The history of photocopying

In 1937 Chester Carlson, who was a patent attorney in New York, invented a process called ‘electrophotography’. It had taken Carlson quite some time to establish electrophotography and the following year the process was renamed Xerography. The creation is based on two things that occur naturally; the first of which is that opposite electrical charges attract and the second is that when exposed to light some materials conduct better. “10-22-38 Astoria” was the first known photocopy to be created and the Xerography process became extremely well known and popular within the 20th century. However, the popularity of Xerography was not immediate, it took Carlson 10 years to secure a company to develop the process. A photo-paper manufacturer, The Haloid Company, were the ones to finally take on the challenge of developing Xerography and the company eventually became Xerox Corporation.

From 1947, The Haloid Company had began working with the Xerox process to develop a xerographic machine. They developed the first automated xerographic machine in 1955 and then in 1958 the first ever commercial push button copier named the Xerox 914 was introduced. This commercial copier was the first of its kind and was able to make copies quickly with very little effort from the user. The Xerox 914 was incredibly successful, selling thousands and increasing the company’s, then known as Haloid Xerox, income by millions in a matter of years. Photocopying became so popular due to their ability accurately copy a document onto plain office paper in a fast and economical manner. The increase in photocopying was huge, before the Xerox 914 was released Americans produced around 20 million copies annually, a number that skyrocketed to 14 billion by 1966 thanks to the ease of copying using the Xerox 914.

The photocopier has come a long way since its beginnings, the photocopiers available now come in a range of brands, sizes and models to suit all business and personal needs. You can buy anything from a small, monochrome desktop photocopier to a high volume colour copier.  One of the most substantial differences between the first photocopier and modern copiers are the functions, these days you can not only copy documents but also scan, print and fax as well as edit documents and images, print in colour, print two sided documents and more. You can even buy photocopiers suitable for larger paper sizes (A3) and you can opt for finishing options including stapling, hole-punching and booklet making. These additional features make the humble office photocopier responsible for far more than just copying.

In fact, the photocopiers available now are so varied that you can choose one that best fits the needs of your business in terms of the monthly volume that it can handle, the speed it can copy at and the additional features you require. As an example of the two sides of the spectrum –  you can buy low volume copiers that print less than 8,000 copies a month at a speed of 20 prints per minute to suit the smaller office or on the opposite side of production you can purchase a high volume copier that can produce up to 100,000 copies per month at a speed of up to 100 prints per minute for the large corporations. There are options available for everyone in the current market. Despite all of the additional features and options, the core of a photocopier has stayed the same in this time, being altered only by the digital revolution – to which it easily adapted. If you were to see an Xerox 914 today you would see it is much larger than a modern photocopier but it operated in the same way.

The different parts of a photocopier that work together

These are the fundamental parts that make up a photocopier:

• Paper Tray
  This tray is where the paper is taken from in order for the copy to be transferred from the drum onto the paper.
• Glass
  The glass is where you place the document you wish to copy, face down.
• Exposure Lamp
  The lamp is a powerful light source that can remove the electrons from photo-conductive atoms.
• Mirrors/ Reflectors
  The mirrors are used to reflect the light given off by the lamp onto the drum.
• Photosensitive Drum/ belt
  The drum is the heart of a photocopier, it is basically a cylinder that has a photo-conductive covering.
• Charge Corona (thin wire)
  The corona wires are essential to provide the positive charges needed for a photocopier to work. They transfer high voltage energy into static energy within the drum and paper. There is usually more than one corona wire as one if needed for the drum and another is needed for the paper’s surface.
• Toner Cartridges
  Toner is a negatively charged, plastic-based powder. The toner finds positively charged ions within the drum and then move onto the electrostatically charged paper where it will stay after the fusing process thanks to the plastic component of the powder.
• Heated Roller
  The heated roller is used to fuse the toner onto the paper making the copy permanent.

Photocopying: A Science & An Art

A photocopier makes creating paper copies of documents seem very easy and straightforward, I mean all we have to do is push a button, right? In fact, the process behind photocopying is an intricate one. Xerography is what is called a ‘dry process’ that produces an image by applying toner and heat to a piece of paper.

How a photocopier works:

• Charging
• Exposure
• Developing
• Transfer
• Fusing

In order to produce a photocopy the document you wish to replicate must first be placed face-down onto the piece of glass ready to be copied. The image of the page is projected onto the photosensitive drum but the for anything to happen the drum needs to be electrostatically charged.

