A triumph of the modern inventive era, a photocopier (or copier) machine is an extremely useful tool in the office. A photocopier machine can be used to create copies of documents, which may contain text and/or visual images on plain or untreated office paper. It has the ability to produce a number of copies of the original document in quick succession and consequently is of the utmost importance and indeed is often considered vital in offices where numerous copies of the original document are required.

This machine boasts of a number of beneficial features. To begin with, it can carry out the task of duplex (or two-sided) printing. This feature combined with the fact that a photocopier can use untreated office paper is the key advantage over other copying technologies that were earlier in use.  It can also staple sheets of paper together for you.

A photocopier machine can create a paper copy in a matter of few seconds thus saving a lot of one’s time, energy and efforts and it’s faster than using a printer. And certainly one aspect that cannot easily be ignored is the cost-efficiency. While printing via an electronic medium costs quite high, photocopying turns out to be a cheaper alternative when compared to the former.

A number of versions are available in the market to choose from. This efficient machine, which works in a user-friendly manner, is perfectly in tune with the modern modes and standards of working.

The process of photocopying was invented by Chester Carlson, who worked at the patent office in New York. It is a fairly recent invention as Carlson, after conducting numerous experiments with photoconductivity, developed “electro photography” (or xerography) in 1938 and got it patented in 1942. Although dry electrostatic processes were in existence since the 1770s, Carlson’s technique is known to combine electrostatic printing with photography.

At that time multiple copies could be produced by the help of carbon paper or duplicating machines and more significantly because of the underdeveloped state of Carlson’s invention, he was practically turned down by a number of companies in his efforts to sell it.

A non-profit organisation, the Battelle Memorial Institute took upon itself to improve Carlson’s process in 1944. After a five-year period of rigorous experimentation, Haloid Corporation (manufacturer and seller of photographic paper in New York) offered to obtain a license to upgrade and promote a copying machine using the same technology.

The process got its new name,”Xerography”(derived from Greek words meaning “dry writing”) and the new copier machines were named as “Xerox machines”. In 1948, Haloid Corporation changed its name to Xerox Corporation.

A series of developments followed after the Radio Corporation of America came up with a variation on the process called “Electro fax” where the image is supposed to form directly on the surface of the paper as against “Xerography” where the image gets formed first on a drum and then gets transmitted on the paper. This technique remained in vogue for nearly thirty years before the Savin Corporation in the 1960s developed and marketed a line of liquid-toner copiers.

The first Xerographic copier was launched in 1949, which was named as the Model A. And as Xerox grew successful, photocopying in America came to be generally referred to as “Xeroxing”.

With the advent of new technology photocopiers today have acquired a multipurpose format offering not only copying but also scanning and printing features are offered in a single unit.

Photocopiers are great pieces of office equipment as not only they are time savers but also cost effective compared to printing.

They have the ability to print on both sides of the paper with option of varying sizes, colors, collating copies and other features simply at the touch of a button.

While choosing a photocopier you should look into the power consumption of the equipment as most of the time a photocopier is left switched on for long hours even when not in use, so an energy efficient photocopiers becomes the need of the hour for any modern office.

A photocopier is of utmost importance to an office where large quantity of duplicate records needs to be made and transferred to various individuals, so a right photocopier can save the time and also the cost associated with every print.

One thing to keep in mind while buying a photocopier whether black & white or colour is to see how expensive is the ink used for re-filling.

We do hope the information mentioned above would help you in selecting the perfect photocopier for your office.