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Sooner or later, your office will need a new photocopier. If you last bought one a couple of years ago, you will probably be amazed at what has changed. Here, Country Connect offers you the definitive list of must know photocopier and office equipment jargon!

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photocopiers terms
Photocopiers

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Multifunctional
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Printers

Photocopier Terms A-Z

All-In-Ones
All-in-Ones are also known as multifunctional devices (MFDs). An All-in-One system performs multiple functions in a in a single machine. Thus, copying, faxing, scanning, and printing become centralised, offering greater control and efficiency..

Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
An ADF enables you to make copies without lifting the platen. You load the set of original documents into the feeder, press start, and let the copier move each sheet on and off the platen. Thus instead of placing each sheet one-by-one onto the glass, the ADF reduces time and monotony. A typical ADF can hold between 1 and 20 sheets at a time.

Bypass Tray
A bypass tray reduces the risk of a paper jam by offering an alternative short, straight-paper path. It thus enables you to copy straight onto originals - such as coloured paper, odd-sized paper, or card stock – i.e. materials which cannot be fed (or are inconvenient or impossible to feed) from the regular copy paper tray inside a the copier. Bypass trays can handle anywhere from one to 100 sheets. A popular use is in colour copiers for printing onto stiff covers or transparencies. Bypass trays that can hold more than one sheet are called stackable bypass trays.

Catch Tray
A catch tray collects the completed copies which emerge from the copy machine.

Consumables
Items that every so often need to be replaced are known as consumables. These would include the toner, paper, fuser oil, developer, or any other materials or parts that must be regularly replaced.

Control Panel
The control panel is the area where you find all the control functions for the photocopier. Nowadays, the control panel is a sophisticated LCD display with easy-to-follow instructions. These guide the user through such variables as number of copies required, paper size, copy reduction, or copy enlargement.

Convenience Copying
"Convenience copying" is simply the act of using the scanning function in a fax machine to make a quick copy.

Copier Counter
A useful management tool, the Copier Counr keep a numerical record of the number of copies produced. Sometimes they are not easy to find, but a quick look under the platen glass can usually reveal it.

Copies Per Minute (CPM)
Copies Per Minute is a value expressed by the number of 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages a digital copier can produce per minute. These days, colour copiers list four CPM speeds. These are for black and white, one-colour, two-colour, and four-colour copies. Naturally, four-colour speeds are the slowest, with speeds ranging from 3 to 10 CPM. More expensive, high specification copiers can operate at 40 CPM).

Cost of Ownership
Consumables such as paper and toner, as well as service contracts are all part of the price equation when considering a new digital copier. This is called the Cost of Ownership, and it determines the actual cost to budget for when buying copy machines.

Desktop Copier
Still a popular choice especially in the small business environment, or where space is at a premium, a Desktop Copier sits easily on a desktop or table. No stand is required, and these are often Segment 1 and 2 copiers.

Digital Copying
All colour photocopiers copiers currently available on the market use digital technology. This is a copying technology which works in the same way as a scanner, by breaking up the image into dots and rows. This is in total contrast to analog copiers which work in the same way as a camera, taking a picture of the document to be copied via a lens.

Duplex Copying
Duplex is another word for automatically copying on both sides of a page. Duplex copying is best achieved by adding a the copier with a document feeder called a recirculating automatic document feeder (RADF), which can handle two-sided originals. This is the best way to avoid the paper jams often associated with two-sided copying.

Editing Features
These days, many colour copiers have a wide range of editing features, which enable the user to move the image, change the colours, or adjust colours to match the original after creating the copy.

Electronic Recirculating Document Handler (ERDH)
An EDRH is a copy machine which is able to do the following: copy two-sided original documents, handle originals only once when making copies, and autmatically sort output copies. Also called a duplex digital document scanner.

Electronic Sorting
This method of sorting means that copies can be collated without the use of sorter bins. This is achieved by outputting cach collated set horizontally, then vertically in alternate sequence.

