The story begins around 3 500 BC when the Phoenicians developed an alphabet. With such humble beginnings, communication in the 21st century now involves the use of more than four million tons of copy paper, two billion books, 350 million magazines, 25 billion newspapers and 90 billion pieces of commercial "junk mail" per annum, according to data gathered by the Resource Conservation Alliance.
But getting to this point where the printing and copying industry is valued at $1 trillion, required invention: of papyrus rolls as portable and light writing surfaces, modern-day paper, the printing press, the typewriter and the mimeograph.
The clincher, however, was Chester Carlson`s invention of electrophotography in 1958. This was the shot in the arm needed to create an industry that directly and indirectly employs over 10 million people in the US alone. Statistics released by the US Department of Commerce indicates that paper and printing purchases represent between 5% and 15% of all corporate expenditures and that the average US office worker uses over 10 000 sheets of printing and copying paper a year.
Father of the photocopier
Carlson, who lived between 1906 and 1968, was an American physicist, inventor and patent attorney who struggled for decades to bring to the world an invention that would revolutionise it.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Carlson earned his BS degree in physics at the California Institute of Technology. He began his working career at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, working as a research engineer. He then worked briefly in the company`s patent department but was forced to find other work as a clerk with a patent attorney near Wall Street after being retrenched. Later he moved to electronics firm PR Mallory where he was promoted to head of the patent department. His work in the area of patenting showed Carlson that there was a major need for improvement.
10.-22.-38 ASTORIA
It took Carlson 15 years to establish the basic principles of electrophotography, patenting his developments as he progressed. He hired an immigrant physicist, Otto Kornei, and together they made the breakthrough on 22 October 1938 in a back room of a house in Astoria, Queens.
10.-22.-38 ASTORIA is the first lettering to be copied using Carlson`s electrophotographic method, a process whereby light and shadow strike an electrically charged plate of a certain material to attract an electrostatic or magnetic powder to the darkend areas. Fusing or melting this powder to the page enables the creation of a near-exact copy of the original paper.
In 1944, Carlson signed a deal with Battelle Corporation, a non-profit organisation that focused on sponsoring new inventions. Battelle got the Haloid Company, a producer of photo paper, to develop the concept. The research cost Haloid a minimum investment of $25 000 a year, at great risk to the company, but the first photocopier, known as the XeroX, was introduced in 1949. In 1955 came Copyflo, the first completely automated xerographic machine capable of producing enlarged prints on a continuous roll from microfilm originals.
However, true success did not come to Haloid until 1959 when it introduced the Model 914. In March 1960, when the first 914 was shipped to a customer, there were predictions that only 5 000 units would be sold in three years. By the end of 1962, 10 000 had been shipped and manufacturers were backlogged with orders.
The Model 914 saw the birth of a major corporation, Xerox. In 1959, the company`s net income was $2.6 million and in only four year it rocketed to $22.6 million.
Carlson`s gift to Xerox and the world was to demonstrate the value of innovation, the importance of taking calculated risks and the business sense of funding research and development.
It is these principles that Xerox continues to uphold today. The company holds more than 16 000 US patents and is ranked as one of the world`s top technology innovators. It operates research and technology centres in the US, Canada and Europe where work and research is conducted in the fields of colour science, computing, systems, novel materials and other disciplines connected to the company`s expertise in printing and document management.
The company employs more than 1 100 researchers, scientists, engineers, patent and IP experts, and business development managers to explore the unknown, invent next-generation technology, architect product platforms, manage intellectual property and create new business opportunities. The spirit of Chester Carlson continues to drive Xerox forward through innovation.
* Bytes Document Solutions is the sole authorised distributor of Xerox products and solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
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As the authorised Xerox distributor to 24 sub-Saharan countries, Bytes Document Solutions, previously known as Xerox South Africa, is engaged in the marketing and servicing of the complete range of Xerox document equipment, software, solutions and services, and operating through an extensive network of distributors, dealers, concessionaires and channel partners. With black economic empowerment partner Kagiso Holdings owning a 27% stake of the business, it is a wholly owned member of the JSE Securities Exchange-listed Bytes Technology Group.
For more information on Bytes Document Solutions and Xerox, visit www.xerox.com/news.
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