Just imagine, having to copy everything by hand. You'd get writer's cramp within five minutes! Well thanks to this guy, we don't have to go through all that.

   A man named Chester Carlson worked in a patent office. That's a place where inventors go to get a kind of a license to say that no one can copy their inventions. Anyway, he was always being bothered with people needing copies of patent applications. Copying things took a long time back then, and it was sloppy. Mr. Carlson got fed up, I guess.

   He started to work on an invention that would copy right at the push of a button. He worked on it right in his own kitchen. Just imagine, eating breakfast each morning, and seeing this big thing that really didn't even work yet! I would just want it out of there, and that's what would make me keep working on it.

   Anyway, he kept working and working on it, and it was FINALLY done. It had taken a while, but it was worth it. The pile of wires that had once been sitting uselessly in his kitchen was now all over the world! 

    I bet you are all very thankful for Chester Carlson and his kitchen now! If they didn't exist, we'd have to wait for hours at a time just for our teacher to copy our math papers. Well that isn't such a good example, is it? We wouldn't really mind having to do that! Here's a better one. We would have to wait for a while just to get a couple more sign up sheets for a special class or sport that you want to do. That would just be a pain in the neck!

   Now I know that you are thankful for Mr. Carlson. He was a great help to people who needed copies of things, and to people who were supposed to make the copies. Now, where would we be today if Chester Carlson hadn't taken the time to invent the Xerox machine?