Before the days of modern machines that make hundreds of copies at the touch of a button, mimeographs were the tool of choice for duplicating documents. The procedure for using one of these machines was tedious; however, it was still an improvement over hand writing a number of copies. Before the user could begin printing, a stencil of the document had to be made. The stencil was created by typing the appropriate information on a typewriter with a special setting that would cut directly through the paper. After the stencil was completed, it was placed around the ink-covered barrel of the mimeograph. As the manual crank was turned, the stencil brushed over a blank sheet of paper, creating a copy. As recent as the 1950s, mimeographs were still widely used. However, the advent of Xerox copiers, computers, and inkjet printers made the machines obsolete.