former type 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.presstek.com the a. b. dick company was a major american manufacturer of copy machines and office supplies in the late 19th century and the 20th century . 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 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 1988 the company acquired itek graphix a leading manufacturer of plate makers for duplicators small format offset presses . by the late 1990s it was a division of the nesco company of cleveland . 2 in the early 1980s following the acquisition by the british gec a. b. dick was involved with gec computers in the production of the ill fated gec series 63 minicomputer . 7 the company filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and many of its assets now belong to presstek a manufacturer of prepress products . 8 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 sic 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 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title a.b. dick company & oldid 743336447 categories companies based in chicagocompanies established in 1884companies disestablished in 2004office supply companies of the united statesprinting press manufacturersdefunct companies of the united stateshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 04 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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