British 1929 des. Raymond Loewy man. Gestetner

Duplicating machine mounted on a wooden cabinet, the mechanism of metal with rubber elements

Given by Gestetner International Ltd.

In 1929, Gestetner asked Raymond Loewy to improve the appearance of their machines. Lowey designed a sleek black shell for the duplicator. This was the first example of the "streamlining" technique, which is credited to Loewy. For the next fifty years Loewy would apply the method to a wide range of industrial goods and designs, including the slender Coca-Cola bottle, Frigidaire refrigerators, the Greyhound bus, the John F. Kennedy memorial postage stamp, and the interiors of spaceships including the Skylab space station and Saturn V.

A modern duplicator by Gestetner was acquired at the same time as this, to serve for comparison. Its number is W.64-1981

This machine is an example of an early photocopier. Gestetner first invented the duplicating machine (also called Gestetners, Cyclostyles, Cyclographs or mimetographs) in the 1870s. He founded the Gestetner Cyclograph Company in London in 1881. The original Gestetner duplicating machine, or mimetograph, was called the Gestetner Cyclostyle and was made in the late 19th century, about 1890. It was a complicated assemblage of open steel with many gears, levers and knobs. They were the forerunners of the office printer and photocopier, enabling documents to be reproduced using a stencil. Ink was pressed through a sheet of waxed paper which had been written upon beforehand with a stylus. The stylus broke the paper surface and removed the wax coating, creating a stencil which could be used again and again until sufficient copies of the document were created. With the invention of the typewriter, it was possible to create stencils that produced copies resembling proper print.

This machine is an example of an early photocopier. In 1929 Gestetner, the leading manufacturer of duplicators approached the American designer Raymond Loewy. They asked him to improve the appearance of their machines, which were quite complicated assemblages of steel, gears, levers and knobs. The sleek black case Loewy designed was his first industrial commission, and the first example of the "streamlining" technique he is credited with inventing. Loewy went on to become a very successful industrial designer who applied streamlining to a wide range of industrial goods, including the classic Coca-Cola bottle, refrigerators, and the interior of the Skylab space station.

W.47-1981