CARLSON, CHESTER 1906-1968

Inventor of xerography

The Need

Chester Carlson was an ingenious and determined man who saw a problem and solved it. After graduating from college, he worked briefly for Bell Laboratories. He lost this position during the Depression of the 1930s and went to law school. He eventually became a patent attorney. To copy the information from various sources required for his job, he had to write it out tediously by hand. Carlson saw the need for a copying machine and set about making one. He used the kitchen of his apartment as a laboratory. His landlord's daughter came to his door to investigate a foul odor one day. She was intrigued enough by his activities to marry him.

The Principle

He began from a basic scientific principle: some charged particles (positive or negative), when exposed to light, will attach themselves to a surface that has the opposite charge. After some experimentation, he placed an image on a charged metal plate and shone a light on it. The light hit the plate, and the charged particles lightened or disappeared where light hits the plate (depending on how much light hits it). So he used a powder of the opposite charge to stick to the charged areas of the plate. By heating the plate, he found he could transfer the image into a piece of plain paper.

The First

Copy. In 1937, Carlson patented his copying process, though he still had not made a copy without using wet chemicals. In 1938 he and an assistant made the first dry copy of words he had written, "10-22-38 ASTORIA." The process worked, but he could not find an investor to develop a commercial application.

Battelle Institute

In 1944 Carlson had run out of money trying to develop a machine for his process. When the nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute sent a representative to Mallory & Co., one of his patent clients, Carlson began talking about his idea. Battelle gave Carlson money for research in return for a share of any profits he would make from his new process.

Haloid Corp

In 1945 Carlson's wife, apparently sick of the smell of chemicals, divorced him, and in 1946 Battelle was running out of money to support his research. Carlson found a new source of support—John Dessauer of the Haloid Company in Rochester, New York. Haloid made photographic supplies; but business was not good, and they needed a new product. Dessauer joined Battelle in backing Carlson in his work. Haloid coined the name "xerography" for the new process (xeros is Greek for "dry," graphos is Greek for "writing").

Xerox

Still most people thought the new product was worthless. In 1949-1950, the Xerox Model A machine was produced for commercial sale. Large and complex to operate, it was a resounding failure. In 1955 Haloid produced the CopyFlo, which produced dry prints from microfilm. The company changed its name to Haloid Xerox. Then the Xerox 914 copier was developed in 1959. Dry copies were made on plain paper with a convenient machine using dried ink powder. The machine was a spectacular success. In 1961 the company changed its name to Xerox Corporation.

The Reward

Carlson became a wealthy man. He gave away more than $100 million, often anonymously, to private citizens and charities before his death in 1968. Most of the time, Carlson asked to remain anonymous when making his donations. After decades of work and hardship, his reward was seeing the success of his idea for the dry copier.

Chester Floyd Carlson 1906–68, American inventor; b. Seattle, Wash. A patent lawyer, he invented (1938) xerography , a method of electrostatic printing. For the next two decades he struggled to find a company that would produce his copying machine, finally finding the Haloid Co., which first marketed a Xerox copier in 1959 and subsequently made a fortune under its new name, the Xerox Corp.

Bibliography: See biography by D. Owen (2004).

Carlson, Chester (1906–68) US physicist, inventor of xerography (1938). He patented it in 1940, but few were convinced of its commercial value. In 1947, he signed an agreement with the Haloid Company (now Rank Xerox).