The Fax Machine

History and Technology…

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Outline

History and Development How Modern Fax Machines Work Future Technologies

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Precursors to the Fax Machine Telegraph

300BC: Water Telegraph - Ancient Greece/Roman Empire

1700’s - 1880: Chappe’s Semaphore - Europe 1800’s: Electrical Telegraph

- Europe/America 1837: Morse Telegraph

- America

All required human processing/translation

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First Fax Machines: Alexander Bain (Scotland) - 1843

Pendulum

Battery

Magnet

Copper Plate

Electrolytic Paper

Stylus

Telegraph Wire

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First Fax Machines: Frederick Bakewell (England)- 1847/1852

Telegraph Wire

ClockworkCylinder

Needlee

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First Fax Machines: Giovanni Caselli (Italy) - 1861

Battery

Pendulum

Metal PlateAnd Stylus

Clocks

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First Fax Machines: Arthur Korn (Germany) - 1902

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Developments: 1920-1980s First telephone-based fax machine (AT&T)

1924 - Telephotography First radiowave fax machine (RCA)

1926 - Radiophoto Newspaper/photo Services

1930/1940s - Home based service World War I & II Trans-Atlantic Radio Transmission

1955 - Modern fax machines Transmission of weather data

1960 - Commercialism Computer fax board

1985 - Gammafax

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Developments: Standards G1 - 1968

Slow (6mins), unreliable, text and graphic material by telephone (now obsolete)

G2 - 1976 Faster (3mins), better quality (almost obsolete)

G3 - 1980 to present day Digital transmission techniques Fast (1min), improved resolution Household technology

G4 - Present day Completely digital (instant)

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How Modern Fax Machines Work

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How Modern Fax Machines Work

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Fax Machines: Statistics

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Related Technologies

Modem Photocopier Scanner Computer printer

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Fax Machines in the Future Email Smart Phones

When will the fax machine finally become extinct?

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References Bellis, Mary. “The History of Fax Machines & Alexander Bain.” About.com: Inventors. 2009. About.com. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/fax_machine.htm>.

Bellows, Alan. “The Fax Machines of the 1800’s.” Damn Interesting. 25 Sept. 2005. DamnInteresting.com. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=40>.

Brain, Marshall. “How Fax Machines Work.” How Stuff Works. 2 Oct. 2001.  HowStuffWorks.com. 8 Feb. 2009<http://communication.howstuffworks.com/fax-machine.htm>.

Costigan, Daniel M. Electronic Delivery of Documents and Graphics. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1978.

“Fax.” Encyclopdia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 25 Feb. 2009  <http://search.eb.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/eb/article-2206>.

“Fax.” Wikipedia. 4 Feb. 2009. Wikipedia Community. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax>.

“Fax Engineering.” Technikum29. 2003-2008. Museum of Computer and Communication Technology. 8 Feb 2009 <http://www.technikum29.de/en/communication/fax.shtm>.

“Fax Machines (most recent) By Country.” Media Statistics. NationMaster.com. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/med_fax_mac-media-fax-machines&b_map=1>.

“Frederick Bakewell.” Famous Scientists. 24 March 2007. Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University. 8 Feb 2009 <http://people.clarkson.edu/~ekatz/scientists/bakewell.html>.

“Giovanni Caselli.” Famous Scientists. 17 May 2003. Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University. 8 Feb 2009 <http://people.clarkson.edu/%7Eekatz/scientists/caselli.html>.

Hanes, David, and Gonzalo Salgueiro. Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony. Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press, 2008.

“Possession of Fax Machine.” GMID - Global Market Information Database. 2009. Euromonitor International. 8 Feb. 2009.

McConnell, Kenneth R., Dennis Bodson, and Stephen Urban. FAX : Facsimile Technology and Systems. 3rd ed. Boston: Artech House, 1999.

Rensen, Marius. Fax History. 04 May 2008. HF-Fax. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://www.hffax.de/history/index.html>.