ForalongtimeChesterCarlsoncarriedaroundhislittleblackbox----theinventionoverwhichhehadworkedandstruggledforyears.Heshowedittothedirectorsoftwenty-onelargeAmericancorporations,suchas“GeneralElectric,InternationalBu
ForalongtimeChesterCarlsoncarriedaroundhislittleblackbox----theinventionoverwhichhehadworkedandstruggledforyears.Heshowedittothedirectorsoftwenty-onelargeAmericancorporations,suchas“GeneralElectric,InternationalBusinessMachines(IBM),Lockheed,andRCA.”
Nobodywantedit.
Nobodywantedtoinvestapennyinit.
ItmustbepainfulforthosedirectorstothinkofChesterCarlsonnow.Forthelittleblackboxistheheartofthemulti-billion-dollarXeroxCorporation.Carlsonistheinventorof“xerography”(fromtwoGreekwordsmeaning“drywriting”),thedry-printingprocessusedinthousandsandthousandsofoffices,businesses,industries,universities,shops,andgovernmentagenciesaroundtheworld.
ThankstoCarlson,itnowtakesminutestocopyadocumentwhich,twentyyearsago,wouldhavekeptasecretarybusyforawholeday.AndforafewpenniesanyonecanhaveacopyofanythingfromcookingrecipestoGreekpoetry.Morethanthirtybillionsuchcopiesaremadeeachyear.
WhenChesterCarlsonwenttoworkinapatentofficein1930,thecopyingmethodswereslow,dirty,andexpensive.Inhisjob,Carlsonhadtomakemanycopiesofpatentsforinventions.Onenight,afterworkinglateandpainfully,hedecidedthatsomebodyhadbetterfindaneasierwaytodoit.Hewenttoworkinthekitchenofhisapartmentwithmeasuringcupsandcookingpots.By1937,havingdevelopedasimpleformofxerography,heappliedforhisfirstpatentontheprocess.
1)Chestercarlsonwas_
A)adirectorofanAmericancorporation
B)aninventorofacopyingmaching
C)acompanysalesman
D)anofficeclerkinacompany
2)atfirstnobodywantedthislittleblackboxbecause_
a)itwasconsideredtobeofnovalue
b)verylittlewasknownaboutit
c)peoplethoughtitwasnotaworth-whileinvestment
d)alloftheabove
3)howlongdidittakeCarlsontocompletehisresearchintothisdry-printingprocess?
a)alifetime
b)sevenyears
c)twentyyears
d)notmentionedinthepassage