Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg--Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine.Today, we take for granted the ability to copy a newspaper clipping or a legal paper. However, before xerography xerography (zərŏg`rəfē'), also called electrophotography, method of dry photocopying in which the image is transferred by using the attractive forces of electric charges. , it was difficult to share such documents. Intrigued by this generally unheralded development. Owen focuses on Chester Carlson Chester Floyd Carlson (February 8, 1906 - September 19, 1968) was an American physicist, inventor, and patent attorney born in Seattle, Washington. He invented the process of instant copying which he called electrophotography, and which was subsequently named xerography and , who invented xerography. Born of modest means at the turn of the twentieth century, Carlson earned a Ph.D. in physics and then found himself mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in the Great Depression and a job in the patent office of an electronics firm in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Convinced that he could make a major contribution to the world while making his work easier, he set out to invent a copier. In a relatively short period, he had a viable prototype and a patent. However, his idea was turned down repeatedly by companies such as General Electric and IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) . By the time two executives at a company then called Haloid took notice, time was running out on his patent. The race was on to develop a copier that they could take to market. The team accomplished its goal and Xerox Corporation was born. Today, people make about 2 trillion copies a year. Carlson earned millions from his invention and lived a frugal yet philanthropic life. S&S, 2004, 306 p., hardcover, $24.00. |
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