Ozalid is a registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

of a type of paper used for "test prints" in the

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...

classic offset process. The word "Ozalid" is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of "diazol", the name of the substance that the company "Ozalid" used in the fabrication of this type of paper.

Overview

''OZALID'' was first federally registered in the United States as a trademark on February 5, 1929 as a brand for ''light-sensitive copying and photographic papers.'' The registration currently is owned by R.Q.O. Holding Company, Inc. of New York, and is related to the even earlier registration of October 11, 1923 in what is now the Federal Republic of Germany. The R.Q.O. Holding Company also owns a United States trademark registration for ''OZALID'' for "copying and reprographic machines, apparatus and parts thereof." However, compound "Ozalid Process" appears never to have been registered as a trademark, and the use of ''OZALID'' specifically for the Ozalid process using diazo compound paper is ''not'' currently registered as a trademark at least in the United States. ''OZALID'' as a mark for "machines for diazo type prints" was first registered in the United States in 1938 and is now expired. Similarly, another registration for the use of ''OZALID'' for ''Light-Sensitive Diazotype Papers, Cloths, Films, etc., Machines for Photoprinting Thereon, Machines for Developing the Photoprints Thus Produced and Parts of Such Machines'' was first registered in the United States in 1942, and also has expired.Serial 71448001
United States Patent and Trademark Office Accordingly, ''OZALID'' may have become descriptive of the Ozalid process, and no longer uniquely associated with any one source, at least in the United States. Trademark rights, may, however, continue in the United States on a state registration or common law unregistered basis, even after a federal registration expires.

The Ozalid process

The ''Ozalid process'' is a process of

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

positive images on paper from patterns on film or other translucent media. Its objective is the creation of a

photogram A photogram is a Photography, photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow im ...

, using chemically treated paper. A transparent film with the pattern to be printed is placed on a diazo compound

coated paper Coated paper (also known as enamel paper, gloss paper, and thin paper) is paper that has been coated with a mixture of materials or a polymer to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink ab ...

. This sandwich is exposed to

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

light. After a 15 sec to 5 min exposure, ammonia vapours are used to develop the film image onto the paper. Its main use was for making copies of electrical, mechanical and civil engineering drawings. It is still used widely in developing countries. It is also used for proofing, as it produces an image very close to the finished work. This process produces a blue or black image on a white paper. It is a monochromatic copying process.

References

{{reflist Printing processes