First-Copy Speed
This is the indicator which defines how quickly a photocopier can print the initial page of a document. This is useful to know if your usiness is using the copier on a walk-up-and-use basis, since most people only copy one or two sheets at a time, and are keen to complete the job in quick time

Four-Colour Printing
Most copiers these days use four-colur printing. Four colour printing uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black to create all colours of the spectrum. Four colour printing is also referred to as CMYK printing.

Full Bleed
An image that covers right to the edge of a sheet with no borders or margins. Typically you must print on a larger sheet and then trim the page.

Large Format Copier
Photocopiers and MFDs categorised as Large Format include those designed for A2 media and larger.

Ledger-Sized Paper
Paper sheets measuring 11 x 17 inches.

Legal-Sized Paper
Paper sheets measuring 8 1/2 x 14 inches.

Letter-Sized Paper
Paper sheets measuring 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

Maximum Monthly Volume
Maximum Monthly Volume is maximum number of pages copy machines designed to produce each month. This figure tends to err on the high side in manufacturers specifications, with few photocopiers copiers ever hitting their monthly maximum in the real-world environment. Similar to MPG figures on cars, the Maximum Monthly Volume is useful as a comparison figure rather than an absolute.

Memory
In the same way as a PC uses memeory, so also does a photocopier machine. Memory is simply a hardware component that stores data . A digital copier needs memory to perform things such as scanning documents, using scan once/print many, or faxing. The required amount of memory depends on which function is used.

Monochrome
Neat term for Black and white.

Moving Platen
The lower-priced desktop copiers often have moving platens, meaning the top of the copier moves backwards and forwards across the document placed in the machine to be copied.

Multifunctional Device (MFD)
You no longer need to think in terms of separate devices for fax, scanning and copying. You can now think in terms of which Multifunctional Device (or MFD) best suits your office and business requirements. An MFD is defined as a machine which can perform one other function in addition to faxing and convenience copying - often copying or scanning, or printing. An MFD is also referred to as an all-in-one.

OHC Mode
OHC mode enables colour photocopiers to copy onto transparencies. This mode runs more slowly than usual colour copying to ensure the toner has time to fuse into the plastic trasparency sheets.

Paper Supply
Paper supply defines the set of trays and holders which enable a copier to work with different sizes or types of paper automatically.

PC Copier Segment
This defines the range of low-end Includes copiers with speeds between one and 12 copies per minute and Maximum Monthly Volume of up to 1,000 copies.

Platen
The glass area on which original documents are placed to be copied. Sometimes the word is also used to refer to the cover that moves back and forth over the platen glass.

Proportional Zoom
The Proportional Zoom function shrinks or enlarges the length and width of a page, each independently of the other. This reduces the white space that can surround copies of reduced pages. Also referred to as independent x and y axis zoom or anamorphic zoom.

Raster Image Processor (RIP)
Another word for a Print Controller. The RIP is used to attach a copier to a computer network to convert colour files into printing instructions for the copier. Also known as a colour server or print controller.

Recirculating Automatic Document Feeder (RADF)
The RADF is an automatic document feeder that can automatically turn the document over to copy on its reverse side. If you only have an automatic document feeder (ADF), you can copy a two-sided document, but the copies will be on two different sheets of paper. Copiers must have a duplex unit installed for the RADF to work properly.

Reduction/Enlargement
Many lower-specifcation photocopiers have simple preset settings for reduction and enlargement of copies. Higher-spec machines enable you to zoom in as closely or as far out as you need.

Remote Diagnostics
This is a system that links to your phone line and can call the dealer'stechnical support team if a problem arises. This means that problems can be anaysed and understood in detail, and so improve repair time and ensure that maintenance schedules are followed correctly and recorded properly.

Scan Once/Print Many
By holding a scanned image of the original document in its memory, a copier can then produce additional copies without the need to handle the original again. Users can leave the copier, taking the originals away while the job is being completed.

Segment 1 Copiers
Copiers with speeds between 13-20 copies per minute and copy volumes of up to 10,000-12,000 copies per month.

Segment 2 Copiers
Copiers with speeds between 21-30 copies per minute and copy volumes of up to 25,000-30,000 copies per month.

