Development of Photocopier Machine - Research Paper Example

Development of photocopier machine The basic concept of how a photocopier machine works was developed by Georgi Nadjakov in 1937. Georgi discovered that nonconductive materials can be permanently fused to a substance if it is polarized by the use of electric field and exposed to light rays (McClellan & Harold, 2006). Photocopier machine was later on founded in 1937 by a patent attorney by the name Chester Carlson. His work in office demands him a lot to make very many copies of significant documents.

He found this a very tedious work and as a result he gets motivated to conduct a research on an easier way of producing photocopies. He ends up conducting an experiment on photoconductivity. Chester made the first photocopier machine by use of zinc plate covered with sulfur (McClellan & Harold, 2006). He did the experiment by using a microscope slide written with the following words ‘10-22-38 Astoria’. He puts the slide on top of more Sulphur and under a bright light. When he removed the slide, a mirror image of the words remains (Rhodes & Streeter, 1999).

The invention was renamed xerography and the first machine made was 10-22-38 Astoria. Later in 1955, the first automated xerographic device was produced by Haloid Xerox. The first commercial push button photocopy device was made in 1958, the machine was named 914. In early 1950s, Radio Corporation America established a variation on the process by the name electro fax. In this process, images are formed on a specific coated paper and rendered with a toner dispersed in liquid (Rhodes & Streeter, 1999).

Also in the same year, the development of colored toner was developed, but full color copiers were not commercially availed until 3M availed them in 1968. The process uses dye sublimation instead of conventional electrostatic technology. Over the last few years, there has been development of photocopiers to adapt digital technology which is the latest technology, hence replacing the older analog technology. In digital technology, the photocopier consists of a scanner and laser printer integrated together.

Digital technology has developed automatic digital collation whereby when copying several pages, the copier scans every page once then stores the information and use it to produce very many other copies. The photocopy technology has enabled the production of several similar papers effectively within a short time unlike in the past when the carbon papers was used to reproduce copies. The development of photocopiers has spun off the development of inkjet or transfer film technology. The merit of photocopiers over the past copying technologies is that they use plain office paper; they implement two sided printing and they sort and staple the output.

The negative consequences for the development of this technology are; color copying facilitates the counterfeiting of currencies. Some countries now incorporate anti-counterfeiting technologies in their currencies to make it complex the use of color copiers for counterfeiting. The photocopiers uses ultraviolet light, and exposure to it has some health implications. Photocopiers using ultraviolet lights like fluorescent, tungsten halogen and others expose the paper being copied to ultraviolet light; concerns about this have been expressed in connection with the use of selenium and emissions of ozone and fumes emerging from the heated toner.

ReferencesBarbara J. Rhodes & William W. Streeter. (1999). before photocopying: the art & history of mechanical copying. Michigan: Oak Knoll Press. James E McClellan & Harold Dorn. (2006). Science and technology in world history: an introduction Science and Technology in World History. New York: JHU Press.