Ohio inventions and firsts · Company innovation · 1944
Battelle develops xerography
Chester Carlson made the first xerographic copy on October 22, 1938 in Astoria, Queens; Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus took up development in 1944 and partnered with Haloid (later Xerox), leading to the 1959 Xerox 914.
At a glance
- Year
- 1944
- By
- Chester Carlson
- Company
- Battelle Memorial Institute / Haloid
- Place
- Columbus, Franklin County ZIP 43201 · Columbus · Franklin County
The story
Copying a document used to mean carbon paper, retyping or a messy photo process. Chester Carlson, a patent clerk and physicist, wanted a clean, dry method. On October 22, 1938, with assistant Otto Kornei, he made the first xerographic image.
For years nobody wanted it. Over twenty companies turned him down between 1939 and 1944. In 1944 the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, a nonprofit research center founded in 1929, backed the work. Battelle researchers, including William Bixby and Paul Andrus under vice-president John Crout, developed Carlson's dry copying idea in the 1940s.
The Haloid Company licensed the technology in 1947. Carlson's original process was clumsy, with flat plates and manual steps; it became practical when developers switched to a cylinder drum. The Xerox 914 was shown on September 16, 1959, rented at $25 a month plus four cents a copy.
Carlson became very wealthy, and gave away more than $150 million. He died on September 19, 1968. Xerography is the basis of photocopiers and laser printers.
Timeline
- 1938-10-22: Carlson and Otto Kornei make the first xerographic image in Astoria, Queens. (Astoria, NY) source
- 1942-10-06: Carlson is awarded U.S. patent 2,297,691. source
- 1944: Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus takes up the development. (Columbus, OH) source
- 1947: The Haloid Company licenses the technology. (Rochester, NY) source
- 1959-09-16: The Xerox 914 is unveiled. source
- 1968-09-19: Carlson dies. (New York) source
What it changed
- Rental of $25 a month plus four cents per copy made copiers widely used.
- Carlson gave away over $150 million.
Why it matters
Birth of Xerox.
Who gets the credit is disputed
The Ohio claim. Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus took up development of xerography in 1944 and partnered with Haloid, later Xerox, which led to the 1959 Xerox 914.
The other claims. Chester Carlson made the first xerographic copy in Astoria, New York, in 1938, so the invention was made outside Ohio and Ohio's role was development.
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.