Charging 
The electrostatic charge happens using the high voltage charge corona which sets up the essentials necessary for the electrostatic photocopier to work. The change corona works by the ionisation of the surrounding air. Now the cylindrical drum is electrostatically charged and has photoconductive material coated onto it which conducts to light.

Exposure

The photoconductive material on the cylindrical drum becomes conductive when it is exposed to light so that is the next step. The exposure lamp shines a bright light onto the original document and this is reflected onto the photoconductive drum. This reflection on the drum allows the areas exposed to light to become conductive and the areas not exposed (dark areas of the document) to remain negatively charged.

Developing

Next the photocopier toner, which has been positively charged, is applied to the drum in order to develop the imagine. The toner attracts to and stays in the negatively charged areas (the dark areas).

Transfer

This image of the drum is then transferred onto a piece of paper that has a higher negative charge than the drum. The paper has to have a higher negative charge otherwise the toner will remain on the drum rather than be attracted to the paper.

Fusing

Finally, the toner is bonded to the paper using heat to melt it and pressure rollers to fuse it.

Another way to think about the process of a photocopy machine

Static electricity in photocopiers (like the energy you produce when you rub a balloon against your t-shirt and it stick to you) is used in a way that captures the light pattern and then uses this to pass the pattern onto the photo-conductor. The image is projected onto a drum that is positively charged, the drum will conduct energy when exposed to light. The exposure light is an intense beam of light that reflects from the white areas of the original document onto the drum. The areas of the drum that have been lit by the projected image will lose their electrostatic charge due to the conduction.

The remaining positively charged areas of the drum will attract the negatively charged toner particles to it so when the ink drum touches the belt it becomes coated with toner. With the toner particles attracted only to the charged areas it gives you a copy of the original document ready to be transferred onto paper.

The paper is given a strong electrical charge before it reaches the drum so that when they come into contact the charged toner particles will rapidly transfer onto the paper. This produces a black and white copy of the original document. In order for this to become permanent the paper needs to be heated. The paper is passed through the heat and pressure to fuse the toner onto the paper. The copy emerges and you’ll probably notice that the paper is still a little bit warm from the process!

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How Much Should I Expect To Pay For An A2 Photocopier?

Question:

How much should I expect to pay for an A2 Photocopier? It needs to be full colour and will be used for occasional prints so we are not too concerned about having a high print speed or a high paper capacity.

Answer:
An A2 printer will be the best option to be able to provide you with the kind of prints you are looking for. Generally, a decent A2 printer will cost you between £1000 – £1500. You can also find second-hand A2 photocopiers for around £400 – £800. The price alters based on the printing speed, capacity, photocopier size and functionality.

You can also decide between buying an A2 printer outright or leasing one. Generally speaking, the wide format printers focus on the quality of the print rather than a fast copy speed so you can expect a reduced copy speed when you are using any A2 paper size and above copiers. An example of print speed would be the Xerox 6024 which can print between 3-5 copies per minute.

Which Are The Best A2 Colour Copiers?

A suitable A2 printer for your needs is the Canon imagePROGRAF LP17, this printer has been designed to print signs, posters, graphics and any other larger prints you require. It includes Canon’s PosterArtist Software to assist you in creating as well as printing large signage. When you use a printer such as the Canon imagePROGRAF LP17 it gives you the ability to print eye-catching and impactful products without having to get prints made outside of the business. The cost of this printer or a similar printer will be around £1000.

This printer is able to produce an A2 print in just 20 seconds and the features mean you can adapt your print to exactly as you want it – an example of the available features is the vivid colour option and the borderless print option. You would also be able to use a range of paper types including coated paper, glossy photo paper, heavy-weight paper, matte paper, proofing paper and more when printing with the Canon imagePROGRAF LP17.

A second A2 printer example is the Epson Stylus Pro 4880, this printer is more expensive with a new machine costing over £2,000. However, you can buy one used for around £600. The Pro 4880 has been designed to meet the demands of professionals and is often used in photographic labs and studios. The prints are produced in vivid colour as well as stunning black and white. The photo quality of the prints is excellent and the printer can handle a range of paper sizes up to A2.

As these examples are printers and not copiers, here is an example of an A2 photocopier if that is specifically what you are looking for. The Xerox 6204 can copy, print and scan A2 documents but it does not have colour capabilities. The paper would be in a roll format and the paper capacity is one roll. When using the Xerox 6204 can use bond, vellum, tracing paper or film paper types.

