Chester F. Carlson, Inventor of the Photocopier
Xerography Born From the Drudgery of Making Perfect Copies at Work
Born in Seattle, Washington in 1906, Carlson moved with his family to San Bernadino, California when he was 14. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a degree in physics in 1928 as America was experiencing the Great Depression. Carlson applied for 82 jobs before he found one at Bell Laboratories in New York. Within a year he was laid off. He then worked successively for a patent attorney and for P. R. Mallory, a manufacturer of electrical parts in New York.
Photoconductivity is Key to the Invention of the Photocopier
In photoconductivity Carlson saw the future of his planned invention. A man of his scientific background knew that exposing certain materials to light changes their electrical properties. This information he coupled with the findings of physicist Paul Selenyi that charged particles adhered to surfaces that had an opposite charge. Now Carlson had a new idea. On September 8, 1938 he filed for a patent for the process, which he called electrophotography. On October 6, 1942 the patent was issued.
When not working at P. R. Mallory, Carlson went to law school, entering in 1936 and graduating in 1939. Of course he also worked on transforming his idea of electrophotograpy into a working invention. He had a lab, which by 1938 he had moved from his apartment in Queens to an unoccupied space in an Astoria, Queens beauty shop .
1938 Experiment Shows Carlson is on the Right Track
On October 22, 1938 he and his assistant rubbed a zinc plate that had been coated with sulphur with a hankerchief to give it an positive charge. Then they put a glass slide on it. Written in India ink on the slide was "10–23–38 ASTORIA." They put the glass slide on the zinc plate and put both under lamplight for a few seconds . The India ink writing blocked the light so that on the plate only the writing retained a positive charge. The experimenters removed the slide and applied a negatively charged powder to the plate. The powder adhered to the positively charged writing. Carlson put waxed paper (positively charged) on top of the powder, heated the paper and then peeled it off. Blowing off the excess powder, he saw on the paper exactly what had been written on the slide.
Despite his success in October, Carlson could get no individual or company to give him the financial backing he needed. In 1944 Battelle Memorial Institute, a nonprofit organization interested in science and invention, agreed to invest in his work in exchange for a share of the profits. The Battelle funds were being quickly depleted. Carlson knew he would need more money.
It came from John Dassauer, head of research at the Haloid company in Rochester, New York. The company made photo papers. In 1946 Haloid came onboard as a research partner for the photocopier project. The company changed the name of the process from electrophotography to xerography, using the Greek words xeros for dry and graphos for writing.
Haloid and Battelle Enter Into a Partnership; Creation of the Xerox Name
In 1947 Haloid and Battelle signed an agreement allowing Haloid to manufacture the copier. The two companies continued to make improvements to Carlson's invention. In 1949, their first photocopier was offered for sale to the public. But it was large and not easy to use. It did not take the world by storm.
In 1959 or 1960, Haloid Xerox, as the company was named by then, put the Xerox 914 copier on the market. It was the first to use plain paper. Companies could lease the machines and they featured one-button copying. The copier was a success. In 1961 the company changed its name to the Xerox Corporation. Battelle, the Xerox Corporation and Carlson made millions.
Carlson died in Rochester, New York on September 19, 1968. The Xerox 914 copier is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Read More About Carlson's Life and the Timeline for Invention of Photocopier
Source:
- Flatow, Ira. They All Laughed...From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives. New York: Harper Perenneal. 1993.
Xerox Means "Dry Writing"
|
A Xerox Copier of Today
|
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles