Carbonless Paper: The Method Behind The Magic
When I was a child, I loved playing with carbon paper. There was something so fascinating about writing on a sheet of paper and having an exact copy of what I had written or drawn appear on another piece of paper beneath my original masterpiece. I remember going through a phase where I had to do all of my homework using carbon paper and all of my drawing required carbon paper as well. I am sure my mother appreciated the extra copy of every single spelling list and the thousands of variations on a rainbow scene. I even went through a phase where I would use the carbon paper wrong side up and have a copy of the inverse of whatever I was writing or drawing on the back of my paper. Obviously, I was a very creative child.
Even at a very young age, it seemed obvious how carbon paper worked. You put a piece of carbon paper between two pieces of writing paper. There was some type of ink on one side of the carbon paper and, when your pressed hard enough with a writing instrument on the top sheet, this ink would transfer onto the second sheet of paper. Voila! You have a “carbon copy”! Carbon paper used to be everywhere, used by teachers, accountants, and most memorably merchants. Probably everyone remembers those credit card receipts that had a piece of carbon paper between two pieces of what seemed like a credit card form printed on tissue paper.
Today, carbon paper is rarely seen anymore, especially in the world of credit card receipts and other types of merchant forms. Now, there is such a thing as “carbonless paper”. It seems like magic, this carbonless paper. Two pieces of paper with nothing in between and two exact copies are created. How does it happen?
Carbonless paper is actually a fairly simple invention. Carbonless paper requires that two special sheets of paper work together. The top sheet of paper is coated with a special dye or ink on the back side. The top of the second sheet of paper is coated with a type of clay that reacts with the dye or ink on the back side of the first sheet of paper. If there are more than two sheets of paper involved in the process, the sheets in between the top and the bottom sheets are coated with both the special clay on the top side of the sheet and the dye or ink on the bottom side of the sheet.
This type of carbonless paper can be used by either someone writing by hand or it can be used by various types of printing machines. If carbonless paper is being used for hand writing, the pressure from the person’s writing instrument will cause the dye to transfer from the top sheet to the bottom or subsequent sheets of paper. If the carbonless paper is being used by some type of printing machine, the pressure from the impact of the striking of the printer head on the paper will cause the ink or dye to transfer from the top sheet to the subsequent sheet or sheets. Carbonless paper can be purchased for these machines in two and three ply rolls of paper.