I’m
sure many Jamaicans have had this problem with purchasing voucher credit from
Digicel or FLOW; reading their paper based voucher credit.
This
as the paper voucher credit is printed using a thermal printer. Thermal paper
is just regular paper made with some chemicals that reacts with heat, turning
black to form words and images on the paper.
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This
is an advantage to companies that print receipts, as they will fade with time,
going back to the white color of the paper.
However, this isn’t exactly true! You can actual restore the images and
word via various techniques that do the following:
1.
Restore the images and words back to
their original black colour
2.
Reduce or increase the whiteness of the
paper
Thus,
using these techniques, any information written on a Thermal paper can be
revealed. So how do we do this?
Restore the images and
words - Heat treatments methods that restore Thermal Paper
You
can reveal the images and words on a thermal paper by the re-application of
heat via various methods.
One
method involves the use of a laminator or document scanner. These devices use
high intensity light to scan documents and the heat of the light will increase
the visibility of the images and words. Additionally the scan generated will
expose what was written on the printed thermal paper receipt.
Equally,
if you have a high intensity UV Lamp, similar to those used in sauna rooms, you
can lay the paper under a flat sheet of transparent glass sheet for about 15
minutes to achieve the same results. In this case, you're also heating the
paper with high intensity UV Radiation, making the images and words visible
again.
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Even
better, if you do not have a UV lamp, you can use a very clean dry electric
iron or a hairdryer. Lay the Thermal paper with the writing side facing down
and run the iron quickly over the thermal paper. The chemicals will react with
the direct conducted heat from the clean dry electric iron, making the image or
words visible once more.
Reduce or increase the
whiteness of the paper - Digital Software and Photocopier to restore Receipts
If
you have a desktop scanner handy, you can scan the thermal printed receipts
that are faded.
Then
using software such as Photoshop, which is also great for removing background
in images used in making e-book covers a described in my MICO Wars blog article
entitled “How
to remove Image Backgrounds to make an e-book cover”, you can use the
Effect editor to work out the resolution of the colour and enhance it in order
to make the images and words visible again.
Another
technique that a little quicker is to simply use a black and white photocopier!
Set it to the blackest possible level the contrast as sharp as possible and
then photocopy the thermal receipt.
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The
process will copy the receipt and produce a high resolution image that
increases the printed images and letters on the receipt, making them visible
again.
Thermal paper Glows in
the Dark - Photographer's technique to read Receipts
This
next method is often use by the Jamaican Police to reveal information written
on thermally printed receipts or anything written in indelible ink e.g. lime
juice, urine or blood; exposure to UV (Ultravoilet) radiation.
This
is the same light that reveals blood, duster fingerprints and glow-in-the-dark
Jamaican Toto as described in my blog article
entitled “How
to make Glow-in-the-Dark Jamaica Cassava Toto”.
Most
of these substances actually glow under UV, so the technique involves exposing
the receipt to UV rays in a dark room. When you turn on the UV lamp and then
turn it off after about 1 minute, you'll notice that the images and words on
the thermally printed receipt glow in the dark. Use a non flash High resolution
Digital camera to take a picture of the receipt while in the Dark room.
In
so doing, you would have exposed, pun intended, the information on the Digicel or FLOW Jamaica voucher
receipt and reclaim your Credit which was lost!
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