What is Microfiche?
Microfiche is an outdated method of storing information – they are pieces of film consisting of tiny images of documents, pictures, and diagrams. They help store lots of information in significantly less space. Special machines are needed to scan and read the tiny pictures on these films.
On the film, microfiche images are reduced by 1/25 (about 4%) of its original size. Text on these images is unreadable to the naked eye. Thus, special machines are needed to scan and read the tiny pictures on the films. These machines essentially magnify the tiny images so that they may be read, scanned, and shared.
Fun Facts about Fiche
- In temperature-controlled storage, microfiche lasts up to 500 years.
- John Benjamin Dancer, an optician by trade and inventor by hobby, began producing microphotographs in England in 1839. He was able to realize a 160:1 reduction ratio, but he viewed his own work as nothing more than a novelty.
- The microfilming process was standardized and patented in 1859 by French optician René Dagron.
- One of the first practical uses of microphotography involved carrier pigeons. In the 1870s during the Franco-Prussian War, Dagron created microphotographs of official documents and private messages and sent them across enemy lines to Paris in small tubes affixed to a pigeon’s wing.
- Dagron created prints so small that a single pigeon could carry 20 of them at a time.
- Over 150,000 miniscule pieces of microfilm made it to Paris via carrier pigeon until the Prussians caught on and sent out falcons and hawks to intercept the pigeons.
