Digital Color Copiers

There are desirable features when purchasing digital color copiers. Gone are the days of the printing press and analog, drum-based photocopy machines. In today's technology based work place, digital laser copiers can act as photocopy machines, collation stations, fax machines, printers and stapling devices. With this many capabilities, taking a closer look at photocopy machines will allow for an informed decision and well spent money. To truly see how far these assets to office life have come, the astute shopper needs to understand where they have been. Before xerography, a copying method using dry heat, was invented in the 1960s, businesses relied on Photostat machines, mimeographs and carbon paper to fulfill the company's copying needs. Before that, there were scribes. "The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, that they should be ready against that day." (Esther 3:14) Now the copier is such a mainstay in modern offices that the digital age's move toward a paperless society is held at bay by its presence in almost every company, not to mention many homes. It is widely used in government offices, educational entities and a variety of office based industries.

The makers of photocopy machines have perfected the mechanics to an art form. An electrostatic drum is charged. This drum is typically coated with a photo conducting substance. In simple terms, the drum is painted with a covering that remembers shapes and colors when light shines on it. After the drum is negatively charged electrically, a light is shines on the document to be copied. As the white parts of the paper reflect the light back to the drum, the image is temporarily burned on the surface. Digital laser copiers differ a little bit, in that a laser is used to scan the image and then burn a copy onto the face of the drum. Then, toner with a positive charge is applied to the negatively charged drum, and it sticks to the black areas. After this, the drum rolls over the paper and fuses the image to the sheet. When the whole process is done, the drum is cleaned off. Older analog copiers used positive drums and negative toners, but digital color copiers now use the method just described to produce the image.

In the late 1930s, a man named Chester Carlson experimented with writing on microscope slides and exposing them to light and electrically charged zinc covered with sulfur. At the time many people were satisfied with the common technique of duplicating with carbon paper, but Carlson pressed on knowing that one day people would want his invention. He called his process "electrophotography." Toward the end of the 1940s, the Haloid Corporation bought Carlson's patent. After taking a few surveys, Haloid Corporation decided that the word "electrophotography" was too long and would not sell many machines. The word "xerography" was finally decided on. Xerography is a Greek word meaning dry writing. The 1950s saw the birth of color toner. By using color toner, copies could bear the full range of beauty of the original image. These machines were originally quite expensive and did not gain mass appeal until well into the early 1970s.

Color copy machines are of great concern to government officials. High quality laser copiers can produce a realistic counterfeit. Not surprisingly, the widespread use of digital laser copiers brought about more governmental safety measures to protect against currency counterfeiting. These include: holograms that only show up on the original, watermarks that are not light sensitive when being copied and tiny strips of plastic embedded into the fibers of the bill.

As the xerography technology improved, the digital color copiers began to emerge on the scene. Digital copiers are a combination of an image scanner and a printer. There are marked advantages to this technology. Digital color copiers can improve the lighting and angle of the image they are duplicating. Because it is based on memory, the user can build a job. Building a job consists of entering requests for copies, separate from the process of scanning the documents. Along these lines, many high end digital laser copiers can fax the scanned image or put it on the network to share with the other employees. Another time saving benefit of the latest digital color copiers is the ability to collate. If a user wanted to make 10 copies of a 15 page document, an analog copier would scan the first page 10 times, then move on to the second page. At the end of the job, the employee would have 15 stacks (one for each page of the original), with 10 copies in each stack. At this time, the worker would have to collate and staple all the copies by hand. With a digital machine, each page is scanned once and saved to memory, so that the end product is 10 stacks of the 15 page document. The office employee needs only collect the collated stacks and staple them. In many high end copiers, even stapling is already done for the user.

With all the capabilities available for the shopper, a smart consumer is bound to get a wonderful piece of office machinery with a little research. Each capability does add to the cost of the copier, so the cost can escalate pretty quickly. Someone considering copiers for home or office need only ask themselves a few easy questions to arrive a digital laser copier that is the right fit for their needs. How many copies can be made per minute? Does the copier provide duplexing (printing on both sides of the paper)? How many sizes of paper does the copier allow? Does it collate or fax? Answering some of these simple questions can narrow the search, when there is an ocean of color laser copiers to choose from.

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