The Photocopier That Almost Never Was
Chester Carlson spent years being rejected by more than twenty companies, including IBM and General Electric, who saw no future in dry copying. This is the story of how a patent obsessive and a tiny nonprofit research institute turned a garage experiment into Xerox — and why the biggest players in tech couldn't see the future sitting in front of them.
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Chester Carlson invented dry electrophotography using a zinc plate, sulfur, and a cotton cloth for static charge.
Major corporations like IBM and Kodak rejected the photocopier because carbon paper was significantly cheaper to produce.
The term xerography was created by combining the Greek words for dry and writing to improve commercial appeal.
Incumbent companies often reject disruptive innovations to protect the profit margins of their existing, inferior products.
Xerox engineers developed the mouse and graphical user interface but failed to commercialize them for personal computers.
High profit margins in the paper and ink market prevented Xerox from adapting to the digital revolution.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Astoria Breakthrough2 min
- 03The Decade of No2 min
- 04The Unlikely Partners2 min
- 05The Incumbent's Dilemma2 min
- 06The Irony of Success1 min
- 07Outro1 min
- Chester Carlson - Wikipedia
- Chester F. Carlson | Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship | RIT
- Carlson and Kornei Make the First Xerographic Photocopy - EBSCO
- Chester F. Carlson | Xerography, Photocopying, Electrophotography | Britannica
- Chester Carlson Invented the Photocopier. Twenty Companies Said No.
- October 22, 1938: "Invention of Xerography"
- c) Who wants to copy a document on paper?
- The Development of
- Examples of Disruptive Innovation in Enterprises - CAIL
- Failures of Complex Organizations - Oxford Academic
- El error de no innovar a tiempo: 20 historias de empresas ...
- How Kodak missed the digital photography revolution
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