Historical Highlights

1906 — Chester Carlson, inventor of xerography, is born in Seattle, Feb. 8.

The Haloid Company is founded in Rochester, N.Y., to manufacture and sell photographic paper, April 18.

1938 — Chester Carlson makes first xerographic image in his lab in Astoria, Queens, in New York City, Oct. 22.

1942 — Carlson receives U.S. patent No. 2,297,691 on Oct. 6 for electrophotography, later called xerography, the technology that revolutionized the world of imaging.

1947 — Haloid acquires license to Chester Carlson's basic xerographic patents from Battelle Development Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, a subsidiary of Battelle Memorial Institute.

1948 — Haloid and Battelle announce development of xerography. The word "Xerox" is trademarked.

1949 — The first xerographic copier, the Model A, is introduced.

1958 — The Haloid Company changes name to Haloid Xerox Inc., April 16.

1959 — The Xerox 914, the first automatic, plain-paper office copier, is announced.

1961 — Haloid Xerox Inc. changes name to Xerox Corporation, April 18.

1964 — Long Distance Xerography (LDX), first system for high-speed document fax transmission, is announced.

1970 — Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)opens in Palo Alto, Calif.

1973 — Xerox PARC invents prototype of the world's first personal computer, the Alto, with innovations including the first what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor, first commercial use of a mouse, graphical user interface, Ethernet, network architecture and bit-mapped display. Its commercial descendant was the 8010 Star.

1977 —Xerox introduces the 9700, the first xerographic laser printer. The product was based on technology developed at PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). It was the forerunner of later high-speed printers and presses developed by Xerox.

1980 —Xerox develops Network System, that allows users to electronically create, process, file, print and distribute documents.

1983 — Large-format digital color printing is introduced.   

1990 — Xerox DocuTech Production Publisher, Model 135, first in series of digital publishing systems for business publishing from computer workstations, is introduced.

1994 — "The Document Company -- Xerox" is unveiled as new corporate signature; partially digitized, red "X" introduced as new corporate symbol; red replaces blue as the corporate color.

1997 — Rank Xerox is renamed Xerox Limited, as Xerox buys out its European partner in the joint venture with The Rank Group.

2000 — Xerox introduces complementary technologies for encoding and decoding information for computer-readable data on ordinary paper, such as SmartPaper, DataGlyphs Software.

2002 — Xerox’s most significant product launch year in a decade, with 17 new products and five product platforms, including the: Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press.  It elevates Xerox to a whole new level for print speed, image quality, cost-effectiveness and paper-handling capabilities.

Xerox earns its 15,000th utility patent, Sept. 17.

2004 — Xerox transforms its corporate signature logo to be depicted simply as "XEROX". The new logo replaces "The Document Company - Xerox" corporate signature, adopted in 1994.

2006 — Xerox acquires XMPie, a leading provider of variable information software, which enables cross-media, personalized marketing programs.

Xerox’s investment in innovation led to the launch of 14 products in 2006 that together earned 208 industry awards. About two-thirds of Xerox’s equipment sales come from products launched in the past two years.