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Carbon paper (originallycarbonic paper) consists of sheets ofpaper that create one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of an original document when inscribed by atypewriter orballpoint pen. Theemail termcc, which stands for "carbon copy", is derived from this use of carbon paper.
In 1801,Pellegrino Turri, anItalian inventor, invented carbon paper to provide the ink for his mechanical typingmachine, one of the firsttypewriters.[1]Ralph Wedgwood obtained the first patent for carbon paper in 1806.[2]
Carbon paper in its original form was paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmentedcoating, bound withwax. The manufacture of carbon paper was formerly the largest consumer ofmontan wax. In 1954 the Columbia Ribbon & Carbon Manufacturing Company filed a patent for what became known in the trade as solvent carbon paper: the coating was changed from wax-based to polymer-based. The manufacturing process changed from a hot-melt method to a solvent-applied coating or set of coatings. It was then possible to use polyester or other plastic film as a substrate, instead of paper, although the name remained carbon paper.[3]
Carbon paper was the principal medium of reproduction forsamizdat, a publication method used in the formerSoviet Union in order to publish books without having to use state-controlled printing houses and risk thecensorship or imprisonment.
The advent of word processing and the decline of typewriting meant that any number of copies of a document could be printed on demand, and the decline of carbon paper, which had already been partially superseded byphotocopying andcarbonless copy paper, became irrevocable. A few specialist or remnant uses remain. Examples of these are receipts atpoint of sale (though they have mostly been relegated to beingbackups for when electronic POS devices fail) or for on-the-spotfine notices, duplicatechecks, and somemoney orders (though theUnited States Postal Service has recently[when?] converted to an electronic format), and tracking slips for various expedited mail services requiring multiple copies. In India, form-filling is on a sufficient scale that carbon paper is still widely used.[4] As of 2013, in Canada, only one eight-person company still manufactured carbon paper; in the United Kingdom, one company; and in the United States, only two small companies.[5][6]
There have been some experimental uses of carbon paper in art: as a surface for painting andmail art (to decorate envelopes). Carbon paper is commonly used to transfer patterns onto glass in the creation ofstained glass.[7]
Carbon paper disks are still used in school physics labs as part of experiments on projectile motion and position.[8]
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