Photocopier a convergence in some high-end machines between the roles of a photocopier, a fax machine, a scanner, and a computer network-connected printer into a multi-function printer. Lower-end machines that can copy and print in color have increasingly dominated the home-office market as their prices fell steadily through 2017. Higher-end color photocopiers capable of handling heavy duty cycles and large-format printing remain a costlier specialty for print and design shops. Chester Carlson, the inventor of photocopying, was originally a patent attorney, as well as a part-time researcher and inventor. His job at the patent office in New York required him to
Photocopier office copying. Earlier versions included the Gestetner stencil duplicator, invented by David Gestetner in 1881. Commercial xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1959, and it gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines. Photocopying is widely used in the business, education, and government sectors. While there have been predictions that photocopiers will eventually become obsolete as information workers increase their use of digital document creation, storage and distribution, and rely less on distributing actual pieces of paper, as of 2015, photocopiers continue to be widely used. In the 2010s, there is