Shape and Form
Continuous paper is usually perforated transversely at regular intervals with a line of small slits which form a tear edge that defines the top and bottom of each page. When unfolded into a flat continuous sheet, this slit perforation closes up to allow the printer to print across the perforated edge without stopping or jamming.
The paper is fed vertically through the printer, with the edges of the continuous paper forming the left and right edges of the page.
The paper is also punched longitudinally along both side edges with 5/32-inch (4 mm) diameter engagement holes at a regular 1/2-inch spacing. These holes engage with sprocket wheels or toothed belts, which push or pull the paper through the printer. The holes can either be of a serrated edge pattern (older production machinery) or with smooth plain edges (New Generation production method).
Better quality continuous paper also includes additional longitudinal slit perforations alongside the engagement holes, allowing the large holes to be torn off the printed page, allowing a general approximation to cut-sheet paper typically used in a press, typewriter, or other sheet-fed printer. File or ring binder holes can also be added to the main body of the form to allow for storage once the form has been divided in to individual sheets.
Older teleprinters often used continuous paper provided on a roll, which did not have regular, page-sized perforations. Instead, each printed document would be torn off as it completed printing, saving paper. This was especially typical in telegrams, or news agency ("wire service") dispatches, where most messages were much shorter than a single sheet of paper. As of 2012, these rolls are still available for sale.
Read more about this topic: Continuous Stationery
Famous quotes containing the words shape and, shape and/or form:
“Thir dread commander: he above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent
Stood like a Towr; his form had yet not lost
All her Original brightness, nor appear’d
Less than Arch Angel ruind, and th’ excess
Of Glory obscur’d: As when the Sun new ris’n
Looks through the Horizontal misty Air
Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon
In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds
On half the Nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes Monarchs.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“An unlicked bear”
—Trans. by Johanna Prins.
Dutch expression meaning “a boor”: from the old belief that bear cubs are licked into shape by their mothers.
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)