Paper jam - when the printer suffers from 'congestion'
News News blog
Paper jam is a malfunction caused by sheets of paper stuck in the transport path. It has been a common term in dealing with photocopiers, fax machines, printers and paper processing machines since the 1960s.
The reasons for a paper jam can be manifold: Sometimes the rubber roller mechanism in the machines transports several sheets instead of one, thus blocking the machine. In the case of machines that have been in use for a long time, rollers that have become too slippery can be responsible for the fact that paper is no longer fed in cleanly.
Even the first commercially successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, was known for chronic paper jams. One argument in the 1990s for sending and receiving faxes using a PC instead of a fax machine was therefore the paper jams it eliminated.
Paper jams are also used in a figurative form as "processing backlogs", i.e. work with files, applications and office procedures. For example, a paper jam occurs when an office suffers from staff shortages and applications pile up or electronic mail remains unopened.
