A.B. Dick Company
| Defunct | |
| Industry | Graphic Arts Equipment |
| Founded | Chicago, Illinois, United States, 1883[1] |
| Founder | Albert Blake Dick |
| Defunct | July 2004 |
| Headquarters | Niles, Illinois, United States |
|
Key people
|
Albert Blake Dick, Founder Albert Blake Dick, Jr., second president A. B. Dick III, third president Karl Van Tassel, president John C. Stetson, president Ed Suchma final president and CEO |
| Revenue | $268.62 million (1998 est.) |
|
Number of employees
|
about 900, mid-1930s[2] about 1,200 in 1996 |
| Website | http://www.abdick.com/ |
The A. B. Dick Company was a major American manufacturer of copy machines and office supplies in the late 19th century and 20th century.
Contents
Founding and growth[edit]
The company was founded in 1883[1] in Chicago as a lumber company by Albert Blake Dick (1856 – 1934). It soon expanded into office supplies and, after licensing key autographic printing patents from Thomas Edison, became the world's largest manufacturer of mimeograph equipment (Albert Dick coined the word "mimeograph").[3] The company introduced the Model 0 Flatbed Duplicator in 1887.[4] Later on, the flatbed duplicators were replaced by devices using a rotating cylinder with automatic ink feed. Basic models were hand-cranked while more elaborate machines used an electric motor.[4]
The company had a new headquarters built in 1926, the building at 728 West Jackson now called Haberdasher Square Lofts, and remained there until their move to suburban Niles in 1949.[5]
The company virtually created the business of "quick printing" via storefront shops that printed from disposable plates on duplicators.[citation needed] Tens of thousands of its Model 350 and 360 duplicator were sold, many of which are still in use.[citation needed] A. B. Dick also produced machines using the competing spirit duplicator technology. Starting in the 1960s, xerography began to overtake A. B. Dick's older mimeograph technology.[2]
John C. Stetson was president of A. B. Dick when he was appointed Secretary of the Air Force in 1978.[6]
End of independent existence[edit]
In 1979, the company was acquired by the General Electric Company (a British firm, not to be confused with the American company General Electric).[2] In the early 1980s, following this acquisition, A. B. Dick was involved with GEC Computers in the production of the ill-fated GEC Series 63 minicomputer.[7]
In 1988, the company acquired Itek Graphix, a leading manufacturer of plate-makers for duplicators (small format offset presses). By the late 1990s, A. B. Dick was a division of the Nesco company of Cleveland.[2]
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and its assets were acquired by Presstek, a manufacturer of prepress products.[8] Presstek sold its ABDick division to Mark Andy, Inc. in 2013. Mark Andy continues to market products under the ABDick brand.
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Men of Affairs". Chicago Evening Post. 1906. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Mark R. Wilson, with Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff. "Dick (A. B.) Co.". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- ^ Owen, David (2004). Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg—Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 44.
- ^ a b Randy Alfred (August 8, 2008). "Aug. 8, 1876: Run This Off on the Mimeo". Wired. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- ^ "History". Haberdasher Square Lofts. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
- ^ "John C. Stetson". Official United States Air Force Website. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- ^ Lavington, Simon (2011). "14.5 — The GEC Series 63: A Very Difficult Project". Moving Targets — Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain, 1947-67. Springer. ISBN 978-1-84882-932-9.
- ^ A.B. Dick files Ch. 11, names buyer, Chicago Business, Rita Chang, July 13, 2004.
External links[edit]
- A. B. Dick Company History at FundingUniverse.com (mirrored at answers.com)
Further reading[edit]
- Buck, Glen. Fifty Years 1884-1834, A. B. Dick Company. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1934. (with drawings by Rockwell Kent and photographs by Torkel Korling.)
