XEROX CORPORATION

major U.S. corporation and first manufacturer of xerographic, plain-paper copiers. Headquarters are in Stamford, Conn. The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known for some time, but this was its first commercial application. The product had such success that the company has had to wage a continuing campaign to prevent the trademark Xerox from becoming a generic term. Since that first copier, the company has expanded into other information products and publishing, while remaining a major reprographics manufacturer. Its primary products are related to the information-processing business, including xerographic copiers and related services, and other business products and supplies. It introduced word-processing machines in 1974, and in 1979 introduced Ethernet, an office communications network. The company also manufactures computer terminals, memory disk drives, and other computer software and offers seminars and management consulting. It manufactures office supplies and optical equipment for the defense and aerospace industries and conducts research in advanced military and aerospace technology. Xerox owns R.R. Bowker, which publishes Publishers' Weekly, Library Journal, and Books in Print. It also owns several publishers of textbooks and educational materials. Its University Microfilms International stores and rents microfilms of leading periodicals and books. In 1983 the company purchased Crum and Forster, Inc., an insurance holding company. The following year it completed the purchase of Van Kampen Merritt, Inc., an investment banking firm.