Carbon Copy Paper

Thin paper coated with a carbon on one side to be placed between two sheets of typewriter paper and inserted in the platen. The impact of the typewriter key on the first piece of paper caused carbon to be transferred to the second piece, creating a copy. Each sheet of carbon paper could be used multiple times before wearing out.

There was a technique to inserting the sheets so that all remained exactly inline with each other and the copy didn�t come out crooked or off-center.

Set the thickness lever to the number of pages you'll be typing. Take the stack of papers to be type and line them all up nicely, without the carbon paper. Insert them into the typewriter together and roll the platen down a line or two. Then interleave the carbon papers, shiny side towards you (that is, towards the platen) as far down as they'll go. Then roll the stack through as normal. Be sure to use your good typing technique because the impact has to go through all the pages.

This is where the term “cc” comes from in today's email world. It means “Carbon Copy”.

To make a “bcc” (“Blind Carbon Copy”) put a scrap of paper on top of the top page. You can insert it from the top. Then type the “bcc:” line so it goes through to that recipient's copy and your file copy. If you remove the stack and put it back without the original you could type onto the first copy directly, but if you're not careful that line won't be lined up with all the other lines.