How does a Xerox Machine Work?

Xerox machines use electrical processes to duplicate images onto paper.

Businesses and individuals often find it necessary to create duplicate copies of forms and documents. A Xerox machine uses an electrical process to satisfy these needs.

Xerography

Xerox machines create copies uses a technique called xerography. Xerography is type of dry electrostatic printing process.

Details

In xerography, an electrostatic charge is distributed over the surface of the printer drum. The document to be copied is lit and either scanned or passed over by a moving light or lens. The image is then projected onto the drum's service. The drum uses a mixture of toner particles which, when agitated, develop a triboelectric charge, or type of static electricity. The charge attracts toner particles, which create a visible image on the drum's surface. As paper is passed under the drum, the toner is sent via pressure and electrostatic attraction to the paper. The image fixes permanently to the paper by a heat and pressure device in the copier called a hot roll fuser.

Fun Fact

The first dry electrostatic printing process was invented in 1778 by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.

References

• AudioEnglish.net: Xerox Machine
• "Copies in Seconds: Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine"; David Owen; 2004

Resources

• "Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox;" Charles D. Ellis, Anne M. Mulcahy, and Joel M. Podolny; 2006