Cycolor is a tradename for a

color printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into three ...

process that uses a special film coated with millions of capsules filled with

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish-red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blue. I ...

, or

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

precursors, acrylic monomer, and photo-initiators. When exposed to red, green, and/or blue light, the contents of the respective capsules polymerize imagewise, and therefore become hard and unbreakable. The film is then pressed against specially treated paper that will complete the dye molecule, and the capsules that have not hardened in the previous process break, releasing their contents onto the paper. Cycolor was developed by Mead Imaging, a start-up created and funded by Mead Corporation, in the 1980s in

Miamisburg, Ohio Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...

. It was based partially upon the same technology as carbonless paper, which has largely been rendered obsolete. Although the technology was very successful, the cost was significantly higher than the then emerging toner-based or ink-based systems seen today for color printing.

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See also