Edison’s Electric Pen

Before copy machines and scanners, copies of documents were produced by hand. In the 1870s, a new invention from Thomas Edison caught the attention of School Board officials. The Electric Pen was a hand-held device that created a stencil of whatever the user drew or wrote on a piece of paper. Ink was then rolled over the stencil leaving an impression of the image on the sheet beneath. In 1879, the minutes record that all reports presented to the Board were to be printed with the Electric Pen.