This is a flexible and scalable product that is designed to have a small footprint to fit in any office space. This product is at the higher end when it comes to cost and a second hand Xerox 6204 Wide Format Black and White copier would cost around £7,000. You will find that high-end wide-format photocopiers cost in the region of £12,000 and can handle media up to 60 inches with a copy quality of 600 x 600dpi.

How Much Do A3 Copiers Cost? Should I Rent Or Buy?

You should also consider the ongoing costs of owning a printer which will include the ink cartridges, media such as the printing paper as well as maintenance, these costs will vary depending on how much you use the printer and the type of media you are printing. As we mentioned in regards to the Xerox 6204, rolls of paper can often be used in A2 printers and this makes it a lot easier and cleaner to do double length prints.

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What Do You Want A Photocopier To Do?

First of all, consider what you need from a photocopier as this will help you to decide the type of copier you need. Do you need your photocopier to be high volume and advanced or are you looking for something more low volume or basic photocopier?

Here are some considerations to make:

Black and White or Colour? Do you need to be able to copy in full colour? A colour printer will cost more as it will require separate colour cartridges and more monthly upkeep.

What speed do you require? This is the number of pages a machine can produce per minute. The speed varies greatly and ranges from a manual feeder that processes as fast as the person operating it to a high volume, top of the range fully automatic copier that can produce 100 or more prints per minute.

What size documents do you need to be able to handle? A lot of the copiers can handle paper sizes up to A4 and a few of them have A3 capabilities. If you need to copy sizes as large as A2 or A1 that is more specialist and results in a big cost increase.

Solely a copier or multi-functional? There are many multifunctional copiers on the market that can copy, print, scan and some can fax too. Will your machine be needed for just copying or for scanning and printing too?

Image editing: Will you need features that allow you to edit and resize the documents before printing? These features help to create a more tailored and effective end product.

Document feeder

A document feeder can help to speed up the process of copying, especially when you are copying large volumes. If you are handling very small volumes it may not be necessary to have a document feeder.

Sorter

This is very useful if you are planning on processing high volumes of documents, especially if you are producing documents of multiple pages as the sorter will help you to collect the pages without mixing them up.

Stapler and binder

These are finishing options that help to produce a neat, professional finish to documents without using time consuming labour.

Duplex Printing

Do you need the printer to have a function that automatically prints on both sides of the paper? This is a more environmentally friendly option and can also help to cut down on costs but not all copier have the feature.

Summary

Once you have thought about all of the necessities and optional extras you think you will need from a photocopier it will be a lot easier to request and receive accurate quotes. There are so many available photocopiers on the market and they all vary greatly.

You can expect an entry level photocopier to cost up to £1,000, a medium volume copier to cost around £2,000 and a high volume copier to cost between £5,000 and £10,000. This is a rough guide and the best thing to do would be to request a quote and include as much information as possible to help ensure the quote is tailor made to suit your needs.

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When you decide to invest in a photocopier for your business it is important to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of leasing vs buying. There are some big differences between the two and we will briefly go over the main points.

Photocopier Rental Costs & Lease Prices

The price of renting a photocopier largely depends on the volume of copies required rather than the length of time the copier is needed. By calculating how many copies you need to make each month, you can determine the volume of photocopier required and the approximate rental cost of this.

The copier you choose will depend on the needs of your business, as mentioned earlier you can choose from low, medium or high volume models depending on how many copies you need to make. The price of the individual photocopier will depend on its functionality and abilities – the higher volume models tend to be able to handle over 40,000 copies per month and often come with advanced or optional features such as automatic stapling, stacking and binding.

The table above is a rough pricing guide, for accurate prices and the latest deals you can request a quote from us today.

Below are the typical rental prices you can expect to see with each volume of the photocopier.

• A low volume photocopier would cost £8 – £12 per month to rent.
• A medium volume photocopier would cost £80 – £100 per month to rent.
• A high volume photocopier would cost between £300 – £350 per month to rent.

See also: Our full guide on photocopier prices in 2024

Leasing Low Volume Photocopiers

Before you decide to lease a low volume photocopier do some calculations to work out if it will be cost-effective for you. Generally, low volume photocopiers do not cost a lot of money so it may be worth just buying one rather than leasing.

Think about how long you need the photocopier for and the volume of pages you copy each day in order to work out if leasing is really the most viable option for your business. A low volume copier can print about 20 prints per minute.

