Photocopiers are mechanisms that make duplicates of an original piece of paper, especially those that have information written or typed on them.

The original is placed on a glass surface on top of the photocopier, which then scans it using a halogen lamp. The image is then reflected off a scan mirror, through a lens system, reflected off another mirror, and is displayed on a photosensitive drum. A charging electrode then converts the light into an electrical image on the drum. The dark spots on the image have negative charges on the drum, thus attracting positively charged toner. The charging electrode then negatively charges a sheet of incoming paper, which comes in through a paper feed, and the image and toner are transferred onto the sheet. The paper then is fed through several hot rollers that fuse the toner and image into the sheet, which then comes out of the mechanism and onto a tray, all hot¹ and shiny.

The biggest question about photocopiers is why men, who insist on being able to fix all things electrical around the house, cannot work, maintain or fix photocopiers even when armed with the manual.