Copy Machine BlogAll you need to know about copy machines

Hey copy machine fans, check out Xerox’s first commercial. Awww, how nostaligic!

As we pace between our desks and the printer each day at work, we rarely stop to think about how commercial printing all began. The printing press started its life way back in the second millennium AD; the first systems were assembled by a German goldsmith by the name of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, around 1440.

The first books were produced in an assembly-line style; during the Renaissance, a printing press could print about 3,600 each workday. Printing spread rapidly, and by 1500, printing was in full swing throughout Western Europe. In 1620, English philosopher Francis Bacon felt confident in declaring that printing had changed the face of the world.

Copy machines can be devils. You know what I mean. Just when you need to run off 50 copies of an agenda for a meeting that starts in 5 minutes, or your boss has asked for a color copy of that report RIGHT NOW, your copy machine decides to throw a tantrum. And copy machine tantrums are no pretty things. We’re talking about the machine grinding to a complete halt, lights flashing everywhere, urgent beeping noises, and your originals stuck in the jaws of the paper feeder; you don’t know if you’re going to get them out alive or not. To rectify the problem, you have interpret a series of confusing diagrams, which indicate where the blockage has occurred and what you need to do. You think you’ve removed all the paper, but the machine’s still telling you that something’s wrong. Finally, you spot and remove that last little shred of paper, and all is well. My advice is to be kind to your copy machine by treating it right with good quality paper and by not feeding it crumbled originals. Have it serviced regularly, and change the toner when it asks you to. Treat it right, and it’ll treat you right. Because no one wants to be in a copy machine’s bad books.

Since the invention of the printing press, dissidents and marginalized citizens have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form.

When Xerox copy machines hit the scene, it was only natural that certain employees in offices lucky enough to have them would seize the opportunity to utilize the technology for such purposes.

In the 1970s, the DIY aesthetic of punk created a thriving underground press, printed cheaply on photocopy machines.

In the 1980s, the concept of zine as an art form, rather than a fan magazine, took root.

The early 1990s saw an explosion of zines of “a more raw and explicit, more confrontational and definitely more gender-balanced nature.” How surprised would you have been to discover that the seemingly demure secretary you hired for the summer was staying late to make and assemble a small periodical called Riot Grrrl?

The presence of zines faded toward the late 1990s, concurrent with the rise of the internet. But print zines still exist, and are cherished by zinesters, DIY enthusiasts and dissidents all over the world.

In 2002, artist Delia Robinson made an accidental discovery: “A piece of paper run repeatedly through the color copier with sequential images acquired rich colors and a shiny patina. The results are random as colors combine and images meld in unpredictable ways.”

Here is how the artist describes her take on the world:

My view is bioptic, cross-eyed, fragmented, salty, bitter, yet still hopeful. My work is overloaded with information, stories, color, and images– most original, some pilfered, some in transition.

We think it’s quite beautiful. See more of her work, copy machine and otherwise, at her website: www.delia-robinson.com

Hooray! The copy machine turned 50 last month, commemorating the Xerox company’s first sale — a 648-pound copier as big as two washing machines.

This historic event reminds us of how much we take for granted nowadays. Way back when, before “Xerox” became a regularly-used verb, copy machines were much less reliable. The devices broke down all the time, sometimes even catching on fire. And they had trouble fitting through doorways.

For more info, be sure to check out CNN’s comprehensive article.

If you’re looking to buy, rent, or lease a copy machine, it’s important to figure out your expected copy volume. This will help you determine which kind of copier (or copiers) will best suit your office.

In this way, choosing a copier is much like choosing a car. If you’re planning to make frequent trips across the country, you’ll want a car able to stand up to a lot of mileage, and — if you’re leasing — it would be wise to secure a generous service agreement as well. Alternatively, if you’re only going to be driving to the supermarket once or twice a week, a top-of-the-line vehicle might be a waste of money.

How can you calculate your volume? If you already have a copier, this is as easy as examining the counter, which you can typically find beneath the glass. To obtain an estimate without a copier, we recommend looking at the receipts from your copy shop, in addition to checking out your month-to-month paper consumption.

After you’ve come up with a predicted volume, most experts advise inflating this number by 15 percent or more. This will factor in your business’s potential expansion, as well as manufacturers’ tendencies to overestimate their product capabilities. If your machine will be working as an office printer or fax, consider inflating your figure even more.

Note: If your expected monthly volume is under 700 copies, you probably don’t need an expensive industrial copier. Save some money by investing in a smaller office copier instead.

Even if your office copier occasionally malfunctions, you’ve still got to be happy it’s there – centuries ago, copying even a single page was a much more time-consuming process. Let’s take a look at some copying methods of the past:

By hand: Ouch! Until the end of the 18th century, the only duplicates were handwritten by copy clerks, a fixture at most offices. Even after the first typewriter was invented in 1874, hand copying remained popular throughout the subsequent decades.

By letter press: Drawing on a method used by the Chinese around the 8th century, letter press copiers emerged in the late 1700s and featured the legendary (and confusing) backwards-to-forwards transition also evident in the printing press.

By carbon paper: Still alluded to in email CCs and BCCs, carbon copying was invented in 1806 and uses sheets of carbon paper to replicate handwritten marks. In fact, certain industries continue to use carbon copying today!

Pushing a button sure sounds easier than any of that, doesn’t it?

You’ve probably noticed that some copy machines for sale, lease, and rent offer printing and faxing capabilities. And, even though most offices already have printers and fax machines, these features are definitely worth considering.

Copy machine printing, for example, offers several advanced functions not available in standard printers, such as double-sided printing and automatic stapling. Plus, all of your employees can print from the same copy machine (as long as it has a network card). Printing with copy machines can also save you money, since per-page costs for copiers are about 80% than those of laser printers.

Copy machines make sending and receiving faxes easier as well. Some high-tech machines can read faxes from document trays, in addition to faxing pages from books and magazines scanned on the copier glass. Certain machines can even receive files to fax wirelessly from multiple computers.

Not ready to cough up the cash for these extra features? In that case, we recommend copy machine leasing. If you lease a machine compatible with printing and faxing upgrades, you can make the switch when the time is right for your office – and budget.

Copy machines are like a breed of African animal. I imagine them on the plains of the Serengeti, traveling in herds, honking and bleeping at each other to fight over the more attractive feminine copy machines during mating season, trembling and vibrating ferociously to produce the most paper to impress her. And then after partners have been chosen, during the dry season, all of the older copiers struggle to keep up, but no, it’s too late, their time has come; they fall by the wayside as the herd moves north in search of the great Ink river. After thousands of copies made, each one fainter than the last, it seems like never will they arrive at that oasis of cool black ink. When suddenly, over that last brown hill, they emerge with the largest copy machines flashing their lights in excitement and their printer trays overflowing with used paper as they run down the hill, the smaller printers and fax machines humming along behind with their mothers, and then they bask in the river and refill their ink cartridges, with black ink and color ink, and they spray cyan, magenta and yellow at each other, and everyone is happy and nothing could go wrong.