Since a young age, I have been fascinated by the fax machine. I am to this day mesmerized by how it works, even though they are basically archaic at this point. I know it's silly... there are so many newer, better, faster technologies but they don't boggle my mind in the same way. How can someone put a document in their machine and it print out somewhere far far away?! Not only is this piece of technology interesting to me, but I believe it is due some credit for where we are today when it comes to sending and receiving documents and data.
This is an incredibly thorough infographic I found informing the transformation of the fax machine. (Click to enlarge to read.)
Fax machines were designed to send information fast and relatively securely. While technology has far surpassed this today, we'd be remiss to ignore the impact the fax machine had on the way we communicate today.
In 1843, Alexander Bain Was able to reproduce graphic symbols in lab experiments. He received a British patent calling this device the “Electric Printing Telegraph.” Following this, a man named Frederick Bakewell furthered on Bain’s designFurther on beans to create a “telefax machine.” This was innovated upon to create the “Panetelegraph” by Giovanni Caseilli. All of these advancements were roughly 11 years before the telephone was even invented.
In 1880, Shelford Bidwell Instructed a scanning instructed a scanning photo telegraph which was the first device to scan a two dimensional piece of data without any plotting or drawing. This was followed by a few people advancing technology a bit further each time.
In 1888, Alicia Gray further developed the faxing technology. Through the invention of the “telautograph.” This allowed individuals to send signatures long distances which was especially helpful for verification of identification in land ownership.
The most significant year for the faxing technology was 1924. The first significant event in this year was on May 19 when the AT&T corporation was able to send 15 photographs by telephone from Cleveland to New York City through the process of transmitting pictures by electricity. This was the first instance of using a phone to send information and not a radio. Following this, the radio Corporation of America, known as the RCA, Developed the first wireless transmission of information. This was called the “TransOceanic Radio Facsimile” and through this they were able to transmit a photo from New York City to London. This is not all that was accomplished for the faxing technology in 1924. The AT&T corporation was also able to develop the first color facsimile allowing photographs to be transmitted in color. By the end of 1924, it was possible to send a single page fax in only six minutes! Today, we are used to being able to send high volume and virtually seconds, but this was the first efficient medium to transmit information virtually.
In 1960, the first satellite fax was used to send a photograph from the US Army for America to Puerto Rico. In 1964, the Xerox corporation patented what most of us know as the fax machine. What we understand as a fax machine is essentially telephone transmission of letter-sized documents. They perfected the technology over a few years and it became a widespread use machine. By the late 1970s, companies around the world had begun to use fax machines. As the years pass the machines became more compact and even faster. In 1974, a single page fax to be sent in three minutes. Fax machines were still relatively expensive at this time even though they were decreasing in price and increasing in affordability. By 1980 to a fax machine cost around $20,000. By 1996, the Internet fax was released And this allowed the general public to send and receive facsimile via computer and became a household technology.
Fax machines were still used into the 21st-century, and some people still use them today. However as computers have evolved and become even more innovative and the use of email is common place, faxing of information is not nearly as efficient as other modern means to communicate.
I will never not be fascinated by the fax machine and it still boggles my mind how this crazy machine works.
Did you guys grow up with a fax machine? I remember my brother and I would forget a homework assignment at school and we would call a classmate and have them fax us a picture of the worksheet so we could do it at our house and still be able to turn it in in the morning.
