The Xerox 914 copier caught fire so often that Xerox shipped fire extinguishers with it

The Xerox 914, introduced in 1959 by the Haloid Company (which renamed itself Xerox in 1961), was the first commercially successful plain-paper copier. It was a sensation — offices that had relied on messy carbon paper and chemical processes could now make clean copies on ordinary paper. Demand was enormous.

But the 914 had a dangerous flaw. Its xerographic process used a heated fusing unit to bond toner to paper, and paper jams in the fuser could ignite. The machine caught fire often enough that Xerox shipped a small fire extinguisher with each unit and trained service technicians to respond to fire calls. The problem was serious enough to threaten the product's reputation.

Xerox engineers redesigned the fusing mechanism and added safety interlocks to reduce the fire risk. The 914 went on to become one of the most successful office products in history, generating billions in revenue and making Xerox a dominant force in office equipment. But the early fire problems were a stark lesson in shipping a product before the engineering was fully mature.