Historical Development - Photocopier

A patent attorney in New York by the name of Chester Carlson, which he called it a ‘electrophotography’, invented the first coping machine in 1937. Getting annoyed by the difficulty and expense of copying documents led him to experiment with transferring images from one piece of paper to another using static electricity. Carlson established the basic principles of electrophotography, filing his first preliminary patent application on October 18, 1937. His patent process was later renamed ‘Xerography’, with the first photocopy which was the “10-22-38 Astoria”. During the 20^th century, the Xerography copying process became one of the most well known inventions.

However It took Carlson almost 10years to make his Xerography a popular inventions. After finding a company to help with its development, The Harold Company took up the challenge and later became the Xerox Corporation.It took a further 22 years after the first electrophotography was invented to make the first office photocopiers known as the Xerox 914, in 1958 is where the first ever-commercial push button plain paper photocopier was introduced and sold in thousands.

Development of Photocopier - Timeline

1937	Chester Carlson created first coping machine
1947	Xerography (photocopier) finally became popular
1958	First commercial push button photocopier
1959	Colour toners for office photocopiers
1968	Colour photocopiers for households – 3M company
2000’s	Multi-functional photocopiers (scanners, laser printers and Faxes)