NEW METHODS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 7, 23 January 1942, Page 5

NEW METHODS

HOW BRITAIN SAVES VALUABLE

RECORDS

Destruction of valuable records by fire, normally a negligible business risk, became a serious menace in. Britain during the ordeal by fire from the air. The result has been, the stimulation of new methods of the duplication of records, drawings, accounts and all manner of business data liable to destruction by enemy action. Three photographic processes are employed, in all of which British photographic technique' has taken the lead. By the first of these me-' thods a document or drawing is photographed direct on to a sensitised paper; the second is a new application of the reflex method, the copies being the same sizjs as the originals; while the third; and most important, utilises the cine size film on which the documents are micro-copied. The first two methods are rapid and simple, so simple, in fact, that any junior staff member can do the work after a couple of hours instruction oh apparatus which can be installed in any office. The microcopying method requires special, apparatus and is usually undertaken by specialist firms. Apart from the enormous advantage of speed and accuracy, these systems are also economical. The wage bill for a typist copying a 1500 page document would run ten about £20, whereas . two juniors recently did the same work by the reflex method in 14 days. A 72 page foolscap report can be copied in hours, a 200 page ledger double foolscap in four days. I 4,000,000 cigarette lighters