Microprinting

For the archival film processing technique that repro-duces images of documents, see microform.

Microprinting is the production of recognizable patternsor characters on a printed medium at a scale which re-quires magnification to be read. To the unaided eye, thetext may appear as a solid line. Attempts to reproduce bymethods of photocopy, image scanning, or pantographwill be translated as a dotted or solid line to the repro-duction machine which cannot identify and recreate pat-terns to such scale. Microprint is predominantly used asan anti-counterfeiting technique due to its inability to beeasily reproduced by digital methods.Microprinting is employed as an anti-counterfeiting fea-ture under the assumption that it would be exceptionallydifficult for an individual to reproduce accurately withoutaccess to resources which are not readily available to thegeneral public.

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A Guide to the Literature of Photography and Related Subjectspublished by Albert Boni (1943)

While microphotography precedes microprint, micro-print was significantly influenced by Albert Boni[1] in1934 when he was inspired by his friend, writer and ed-itor Manuel Komroff who was showing his experimen-

tation’s related to the enlarging of photographs. It oc-curred to Albert that if he could reduce rather than en-large photographs this technology may enable publica-tion companies and libraries to access much greater quan-tities of data at a minimum cost of material and stor-age space. Over the following decade, Boni worked todevelop microprint, a micro-opaque process in whichpages were photographed using 35mm microfilm andprinted on cards using offset lithography.U.S. Patent2,260,551AU.S. Patent 2,260,552A This process provedto produce a 6” by 9” index card which stored 100 pagesof text from the normal sized publications he was repro-ducing. Boni began the Readex Microprint company toproduce and license this technology. He also publishedan article A Guide to the Literature of Photography andRelated Subjects (1943) which appeared in a supplemen-tal 18th issue of the Photo-Lab Index.[2][3][4][5]

Further information: Microform

1 Usage

Close-up of microprint incorporated on US $100 paper currency

Currency commonly exhibits the highest quality (smallestsize) of microprint because it demands the highest levelof counterfeiting deterrence.[6] For example, on the series2004 United States $20 bill, microprint is hidden withinthe border in the lower left corner of the obverse (front)side as well as the Twenty USA background.[6]

Bank cheques as well as various other items of value may

1

2 3 MICROTEXT AND MICROFONTS

MP microprint commonly used on personal bank cheques

also commonly leverage microprinting methods, but gen-erally not of such extreme size. For example, personalbank cheques commonly denote the characters MP nextto the signature line of the check; these characters rep-resent microprint and are used as an anti-counterfeitingfeature due to their difficultly in being reproduced andsimple deterrent as a warning that the item employs mi-croprint.While microprinting on such medium may be readable tothe human eye without microscopy; there is no differen-tiation between micropinting at these different scales.The first US postage stamp to incorporate microprint-ing was the American Wildflower Series introduced byThe United States Postal Service in 1992. It was alsothe first commemorative stamp to be wholly producedby offset lithography. The USPS has since issued otherstamps with more complex microprinting incorporatedalong with dates, words, and abbreviations such as USPSand even entire stamp designs composed of microprintletters.[7]

Further information: Security printing

2 Production

Microprint of the smallest scale is only producible byhand using engraved offset printing plates or some othermethod of Intaglio (printmaking).Digital microtext printers utilize specially designed fontsand ink for the purpose. The ink used is most commonlyMICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) toner par-ticles but may also be polyester based toners and styreneacrylate polymer based toners. The ink is not limited tograyscale only, but may also use color toners or evenmorespecialized toners containing dyes sensitive to ultravioletor infrared radiation and producing fluorescence whenexposed to those radiations.[8]

Preparing a lithographic printing plate

MICR

3 Microtext and Microfonts

Examples of several microfonts used in digital microprinting

Microprint of the scale capable by other printing methodscan not be produced by a digital printer regardless of theresolution of the device . Some digital fonts are designedspecifically for the purpose of microprinting. Thesepseudo-microprint fonts are referred to as microtext.[8]

Xerox was acclaimed for developing a microtext fontwhich they claimed could result in characters 1/100thof an inch tall.[9] 1/100th of an inch is equivalent to

3

0.71999999999999 points.[10]

In April 2015, Videojet Technologies announced the re-lease of their new 1650 High Resolution (HR) and 1620HR Continuous Inkjet (CIR) printers said to be capableof printing sub-pixel size characters as small as 0.6mmin height (equivalent to 1.700787402 points). The print-ers utilize a 40-micron nozzle which outputs more than100,000 drops per second of ink. While these printersmake microprinting faster and easier to produce usingdigital technology, they still have not reached true sub-pixel size output which would be of a size less than 1point.[11]

The smallest scale microtext can produce on a laserprinter is 0.5pt.[12]

