Photocopier in the context of Picture


Photocopiers utilize mechanical means to reproduce images, functioning as a method of image replication alongside techniques like photography and printmaking, rather than relying on direct projection or electronic signals.

⭐ In the context of image reproduction, a photocopier is most accurately considered a form of…


⭐ Core Definition: Photocopier

A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process that uses electrostatic charges on a light-sensitive photoreceptor to first attract and then transfer toner particles (a powder) onto paper in the form of an image. The toner is then fused onto the paper using heat, pressure, or a combination of both. Copiers can also use other technologies, such as inkjet, but xerography is standard for office copying.

Commercial xerographic office photocopying gradually replaced copies made by verifax, photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines.

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In the context of image reproduction, a photocopier is most accurately considered a form of…
HINT: Photocopiers create copies through physical processes involving rollers, light, and toner, classifying them as a method of mechanical reproduction, similar to printmaking and photography.

In this Dossier

Photocopier in the context of Image

An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a projection on a surface, activation of electronic signals, or digital displays; they can also be reproduced through mechanical means, such as photography, printmaking, or photocopying. Images can also be animated through digital or physical processes.

In the context of signal processing, an image is a distributed amplitude of color(s). In optics, the term image (or optical image) refers specifically to the reproduction of an object formed by light waves coming from the object.

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Photocopier in the context of Risograph

Risograph is a brand of digital duplicators manufactured by the Riso Kagaku Corporation. Released in Japan in 1980, it is designed mainly for high-volume photocopying and printing. It is sometimes called a printer-duplicator as newer models can be used as a network printer as well as a stand-alone duplicator. When printing or copying many duplicates (generally more than 100) of the same content, it is typically far less expensive per page than a conventional photocopier, laser printer, or inkjet printer.

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Photocopier in the context of Duplicating machines

Duplicating machines were the predecessors of modern document-reproduction technology. They have now been replaced by digital duplicators, scanners, laser printers, and photocopiers, but for many years they were the primary means of reproducing documents for limited-run distribution. The duplicator was pioneered by Thomas Edison and David Gestetner, with Gestetner dominating the market up until the late 1990s.

Like the typewriter, these machines were products of the second phase of the Industrial Revolution which started near the end of the 19th century (also called the Second Industrial Revolution). This second phase brought to mass markets technologies like the small electric motors and the products of industrial chemistry without which the duplicating machines would not have been economical. By bringing greatly increased quantities of paperwork to daily life, the duplicating machine and the typewriter gradually changed the forms of the office desk and transformed the nature of office work.

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Photocopier in the context of Laser printer

Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a negatively charged cylinder called a "drum" to define a differentially charged image. The drum then selectively collects electrically charged powdered ink (toner), and transfers the image to paper, which is then heated to permanently fuse the text, imagery, or both to the paper. As with digital photocopiers, laser printers employ a xerographic printing process. Laser printing differs from traditional xerography as implemented in analog photocopiers in that in the latter, the image is formed by reflecting light off an existing document onto the photoconductor drum.

The laser printer was invented at Xerox PARC in the 1970s. Laser printers were introduced for the office and then home markets in subsequent years by IBM, Canon, Xerox, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and many others. Over the decades, quality and speed have increased as prices have decreased, and the once cutting-edge printing devices are now ubiquitous.

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Photocopier in the context of Xerox

Xerox Holdings Corporation (/ˈzɪərɒks/, ZEER-oks) is an American corporation that sells printers, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduction of the Xerox 914 in 1959, so much so that the word xerox is commonly used as a synonym for photocopy. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, though it is incorporated in New York with its largest group of employees based around Rochester, New York, where the company was founded. As a large developed company, it is consistently placed in the list of Fortune 500 companies.

The company purchased Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion in early 2010. On December 31, 2016, Xerox separated its business process service operations, essentially those operations acquired with the purchase of Affiliated Computer Services, into a new publicly traded company, Conduent. Xerox focuses on its document technology and document outsourcing business, and traded on the NYSE from 1961 to 2021, and the Nasdaq since 2021.

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Photocopier in the context of Xerography

Xerography (from the Greek roots ξηρός xeros, meaning "dry" and -‍γραφία -‍graphia, meaning "writing") is a technique of printing and photocopying. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed to emphasize that it uses no liquid chemicals, unlike reproduction techniques then in use such as cyanotype.

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Photocopier in the context of Toner (printing)

Toner is a powder mixture used in laser printers and photocopiers to form the text and images on paper, in general through a toner cartridge. Mostly granulated plastic, early mixtures added only carbon powder and iron oxide; now there are mixtures that contain polypropylene, fumed silica, and various minerals for triboelectrification. Toner using plant-derived plastic also exists as an alternative to petroleum plastic. Toner particles are melted by the heat of the fuser, and are thus bonded to the paper.

In earlier photocopiers, this low-cost carbon toner was poured by the user from a bottle into a reservoir in the machine. Later copiers, and laser printers from the first 1984 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet, feed directly from a sealed toner cartridge.

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Photocopier in the context of Flyer (pamphlet)

A flyer (or flier) is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. Today, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied leaflets to expensive, glossy, full-color circulars. Flyers in a digital format can be shared on the internet.

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Photocopier in the context of Multi-function printer

An MFP (multi-function product/printer/peripheral), multi-functional, all-in-one (AIO), or multi-function device (MFD), is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, so as to have a smaller footprint in a home or small business setting (the SOHO market segment), or to provide centralized document management/distribution/production in a large-office setting. A typical MFP may act as a combination of some or all of the following devices: email, fax, photocopier, printer, scanner.

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Photocopier in the context of Automatic Document Feeder

In multifunction or all-in-one printers, fax machines, photocopiers and scanners, an automatic document feeder or ADF is a feature which takes several pages and feeds the paper one page at a time into a scanner or copier, allowing the user to scan, and thereby copy, print, or fax, multiple-page documents without having to manually replace each page.

Most copiers allow scanning on the flatbed or platen (the "glass") or through a document feeder. The vast majority of fax machines have an ADF, allowing the unattended sending of multi-page faxes. ADF is so ubiquitous in fax machines that some fax machine owners use the machine as a scanner, faxing multi-page documents to themselves. Document feeders are described by speed, in pages per minute or ppm, and capacity, usually in a range from 10 sheets to 200.

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Photocopier in the context of Convenience store

A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines under one roof.

In some jurisdictions, convenience stores (such as off-licences in the UK) are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many other jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. Opus cards in Montreal, Canada, or include a small deli. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient (hence their common name) supplement to larger stores.

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