Leasing Medium Volume Photocopiers

Medium volume photocopiers tend to process about 40 prints per minute, they are perfect for offices with moderate photocopying needs. It can be difficult to decide whether a medium volume or high volume machine is best for your business, a high volume copier can copy 50 – 150 pages per minute so if your business is growing and your document flow is increasing you may want to go for a high volume photocopier.

Consider if you need a copier over a long period of time or if it is just for short term document management as you do not want to be paying for a copier for years when you won’t be using it to its full potential for most of that time.

Leasing High Volume Photocopiers

A high volume photocopier is designed to handle consistently high demands in a busy office, they are usually fast producing between 50 and 150 prints per minutes, the average month would see several hundred thousand copies being produced by a high volume photocopier. Take a look at your average document output volume and decide if a high volume photocopier is suited to your needs.

Also consider if the large volumes is a short term situation or if you expect to be copying large amount consistently, generally, longer leases are offered at the best rates and you should take into account your needs before jumping to the cheapest option.

Who Owns The Photocopier At The End Of The Lease Term

The general agreement within leasing contracts is that the leasing company will own the copier at the end of the leasing period.

This is more often the case but you can come to an agreement where you own the machine at the end if that is what you would like to do, sometimes the photocopier company will offer you a deal to buy the photocopier at the end of the lease anyway.

Advantages Of Leasing A Photocopier

When you lease a photocopier you spread out the cost over a specified contract term. The biggest advantage of leasing is that you do not have to pay a large upfront fee for the copier, it is smaller payments spread out over time making it more manageable.

When leasing a photocopier your contract generally include maintenance costs and toner refills, this helps to keep the cost of leasing cheaper than buying as when you own the machine you are responsible for all extra costs. It is also easy to choose a new lease or copier upgrade at the end of the contract without having to worry about selling or getting rid of the old copier.

Disadvantages of Leasing A Photocopier

The photocopier does not usually belong to you at the end of the leasing contract, for this reason, you may find it more cost-effective to buy a photocopier because at least then it is an investment you have ownership over.

If you purchase the photocopier you have full control of it and can decide when it needs to be serviced or replaced, this means you can organise repairs etc directly and you do not have to go through the leasing company in order to get things done.

Also, most of these lease rental contracts have a minimum term for the lease meaning you cannot just back out and not pay if you have not leased for the agreed term.

Difference Between Photocopier Rental and Leasing

When you lease a photocopier it is generally a long term agreement (usually several years) that involves you paying set amounts each month for the use of the office photocopier.

When you rent a photocopier it is usually a short term agreement where you pay a fee for the use of a machine for a set amount of time. If you are unsure about whether you should rent or lease a photocopier think carefully about the period of time you need the photocopier for.

Things To Consider When Requesting A Quote For A Photocopier

• • Black and white vs colour – This has a big impact on the cost of the photocopier as colour makes a big difference to the end product, the upkeep costs are also impacted due to needing more ink cartridges for the colour photocopiers.
  • Print Speed – This can be very important for some businesses who need to produce high volumes very quickly. Whereas some, often smaller businesses, will be happy with the standard print speed. The faster machines will cost more.
  • Functionality –  Do you require a lot of functions? Does your copier need to be able to copy, scan, print, email and fax? Do you need finishing options such as stapling? Do you need to copy and print from or onto larger paper sizes?
  • Fax/Scanner – Do you need just a copier or do you need to be able to fax and scan from it too? Not all machines are fax and scan compatible so make sure to specify this when requesting a quote.
  • Wireless Connectivity – Do you require wireless connectivity from your copier? Many fixed connections can be restricting for bigger businesses where many use one photocopier with a printer.
  • Duplex Printing –  Duplex printing is a feature that allows printing to happen on both sides, helping to save paper and reduce costs.
  • Network Printing – Network printing allows people to print documents even when they are not near to the printer this helps to increase productivity and is useful when you have multiple employees using one printer.
  • Automatic Document Feeder – This is useful if you are printing higher volumes as it increases the speed and consistency of the workflow.

Photocopier Rental Summary

Leasing a photocopier is a great way to benefit from the features and capabilities of a photocopier without having to pay large upfront fees. Renting a photocopier is a perfect and cost-effective solution to short term copying needs such as marketing material or internal memos.

If you want a long term solution, depending on your requirements, it may be best to invest in buying a photocopier.

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