4 Microstructures

Using gold nanoparticle inks on a glass substrate, scien-tists concluded that it was possible for them to control theproduction of print patterns to a scale of 2 microns. Af-ter printing, the nano-particle ink suspension was heatedusing a gaussian laser, as it was heated, the glass wouldexpand due to the thermal conductivity of the gold nano-ink. In further experiments, they were able to fuse thenano-particles together into a tighter formation a continu-ous conductive line. Such experiments did not directly in-clude font characters but could translate to such usage.[13]

5 See also

• Microdot

• Microfilmer

• Microform

• Microphotograph

• Point (typography)

• Preservation (library and archival science)

6 References[1] Price, Miles (April 1953). “The Microcard Foundation”

39. American Bar Association: 304–305. ISSN 0747-0088. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

[2] Metcalf, K. D. (1945-03-01). “The Promise of Mi-croprint: A Symposium Based on The Scholar and theFuture of the Research Library” (PDF). College & Re-search Libraries (Association of College and ResearchLibraries. American Library Association) 6 (2): 170–183. doi:10.5860/crl_06_02_170. ISSN 2150-6701.Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-10. Re-trieved 2015-10-08.

[3] Erickson, Edgar L (March 1951). “Microprint: A Rev-olution in Printing”. Journal of Documentation (MCBUP Ltd) 7 (3): 184–187. doi:10.1108/eb026173. ISSN0022-0418. Retrieved 8 October 2015.(subscription re-quired)

[4] Boni, Albert (Summer 1951). “Microprint” (PDF).American Documentation: 150. Retrieved 2015-10-08.

[5] Raney, M. Llewellyn (April 1940). “The Mini-cam turns scholar” (PDF). Quarterly Journal ofSpeech (The University of Chicago) 26 (2): 180–186.doi:10.1080/00335634009380548.

[6] Trimm, Harold H (2005). Forensics the Easy Way. Bar-ron’s Educational Series. p. 276. ISBN 0-7641-3050-1.Retrieved 2015-10-05.

[7] Chenevert, James. “Security Features of United StatesPostage Stamps 1974-2009” (PDF): 1. Retrieved 2015-10-07.

[8] US patent 7270918, “Printing system, process, and prod-uct with microprinting”, issued 2007-09-18, assigned toEastman Kodak Company

[9] “Xerox Scientists Develop Microtext Font; DigitallyPrinting TinyWords And Numbers Will Help Make Doc-uments More Secure”. Xerox Corporation. Retrieved2015-10-05.

[10] This article incorporates public domain material from theNational Institute of Standards and Technology document“Conversion Factors for Science, Engineering, and Indus-trial Terms” (retrieved on 2015-10-05).

[11] Anderson (2015-04-09). “Enhanced Microprinting Tech-nology Featured in Latest Videojet 1000 Series Release”(Press release). UBM Canon. Retrieved 2015-10-07.

[12] “A Comparison of Laser Printed Microprint Fonts andPractical Considerations for Use in Prescriptions” (PDF).16 Jan 2009: 3. Retrieved 2015-10-05.

[13] Bieri, Nicole Renée (2004). Transport Phenomena in themicroprinting and laser annealing of Gold NanoparticleInks (PDF) (Ph.D.). Zurich, Switzerland: Swiss FederalInstitute of Technology. p. 167. Retrieved 2015-10-05.

4 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• Microprinting Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprinting?oldid=694804130 Contributors: Cimon Avaro, Phoebe, Altenmann,DavidCary, Pne, Sam Hocevar, Picapica, Torindkflt, *Kat*, Chochopk, Kb1koi, NawlinWiki, SmackBot, 3card, Hassocks5489, MER-C,CommonsDelinker, Nono64, Squids and Chips, David Condrey, Ascidian, ClueBot, Mild Bill Hiccup, Alexbot, JamieS93, Addbot, GJo,AnomieBOT, Citation bot, RedBot, Cramyourspam, Xeworlebi, Dewritech, Wingman4l7, Grapple X, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot,CitationCleanerBot and Anonymous: 15

7.2 Images• File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public do-main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Engraving.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Engraving.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: GoldbergShalom at English Wikipedia

• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

• File:Guide_to_the_Literature_of_Photography_and_Related_Subjects.pdf Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Guide_to_the_Literature_of_Photography_and_Related_Subjects.pdf License: Fair use Contributors: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001766785 Original artist: Albert Boni

• File:MICR_char.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/MICR_char.svg License: Public domain Contribu-tors: Own work Original artist: GJo

• File:Microfont.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Microfont.png License: PD Contributors:U.S. Patent 7,270,918b2 Original artist:USPTO

• File:Microprint.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Microprint.gif License: Public domain Contributors:Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Laoxie.H. Original artist: Torindkflt at English Wikipedia

• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?Original artist: ?

• File:USD100-microprint_USA.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/USD100-microprint_USA.jpg Li-cense: Public domain Contributors: File:Usdollar100front.jpg Original artist: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

7.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0