Copier Inventor Dies

[charm5496]

New York Times article:

Robert W. Gundlach , 84, leading Xerox inventor died today.

At 26 years of age in 1952 he joined the Haloid company, which later on became Xerox. By 1959 Xerox unveiled the first copier in part due to his contributions.

All of us have our jobs in part because of this guy.

[mrwho]

And here I was thinking that Chester Carlson did it.

Nevertheless, my condolences to Mr. Gundlach's relatives for his contribution to the photocopier business.

[android790]

i seen a doc on pbs about xerox 10 years ago. i also thought chester p. was the one. i do not work on these machines, but it is a must see for copy techs of any brand. the birth and history of any company that has this many off shoots is worth knowing. each company adding to the technology of copier advancement. this is what i live for

[charm5496]

I wouldn't mind seeing that documentary myself and I haven't heard of Chester Carlson, but was reading the article last night so I thought I would pass the info along. It is possible the two of them did work together since they were both at Xerox. I have never touched the xerox line myself, but the docutech series is an impressive peice of equipment.

[blackcat4866]

I'm thinking that there were several people that contributed various ideas collected in the inventing of the first copier. The name I have heard is also Chester Carlson.

Like all complex technology it's a conglomeration of a bit of this with a bit of that.... =^..^=

[charm5496]

here is the link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/bu...html?src=busln

[Gamut]

The xerographic process, which was invented by Chester Carlson in 1938 and developed and commercialized by the Xerox Corporation, is widely used to produce high-quality text and graphic images on paper.

Carlson originally called the process electrophotography. It's based on two natural phenomena: that materials of opposite electrical charges attract and that some materials become better conductors of electricity when exposed to light.

[android790]

What I thought was funny was when he went to pitch the idea for funding, one guy told him,"why would we want a copier, we have carbon paper for copies" not forward thinking. It still makes me giggle

[OMD-227]

Have a read of the book 'Copies In Seconds' by David Owen. I purchased it about a year ago, and it is an amazing read. It tells the full entire story of how the copier was invented, marketed and how it has become what it is today.
Chester Carlson was the man. The book tells the story of how he was raised in a very poor family, through to how he gave away his millions of dollars as he neared death.
The part that just made me fall over, was that Carlson was getting royalties for every single copy made for many years. It definitely added up.

A great book, and a great read if you are interested.

[Robert Sveinson]

[QUOTE=mrwho;160547]And here I was thinking that Chester Carlson did it.

Unless my memory has failed me (and it does some times)
Chester Carlson did in fact invent Xerography, and he and
other skilful people developed the methods that were needed
to make xerography a useful product.
eg: 914, copyflo 11, copyflo 24,
and the flat plate ?number 4? camera and developer
system. The operator of the number 4 system was
able to make copies on paper, and coated paper
masters for offset printing presses.