Colour measuring equipment

The technician chose three or more dyes which he thought would give a match. Corresponding hardware modules, each one containing the characteristics of a dye, would then be plugged into the device.

The technician then turned three or more knobs in the centre until the display screen showed a series of sixteen dots on a straight line. When this was achieved the operator read off the concentration of each dye to give the match from the three or more knobs in the centre.

Sometimes the match was not good enough. If this happened the COMIC was used to obtain a better match by measuring the colour of the new sample and setting the lower sixteen dials and adjusting the concentration of each dye.

The COMIC computer

Before the advent of instrumental colour matching, all colour assessment was performed by eye. The COMIC analogue computer was the first attempt to automate this process. With this a customer could visit a dye house or dyestuff manufacturer with a sample of the colour to be matched. The colour of the sample was measured using a colour eye spectrophotometer.

The number obtained from the measuring the colour of the samples were set on the sixteen dials at the top of the COMIC (Colorant Mixture Computer).