Fax Machine

Fax Machine By Beau

Fax, which stands for facsimile or telefacsimile, is a technology that sends copies of documents over the telephone lines. