{"product_id":"copies-in-seconds-how-a-lone-inventor-and-an-unknown-company-created-the-biggest-communication-breakthrough-since-gutenberg-chester-car-9780743251181","title":"Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg--Chester Car","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lone inventor and the story of how one of the most revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century almost didn't happen.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Introduced in 1960, the first plain-paper office copier is unusual among major high-technology inventions in that its central process was conceived by a single person. Chester Carlson grew up in unspeakable poverty, worked his way through junior college and the California Institute of Technology, and made his discovery in solitude in the depths of the Great Depression. He offered his big idea to two dozen major corporations -- among them IBM, RCA, and General Electric -- all of which turned him down. So persistent was this failure of capitalistic vision that by the time the Xerox 914 was manufactured, by an obscure photographic-supply company in Rochester, New York, Carlson's original patent had expired. \u003cbr\u003e Xerography was so unusual and nonintuitive that it conceivably could have been overlooked entirely. Scientists who visited the drafty warehouses where the first machines were built sometimes doubted that Carlson's invention was even theoretically feasible. Building the first plain-paper office copier -- with parts scrounged from junkyards, cleaning brushes made of hand-sewn rabbit fur, and a built-in fire extinguisher -- required the persistence, courage, and imagination of an extraordinary group of physicists, engineers, and corporate executives whose story has never before been fully told. \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eCopies in Seconds\u003c\/i\u003e is a tale of corporate innovation and risk-taking at its very best.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/09\/2005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780743251181\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.67h x 5.49w x 0.82d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/10\/2005 pg. 32\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"David Owen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36641394098332,"sku":"9780743251181","price":18.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_1f546c4c-10fe-4dcc-aa1f-d4e3070f68e4.jpg?v=1603853511","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/copies-in-seconds-how-a-lone-inventor-and-an-unknown-company-created-the-biggest-communication-breakthrough-since-gutenberg-chester-car-9780743251181","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}