David Gestetner was the inventor of the Gestetner stencil duplicator, the first piece of office equipment that allowed production of numerous copies of documents quickly and inexpensively.
14 Facts About David Gestetner
2.
The devoutly Jewish David Gestetner left Hungary to work in Vienna in the 1870s, where he began work at the stock exchange.
3.
David Gestetner decided to try to find a better method, and his experiments eventually led him to invent the first method of reproducing documents by use of a stencil.
4.
David Gestetner went on to work in Chicago, making kites out of Chinese paper.
5.
David Gestetner allegedly perceived the idea of the duplicating method after an ink-spill accident whilst vending kites in Chicago.
6.
David Gestetner then moved to London, United Kingdom to produce his inventions and went on to achieve great commercial success.
7.
David Gestetner eventually moved to London, England and in 1881 established the Gestetner Cyclograph Company to produce stencils, styli and ink rollers.
8.
David Gestetner invented other notable devices such as the nail-clipper and a type of ball-point pen.
9.
The David Gestetner works opened in 1906 at Tottenham Hale, north London, and employed tens of thousands of people until the 1990s.
10.
David Gestetner's invention became an overnight international success, and he soon established an international chain of branches that sold and serviced his products.
11.
The David Gestetner Company expanded quickly during the start and middle of the 20th century.
12.
David Gestetner acquired other companies during the years: Nashua, Rex Rotary, Hanimex and Savin.
13.
In 1996, the international David Gestetner Company was acquired by the Ricoh company of Japan.
14.
David Gestetner was renamed NRG Group, and markets and services Ricoh products under its three main brand names, primarily in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East, but through dealers throughout the world.