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Xerox 914
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1959 model of photocopier produced by Xerox; first successful
commercial photocopier
[220px-Xerox_914]
Xerox 914 photo copier.
The Xerox 914 was the first successful commercial plain paper copier
which in 1959 revolutionized the document-copying industry. The
culmination of inventor Chester Carlson's work on the xerographic
process, the 914 was fast and economical. The copier was introduced
to the public on September 16, 1959, in a demonstration at the
Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York, shown on live television.^[1]
[ ]
Contents
* 1 Background
* 2 Specifications and features
* 3 Sales
* 4 Legacy
* 5 In popular culture
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
Background[edit]
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Xerography, a process of producing images using electricity, was
invented in 1938 by physicist-lawyer Chester Floyd "Chet" Carlson
(1906-1968), and an engineering friend, Otto Kornei. Carlson entered
into a research agreement with the Battelle Memorial Institute in
1944, when he and Kornei produced the first operable copy machine. He
sold his rights in 1947 to the Haloid Company, a wet-chemical
photocopy machine manufacturer, founded in 1906 in Rochester, New
York.
Haloid introduced the first commercial xerographic copier, the Xerox
Model A, in 1949. The company had, the previous year, announced the
refined development of xerography in collaboration with Battelle
Development Corporation, of Columbus, Ohio. Manually operated, it was
also known as the Ox Box. An improved version, Camera #1, was
introduced in 1950. Haloid was renamed Haloid Xerox in 1958, and,
after the instant success of the 914, when the name Xerox soon became
synonymous with "copy", would become the Xerox Corporation.
In 1963, Xerox introduced the first desktop copier to make copies on
plain paper, the 813. It was designed by Jim Balmer and William H.
Armstrong of Armstrong-Balmer & Associates, and won a 1964
Certificate of Design Merit from the Industrial Designers Institute
(IDI). Balmer had recently left Harley Earl, Inc., where he had been
a designer since 1946, to co-establish Armstrong-Balmer & Associates
in 1958. At Earl, Balmer had been involved in the Secretary copy
machine designed for Thermofax and introduced by 3M in 1958, and
Haloid Xerox had been impressed with the design, engaging Balmer to
consult on the final design of the 914.
A year later, in 1964, Balmer worked with Xerox to establish their
first internal industrial design group. Among those first design
employees were William Dalton and Robert Van Valkinburgh.
Specifications and features[edit]
One of the most successful Xerox products ever, the 914 model
(so-called because it could copy originals up to 9 inches by 14
inches (229 mm x 356 mm)) could make 100,000 copies per month (seven
copies per minute). In 1985, the Smithsonian received a Xerox 914,
number 517 off the assembly line. It weighs approximately 650 pounds^
[2] (294 kg) and measures 42" (107 cm) high x 46" (117 cm) wide x 45"
(114 cm) deep.
The machine was mechanically complex. It required a large technical
support force,^[2] and had a tendency to catch fire when overheated.
Because of the problem, the Xerox company provided a "scorch
eliminator", which was actually a small fire extinguisher, along with
the copier.^[1] But despite these problems, the machine was regarded
with affection by its operators, due to it being complex enough to be
interesting to use, but without being so complex as to be beyond
understanding.^[3]
The pricing structure of the machine was designed to encourage
customers to rent rather than buy: it could be rented in 1965 for $25
per month, plus 10 cents per copy. There was a meter, which the
customer would read to fill out and mail a card to Xerox each month.
Its purchase price was $27,500,^[2] which was established by the US
Government, as they would not rent equipment. The customer also
bought paper and toner (ink) at a cost of about 5 cents per copy.
Sales[edit]
The 914 was a significant component of Xerox's revenues in the
mid-1960s, with one author estimating that the machine accounted for
two thirds of the company's revenue in 1965, with income generated of
$243M.^[2] The machine was produced between 1960 and 1977.^[4]
Legacy[edit]
The company's subsequent models were the Xerox 710, the Xerox 1000,
the Xerox 813 and the Xerox 2400. One writer has assessed that the
popularity of the machine has had a number of lasting impacts, such
as prompting the introduction of highlighter pens, and university
courses switching from reading lists of single chapters from several
paperbacks, to requiring a single compilation of those chapters
produced by local copy shops.^[4]
In popular culture[edit]
The arrival of a Xerox 914 is a cultural signifier in the 2nd season
of Mad Men, set in a 1961 Manhattan advertising agency. It is
acquired specifically to impress a potential client with how modern
the agency is.
In the 2017 film The Post, Daniel Ellsberg, portrayed by Matthew Rhys
, is seen using a Xerox 914 to copy the Pentagon Papers.
References[edit]
1. ^ ^a ^b Hemmungs Wirten, Eva (2004). No Trespassing: Authorship,
Intellectual Property Rights, and the Boundaries of Globalization
. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802086082.
2. ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Brooks, p. 17
3. ^ Brooks, p. 18
4. ^ ^a ^b Edward Tenner. "The Mother of All Invention". The
Atlantic. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
Further reading[edit]
* Brooks, John, (1967) 'Xerox Xerox Xerox Xerox' The New Yorker
Magazine, Apr 1 and available at Gatesnotes.com
* Owen, David (2004). Copies in Seconds: Chester Carlson and the
Birth of the Xerox Machine. Simon & Schuster. ISBN
978-1-4223-5892-4.
* Tenner, Edward (July-August 2010). "The Mother of All Invention".
The Atlantic. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
* v
* t
* e
Xerox
* Joseph C. Wilson (entrepreneur)
Founders * Chester Carlson
* Keith Cozza (chairman)
Corporate * John Visentin (vice chairman and
Directors CEO)
* Xerox PARC
* ACS
* Joint ventures:
Divisions + Fuji Xerox
* Defunct or Acquired:
+ Scientific Data Systems
+ Diablo Data Systems
* Alto
Workstations * Star Xerox
* Daybreak logo.svg
Minicomputers * Xerox Sigma 9
and servers * Xerox 500 series
Hardware products Scanners * Xerox 9700
and printers * Xerox 914
* Phaser
* Prototypes:
+ NoteTaker
+ Dynabook
Bravo (editor)
Xerox Network Systems
Software products
* Operating systems:
+ Xerox OS
+ Pilot
*
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