Service Contract
The signed agreement between you and a dealer selling you a copier, that specifies the arrangements for repair and routine service and maintenance for the copier.

Single In-Line Memory Module (SIMM)
SIMM is a standard memory design, and as such t comes less expensive than proprietary designs.

Sorter
The Sorter is a set of horizontal bins near the output tray of a photocopier which enable the collation of pages in the order\that they emerge from the machine. Some sorters, called sorter/staplers, can also automatically staple the collated sets of documents.

Stackless Duplexing
A type of duplex copying that keeps the original document as an image in memory and not physically in a tray. Thus, rather than keeping a stack of one-sided copies until the copier is ready to copy on to the second sides, stackless duplexing allows you to make as many double-sided copies as you need, without being limited to the number of sheets a duplexing tray can hold at a time. Also referred to as trayless duplexing.

Stationary Platen
These days, all but the most basic PC-segment copiers are equipped with a stationary platen. The top of the copier does not move back and forth across the document to be copied.

Warm-Up Time
The larger the model, the longer the warm-up time. The warm up time is defined as the amount of time between when a photocopier is switched on and when it can begin the first job.

Yield
The Yield is defined as the number of copies a particular consumable (toner, developer) can support. The Yield for toner for example, can be calculated by estimating the number of copies made per month and the amount used per page.

Zoom
The Zoom function enables you to reduce or enlarge copies within a certain percentage range. These days, digital copiers can zoom as high 800 percent and reduce as low as 25 percent.

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Office equipment and photocopier jargon by Country Connect

Read Articles & Topics by Jimi St. Pierre

Multifunctional Devices come in all shapes and sizes: how to select the right system is a matter of addressing a simple set of issues. Read on for the main areas to consider.

Buying a Multifunctional Device
Converging technologies in recent years has established the norm of a single unit - a Multifunctional Device - to deal with important data collation and delivery functions in today's dynamic office environment.

You no longer need to think in terms of separate devices for fax, scanning and copying. You can now think in terms of which Multifunctional Device (or MFD) best suits your office and business requirements.

Scan, Fax and Copy
Depending on what other office systems you have, you can select from a range of Multifunctional Devices which also offer scan, fax and copy functions. Many brands offer a modular system, whereby you can pick which elements you want.

Footprint
How much space is available to you? What equipment will your new Multifunctional Device replace, and how much space will this free up? Systems can fit on a desk, or be free-standing. The footprint is simply the amount of space your new printer takes up, and it is obviously important that the system you choose is right for the available space. For smaller offices, combined machines are highly economical and have a neater footprint.

Speed
You might need to print only a few pages daily, or you might be producing multi-page company brochures or project reports. You may not need a system which can produce 40-plus pages per minute in high volume. However you will certainly be frustrated by delays caused by selecting a system which operates at a pace suitable only for the occasional user. Different Multifunctional Devices and print technologies work at different speeds. It is important to consider the workload expected of your new purchase, and make the right choice for page per minute speed specification.

Colour or black and white
Where simple functionality is more important that creating an impression, it is good to know that there is a choice to stay with black and white copying and printing. But with the price of colour printing falling dramatically in recent years, it may be less than you think to specify colour in your printing specification. You might spend more in toner and other consumables, but these days the differences are not what they were.

Toner consumption
Advances in toner consumption technologies mean the latest machines are highly economical, meaning longer intervals between toner cartridge replacement. Many factors are involved in the calculation of running costs - including the volume of best quality results compared with the day-to-day print needs.

Finishing
Sorting, stacking, stapling and punching are automated in larger Multifunctional Devices, and thus the investment in a bigger machines can save a great deal on labour costs.

Networking
More savings and efficiencies can be gained through networking your Multifunctional Device so that several users have access. When networking your system, is it important to include sufficient memory to handle multiple jobs.

Multifunctional Devices: Maintenance and Usability
Some Multifunctional Devices contain simple cartridges which are very easy to use and maintain yourself. Larger machines for departmental or industrial use are offered with maintenance agreements, which is always the best option for peace of mind and continued, trouble-free use without the need for in-house maintenance training and knowledge.

Information supplied by Office Magic.co.uk