I came first came across one in 1969, while I was in the Navy, and later in the mid-70's while working in Civil Service for the Navy. The term mentioned in the subject line is what the Navy called it - it actually had an NSN (national stock number.) We just called it the Ditto Knife. In the US, machines using the 'spirit duplication' process were called Ditto machines regardless of the manufacturer, like some people used to use 'Coke' for all colas. I couldn't find anywhere that shows pictures or video of the process, but I did find this:
at a site called Religion Manuals http://religionmanuals.tpub.com/14231/c ... ion-39.htm . The actual publication might be from a US Navy manual, as it shows "Religion Program Specialist 3&2 module 3 Administration."A Ditto master should be left in the typewriter when errors are corrected. The typewriter platen should be turned until there is enough room to separate the perforated overlay from the carbon backing. A razor blade or other sharp-edged instrument should then be used to lightly scrape the carbon deposit of the incorrect characters from the back of the overlay. Next, a clean piece of Ditto carbon should be placed between the overlay and the original carbon. Then the typewriter should be returned to its original position and the correct letters typed. After the correction has been made, the temporary carbon that was used for this correction MUST be re- moved before proceeding
If there is anyone that is interested in the machines, or process, or history of the machines, here are a few sites:
Dead Media Project - Spirit Duplicators http://www.deadmedia.org/notes/40/408.html
Atomic toasters - whatever became of Ditto Machines http://atomictoasters.com/2012/03/what- ... -machines/
Revolvy - Spirit Duplicator https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php? ... duplicator
Here is a link to a photo I took two days ago of the one that I own, along with a closer one showing the makers mark, and one showing the position of the forefinger while making a correction. (I'm new to this forum and do not know how to get the images to show in the post).
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One thing to note: although the quote above mentions a razor blade or other 'sharp' edged instrument, the Utica knife was not in fact sharp at all - just enough to scrape without harming the underlying paper.
Is there anyone else out there who remembers seeing these or using them?
