Here, I am starting a small (and unofficial) chronical of some of the Business Machines sold and serviced by 3M and its dealers. Many of the divisions involved were later known as the
"Graphic Systems Group". 3M directly designed and manufactured many of these machines, but the operations also grew through acquisitions and by private labelling
of hardwre produced by others.
It's my intent to overview some of those machines for posterity, from the view of people who dealt with them. I'm one of those people, so
you will be hearing from me, for now.
Although my focus is supposed to be on the hardware itself, I have recently gotten some interesting charts showing how the various divisions had formed,
combined, made acquisitions, etc., through out the years.
See the charts:
Some Charts Showing Graphic Systems Evolution
3M assigned a sequential internal numerical model number for each machine. Then, the marketing department of each manufacturing division assigned a sales name
(often a number-name) to it for field use.
I will begin by listing some of those models in the links below, then I will attempt to write a short essay about some of them.
From my view, it was the introduction and popularity of the 3M Thermofax copying machine that got this whole (and Major) "TFSI" sales/service/administration
organization going.
The early Thermo-Fax copy machines were sold and serviced by
"TFSI", (Thermo-Fax Sales Incorporated) a wholly owned
subsidiary of 3M, and also through a number of dealers.
TFSI changed its name to (3M)BPSI (Business Products Sales
Incorporated) in about 1963, just as I started my career with 3M.
I think that "BPSI" (pronounced "bipsy") was still a 3M
subsidiary. Years later, BPSI became a regular 3M division
and changed its name to (3M)BPSD (Business Products Sales Division).
I'll start with a few of the major hardware divisions, Duplicating, Microfilm, Business Communications, Printing and Visuals.
From time to time, 3M divisions outside of Graphic Systems did use BPSI/BPSD for field service. The Background Music link is an
example of that.
Click the links below to see the (partial for now)machine model list for the subject division:
If you'd like to contribute an article about any one of these machines, please use the contact link at the top of this page to let me know.