History of Photocopier
The first commonly used copy machine for offices was invented by James Watt in 1779. It relied on physically transferring some of the ink from an original letter or drawing to a moistened thin unsized sheet of paper by means of a press. The copy could then be read from the obverse side. The system was a commercial success and was in use in for over a century.
In 1937, Bulgarian physicist Georgi Nadjakov found that, when placed into an electric field and exposed to light, some dielectrics acquire permanent electric polarization in the exposed areas. That polarization persists in the dark and is destroyed in light.
Chester Carlson, the inventor of photocopying, was originally a patent attorney, as well as a part-time researcher and inventor. Due to large copies of documents required to reproduce. He conducted an experiment in his kitchen for "electrophotography".
In 1944, the Battelle Memorial Institute, a non-profit organization in Columbus, Ohio, contracted with Carlson to refine his new process. Over the next five years, the institute conducted experiments to improve the process of electrophotography. In 1947, Haloid Corporation approached Battelle to obtain a license to develop and market a copying machine based on this technology.
Haloid felt that the word "electrophotography" was too complicated and did not have good recall value. After consulting a professor of classical language at Ohio State University, Haloid and Carlson changed the name of the process to "xerography," which was derived from Greek words that meant "dry writing." Haloid called the new copier machines "Xerox Machines" and, in 1948, the word "Xerox" was trademarked. Haloid eventually changed its name to Xerox Corporation.
In 1949, Xerox Corporation introduced the first xerographic copier called the Model A.
In the early 1950s, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) introduced a variation on the process called Electrofax, whereby images are formed directly on specially coated paper and rendered with a toner dispersed in a liquid.
During the 1960s and through the 1980s, Savin Corporation developed and sold a line of liquid-toner copiers that implemented a technology based on patents held by the company.
Xerographic copier manufacturers took advantage of a high perceived-value of the 1960s and early 1970s, and marketed paper that was "specially designed" for xerographic output. By the end of the 1970s, paper producers made xerographic "runability" one of the requirements for most of their office paper brands.
Some devices sold as photocopiers have replaced the drum-based process with inkjet or transfer film technology.