2012 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 177-190
Electrophotography has been continued to be a primary printing method in the office work for more than 70 years since its invention. In this paper, technical or historical factors are reviewed which has contributed to the successful survival of electrophotography through the critical periods of change to digitalization and colorization. Electrophotography is a sequence of transduction process of physical quantities utilizing a photoconductive effect from original image information to a reproduction on plain paper. Many engineers have been fascinated with the neatness of the process and have produced many improving innovations. Through the representative epochs such as [1] invention of cartridge system,[2] responsibility to digitalization,[3] colorization and [4] penetration to the POD (Print on Demand) business, its ground has been expanded from the personal use to the manufacturing facility industry as well as a key to effectiveness of office activities. Liquid development method has been coexisted alongside the dry process and has continued a unique improvement up to the present. In the rapid transition of document management to the electronic media, technical improvement of electrophotography is further expected as a frontier to a new region with changing value of output on paper media.
