At the core of Océ-Engineering Systems is Océ Copy Press technology.

This dual belt and transfer system produces offset-like images without the inherent problems associated with xerography.

Copy Press technology presses the image into paper. It is what makes Océ the reliability leader.

Why a different technology path than xerography?

After the introduction of xerography in the '50s, Océ's philosophy was to look for alternate approaches and improve existing technologies. Océ reviewed both offset press technology and xerography. They found that offset produced excellent quality and was very reliable, but needed a lot of time and skilled labour, making it inefficient for office copying. Xerography was fast for typical office jobs and needed little effort to operate and minimum skills. However, xerographic copiers were prone to jams, required frequent service and produced copies that were not offset press quality.

Océ was determined to improve on both technologies. In effect, they used the xerographic concept to automate the printing press. The result is Copy Press technology.

Copy Press Reliability Advantages

  - Reliable Throughput

  - A very short paper path eliminates paper jams

  - Virtually no static electricity

  - No out-of-sequence copies

Reliable Output

  - No floating toner particles

  - No spots or dirty copies

  - Consistently high quality copies

  - No developer to replace or fuser oil costs

  - Copies look and feel like offset printed copies

Reliable Input

  - Straight across, flat document feeder won't jam

  - Eliminates crooked copies, torn or damaged originals

  - Even laser or damaged originals feed safely, with spotless
    results

With Copy Press you get

  - In-sequence copies that look and feel like offset printed copies

  - Safe, ozone-free environment

  - Sturdily built equipment that is very easy to use.

With Copy Press you DON'T get

  - Frequent misfeeds, internal jams, and static-electricity
    build-up.

  - Heat, noise and complicated operator panels with confusing
    instructions.

  - Images that crack rub off, adhere to plastic covers, streak,
    smudge, spot, or fade.

How does Copy Press work?

Both xerography and Copy Press electrically charge a photoreceptor to receive an image. Then, the original is exposed and becomes an electrically charged image on the photoreceptor. The next step, development, is where xerography and Copy Press begin to differ.

Xerography needs developer, a steel bead, to carry toner to the photoreceptor. It needs to carry the paper deep into the machine where the photoreceptor resides. Two more electrical charges then cause the toner to jump off the photoreceptor onto the paper. Another charge pulls the paper away from the photoreceptor so it can be carried to the fuser area. The toner is now lying on top of the moving paper and needs to be permanently adhered by fusing. The paper passes through a high-temperature fusing section where the toner is "melted" then fused onto the paper surface. This process requires a fuser web or fuser oil.

With two-sided copies, the first-side copy sits in an auxiliary duplex tray until it too must pass through the same process for the second side.

In xerography, there is another electrical charge to clear excess toner off the photoreceptor.

Copy Press is much simpler. It uses a unique monocomponent toner dispensed directly onto the hotoreceptor, just like laying down ink on a printing press. The image from the photoreceptor is transferred to an intermediate belt. This is a direct surface-to-surface transfer, just like an offset press passes an image from its print cylinder to its blanket cylinder. Copy Press also has to transfer and fuse the image. By using only half of the heat that xerography requires, Copy Press pre-heats the paper just enough to open up the fibbers and eliminate moisture. The paper then passes between the belt, holding the image, and another belt applies pressure. The combination of heat and pressure presses the image directly into the paper's fibbers. The two belts operate exactly like the blanket and pressure cylinders of an offset printing press: direct, surface-to-surface transfer.

With two-sided copies, Copy Press passes the paper directly back through the transfer fuse stage to pick up the second image. There is no auxiliary tray and no static electricity that may cause sheets of paper to stick together.

In Copy Press surface-to-surface technology there is little toner left over to begin with. What little toner is left is brushed off without an electrical charge.