We will go into the history of NCR shortly but to begin, let us quickly explain what NCR is short for. It stands for “no carbon required”. NCR is the modern term given to a relatively new product. We use the term “modern” loosely, but when you see how long its predecessor was around, you’ll soon understand! Ok, so you now know what it is short for, how does that help?
Let us first explain how NCR paper is used today before we cover its predecessor and history. NCR is a special type of paper that reacts to pressure, making it possible to transfer information and make perfect copies of important information. This makes them great for invoices or receipts, and ideal for businesses and customers alike!
A really good example of using NCR is gas certificates. For example, it’s highly likely your gas engineer will have used one of these and left a copy with you. Yes, we’re guilty of it too, we never read them or pay attention to the information on them unless the premise is bad. Fold it and file it, it’s what we all do! But if you went and pulled one out of its file now, that information would still be there as if he wrote it yesterday. A perfect copy!
So now you have an idea of what NCR products are, let us go back in time to fill you in on the 200-year-old story of NCR. Don’t worry, it won’t take that long for us to explain it…
The idea that started the story of NCR was devised by two different men. Both wanted to help blind or partially sighted people write letters of correspondence without having to use a messy quilled pen and ink. You have to remember we are talking about feathered pens and not the typical biro!
The first of these men was called Ralph Wedgewood, an Englishman born in Burslem, Staffordshire in 1766. He was related to the famous Wedgewood pottery family who – fun fact – is from up the road from our head office. You will have no doubt seen some Wedgewood pottery at some point in your life. Joseph Wedgewood, the founder of the Wedgewood company was his cousin! Yes, we know we’re going a bit off the path but that’s history for you!
Ralph Wedgewood invented a machine called a stylographic writer, also sometimes known as a Noctograph in 1806. Why Noctograph? Well, it comes from the word nocturnal as it also helped sighted people write in the dark!
His machine, the stylograph, worked by placing wax paper between two separate sheets of paper with horizontal metal wires on the top which worked as guides to write on. Applying pressure to the first sheet help form a permanent mark on the second sheet. This meant that any changes made to the top sheet were reflected on the lower sheet. Sound familiar? This clever invention became the earliest form of carbon paper. Believe it or not, this was just a thin piece of paper coated with a balanced mix of wax and ink – just another thing to thank the bees for!
The second man part of NCR’s history was an Italian gentleman by the name of Pellegrino Turri born in 1765. He put his idea forward in 1808, but this is where things get a little unclear. According to some rumours, his invention was originally conceived by another Italian man by the name of Agostino Fantoni from Fivizzano in 1802. Some say that Pellengrino simply improved the design further.
His idea led to the creation of a machine which used black carbon paper. He also began his career trying to help blind people write, one of which was his friend, Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzano. It is believed she later used paper to make contact with Pellengrino and other acquaintances after becoming blind following an illness.
Pellengrino’s invention helped set up the future for the development of typewriters later on in the century. For example, Francesco Rampazetto, invented a typewriting machine called the scrittura tattile which used a similar carbon paper system.
You have to remember that at this time, the traditional writing method was a quill pen since the printer did not exist! Not only was it a long-standing method, with it having been around since the 7th century, but it was also expensive and messy too!
It appears that Wedgewood, Turri and maybe even Fantoni all played a part in the creation of NCR – the founding fathers if you like. All their methods provided a way of transferring words from one sheet of paper to another.
The next step in the timeline of NCR is what Wedgewood did next, to develop his idea even further. He began to advance his offering to suit a greater market. Compared to previous documentation methods, his invention aimed to help business owners and employees save time and money.
One of his first improvements was providing a metal stylus for use of writing on the top sheet – much like the ones we use with electronic tablets today. However, it seems he was way ahead of his time as the stylus was not as readily accepted as you’d imagine. It may have been that it weighed more than what we’re used to today!
NCR is a commonly used product within the print industry and is used by many businesses as part of their standard business stationery. The pressure of Wedgewood’s stylus is much like how NCR works today, since with normal pen usage, any changes made on the top sheet went through the paper and created an imprint of the writing on the bottom sheet. According to history, Wedgewood even set up his own company specifically for this, attempting to target writers and businesses with this change in mind.
It was not easy though, since most businesses still preferred pen and ink and there were concerns of forgery. There was also legal doubt about carbon copies, since during this time, there was no legal standing for them within the legal system.
Now we fast forward a few years to 1823 and join our friends across the Atlantic. During this time, it seems some Americans began to entertain the idea of carbon paper. A man by the name of Cyrus Dakin was making carbon paper similar to Wedgewood’s design and started selling it to the Associated Press.
48 years later, one of the Associated Press’ papers was covering a story on a balloon climb by a businessman called Lebbeus Rogers, which was a PR stunt. At the Associated Press’ offices, Rogers noticed the use of Dakin’s carbon paper and created his own company, LH Rogers & Co, to mass produce carbon paper with a special clay coating to be used in a ‘new invention’ linked to this process – the typewriter.
Carbon copy paper was also making strides in the business and legal world too. Its ability to create multiple copies and transfer information from one sheet to another made it perfect for businesses and private documents. The transfer of information, which allowed you to make two or three copies of a document at once, was starting to be readily used by businesses and by the first decade of the 20th century, it was even more commonplace.
It was 82 years later in 1953 that NCR was invented. Two chemists by the name of Lowell Schleicher and Barry Green, both who worked at the National Cash Register Company in America invented NCR paper. (Do you see another NCR in that sentence? Coincidence or not, you decide!) Their NCR products, sometimes known as carbonless copy paper, worked without the use of carbon paper completely. This was an excellent step forward as it meant that not only could costs be reduced but there was no need to put the paper in order!
They used a chemical reaction system so that ink was released from tiny bubbles when pressure was applied to its surface. The scientific name for their technology is called microencapsulated dye, but we think it is much easier to say NCR!
This major step in stationary history did lead to a decline in the usage of the longstanding blue carbon paper placed between two sheets. This newer technology became more popular since it could be used without making a mess and information was duplicated more accurately.
NCR is still the most commonplace way of duplicating documents, so it’s certainly fun to look back and see the changes that we have made along the way. So now you know the history, all the way back from its use since the 1700s, the ins and outs of where it began and a little chemistry too, do you feel ready to explore our own range of NCR products?
Here at NCR Invoice Pads, we provide NCR pads, NCR books (typically bound on one edge) and NCR sets, the very same found in a lot of offices, trucks, and vans across the world. They are used in numerous business situations to enable both businesses and customers to create multiple signed copies of documents. If you would like to order your own NCR forms and are looking for some personalised NCR for your business, contact us today!
Remember when ordering your NCR print online, it’s important to use NCR printing to match all other printed materials used by your company for cohesive branding! All our printed NCR products are available to order in a variety of different styles and are printed on high-quality 80gsm carbonless paper. This is the highest quality NCR paper produced. We use it specifically for our products so that we can offer some of the best NCR pads in the printing industry – and damn are we proud of ’em.
