copied).

This reference says "The first important [thermal imaging system] was the Thermofax systems of the 3M Co., due to C. E. Miller and B. L Clark in 1953, based on methylene blue and mercuric stearate dispersed in ethyl cellulose. The process was superseded at 3M by the use of silver behenate..."

Dpbsmith (talk) 01:14, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tattoo artists

There is a claim about Tattoo artists, here, but the big question is what are they using Thermofax for and why, and this question is not answered, can someone add it pls Pernambuco 04:49, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Thermofaxs are used by tattoo artists to create stencils of images and then transfer the stencil to the human body with a solution namely "Detol" and then this transfer is used as the pattern for the tattoo artists. added by Paul Grimard, Extreme Airbrushing and Tattoo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.127.195 (talk) 23:47, 9 April 2008 (UTC)