Production of Scientific Visual Aids Using Only a Photocopier -
John H. Bedenbaugh and Angela 0. Bedenbaugh University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406 Verbal presentations at scientific meetings are typically accompanied by 35-mm slides or overhead transparencies. Speakers with access to a graphic arts support facility frequently present visual aids that are almost works of art. Unfortunately this visual feast comes only at a great expense with considerable time involved in preparation. The chemist who is short on money or time and must prepare hislher own visual aids is faced with multiple prohlems. The preparation of slides involves photography followed by either darkroom work or an "instant" process requiring access to relatively expensive equipment. The preparation of overhead transparencies is often accomplished by writing in longhand on a transparency sheet. At best the product lacks a professional appearance. We have found that a photocopier with areducingcapahility offers a rapid, inexpensive alternative to conventional production of 2- X 2-in. nonpictorial slides. If the copier also has an enlarging feature, overhead transparencies as well as slides can be made from the same typed or printed originals. Appropriate multiple reductions or enlareements of the origin& are first made on paper, with the Final copy made on a transparency sheet. T o make slides the final reduction is cut from the transparency sheet and mounted in a slide frame; for overhead projections, the transparency sheet on which the final enlargement has been copied is used directly. The most commonly availahle copiers produce only black printed matter, hut color copiers, which are becoming more numerous, yield colored printed matter from hlack-type originals. If a colored background is desired, colored transparency sheets (available in red, yellow, blue, and green) may be used. Reducing and enlarging copiers are now becoming quite common and are found in most offices of academic.. eovernmental, and industrial scientific laboratories. For those without ready access to an institutional copier, the ubiauitous quick-print shops offer "full-feature" photocopier services a t reasonable prices.
Preparation of Text Originals are prepared using an all%-X ll-in. sheet of paper divided into four parts by bisecting vertical and horizontal lines. The paper is placed in the typewriter lengthwise and the text for a given slide or transparency is typed in one of the four sections. Thus each sheet of naner . . mav contain the text of as many as four slides or transparenciei. The ACS"Hnndbook for Sr)eakers"sueresti that material for slides be no more than nine single-spaced lines with a maximum length of 54 elite (or 45 pica) characters.' In practice up to 11 lines of material may he used and yet allow sufficient space for framing. Even single-spaced text yields a good slide or transparency.
The Copier Most of the large, expensive photocopiers that typically are leased (rather than sold) hy the manufacturer have copyreducing capability. Examples include the IBM Series 111 model 60 and the Xerox model 1035. Such machines typically have the capahility of making copies that have been reduced to either 75% or 67% of the horizontal and vertical 'ACS Bulletin #8. "Handbook for Speakers." American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, NW. Washington, DC, 20036, 1982. p. 4. 1092
Journal of Chemical Education
dimensions of the original. Many of the newer ~ h o t o c o ~ i e r s nlso h w e copy-enlarging cnpnhiiity. For example, the %rox m d e l 1035 offers copies that have been enlarged to either 1344 or 150% ut the horizontal and vertical dimensions of .the original. Recently "personal" copiers selling for less than $1400 and designed for the mass consumer market have become availahle. At least one of these (the Canon model PC 25) offers 67% and 78%reductions and 120%enlargementsas well as multiple colors. While the quality of the product from such a copier is not quite as good as that from a commercial copier, i t is more than adequate. With the proliferation of inexpensive copiers and increasing accessibility of large fullfeature copiers in sidewalk quick-copy shops, most persons will have little trouble locating a copier for use in making visual aids. ~~
A supply of 8II2- X ll-in. transparency sheets is basic to the production of either slides or overhead transparencies. To make mounted slides for use in a 35-mm slide projector a supply of plastic frames (available from any photographic supply store) is required. The 8%- X ll-in. transparency sheets as they come from the copier are satisfactory overhead projection sheets. Optionally, for easy handling, they may be mounted in plastic or cardboard frames which can he purchased from stores selling audiovisual supplies. Two successive reductions of about 66% followed by one approximately 75% reduction of the twice reduced material will yield a copy suitable for 2- X 2-in. slides. For best results make the final reduction directly onto a transparencv sheet. Foreconomy, printed matter from up to four sheets of twicereduced material can be cut out and assembled with transparent tape on one sheet of paper for the final reduction. Using this approach 8-16 slides can he obtained from each transparencv sheet. 0n;e the material has been copied on the transparency sheet, it is necessary to cut the film into individual slides that will fit into the slide frame. In mounting the film it is necessary to allow adequate overlap of film outside the actual window of the slide. I t is easier to clip off excess material than to make a new transparency. The interlocking plastic of the slide mount should not he covered by the transparency. The film should he secured to the slide mount in two places with tape prior to snapping shut the slide to enclose the film. This will prevent slippage after the slide is mounted.
Overhead Transparencies For best results an approximately 150% enlargement of the original is made on white paper and then the first enlargement is enlarged a t 150% onto the transparency sheet. If the first 150% enlargement has gaps or light areas in the printed material, a felt tip pen with black ink can be used for touch-up work prior to making the second enlargement. The transparency sheet produced may he used directly as an overhead projection transparency or i t may be mounted in a frame for ease of use. A seemingly extreme hut quite accurate statement is that the photographic process is no longer required for slides or overhead transparencies of printed or typed material. All that is needed is access to a redncing-enlarging photocopier.
