In Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria one day last week, big wheels of the U.S. publishing industry watched a research engineer photograph a colleague. Just 45 seconds later, the engineer handed them a photograph, "developed" without a darkroom, chemicals, negative, or sensitized paper.
Then came another wonder. A small, light press printed text and pictures at 1,200 feet of paper a minute without any fluid ink or rollers. Said one publisher: "This looks like the beginning of a revolution."
Charged Powder. The "revolution" was electronic "dry writing," or Xerography.* The complicated process was based on the long known fact that some materials are "photoconductive," i.e.,...