During combat it is essential that all medical organizations record patients received and evacuated in an accurate way in order to provide the War Department with all data pertinent to a specific case. For simplification of administration and to help record clerks with their tasks and avoid errors in the field, a special mechanical device was introduced by the United States Army in 1942.

The Model 70 Addressograph is a pistol-type Imprinting Machine used by the US Army Medical Department to transfer a patient’s identification data directly to his Medical Records. To speed up preparation of specific medical documents and forms such as Clearing Station Tags (Medical Department Form 53), this special mechanical device printed information directly from the individual identification tags (aka Dog Tags) worn around the neck of all military personnel.

When used in a Clearing Station, the Imprinting Machine – Pistol Type or Addressograph Model 70 is adjusted to print the two uppermost of the five embossed lines only. The person designated to initiate the M.D. Form 53 at the Receiving Department of the Clearing Station places one of the casualty’s Identification Tags in the machine (the notch in the Dog Tag helps to align and hold the tag securely in the “Addressograph” while printing) and prints the casualty’s name, serial number, tetanus toxoid date, and blood type in the appropriate spaces, i.e. Section B – Disposition, and Section A – Admission, provided for this information.

Three different positions are available, and the number of lines to be imprinted is determined by the setting of the platen cut-off device in advance, to achieve the following data transfer:

• Imprint of the soldier’s name and serial number ONLY
• Imprint of the name and address of the person(s) to be notified in case of emergency ONLY
• Imprint of the ENTIRE five lines of the Identification Tag

To imprint a form, the user presses the trigger lever thus raising the platen against the embossed characters of the identification tag. The density of the impression, light or dark, is determined by the amount of pressure exerted on the trigger. When the trigger is pulled, the information on the tag is transferred onto the medical document through the ribbon of carbon paper located inside the apparatus.

Official nomenclature:

Item 99387 – Machine, Imprinting: for use with individual identification tags, listed under heading Class 9 Field Equipment & Supplies, Miscellaneous, War Department – Medical Department Supply Catalog, November 1, 1942.

Item 99387 – Machine, Imprinting: for use with individual identification tags, listed under heading Class 9 Field Equipment & Supplies, Miscellaneous Equipment and Supplies, War Department – Medical Department Supply Catalog, June 1, 1943.

Item 9938700 – Machine, Imprinting: for use with individual identification tags, listed under heading Field Equipment & Supplies, Miscellaneous Equipment and Supplies, Army Service Forces Catalog MED 3, Medical Supply Catalog, 1 March 1944.

9938700 – Machine, Imprinting:
Item	Quantity
Cardboard Box	1
Instruction Sheet (operation & maintenance)	1

(the illustrated sample was made by the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., 1943)