U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for February 8

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8: PHOTOCOPIER INVENTOR

Profile America -- Tuesday, February 8th.  Every time you step up to a photocopier, you can thank a man named Chester Carlson, whose birthday is noted today.  In 1937, he developed a method of making dry copies of documents on plain paper, known as xerography -- which we take for granted every day when we simply press a button on a copying machine to get however many copies we need.  Carlson's invention changed the way business operates all over the world.  Before his invention, copies were made either by using carbon paper when typing -- or a mimeograph machine for large numbers of copies.  Both were messy.  The first commercial copiers became available in 1950.  Now, making copiers is a more than $2 billion a year business in the U.S.  You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  National Inventors Hall of Fame

2002 Economic Census, NAICS 333315

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).  

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau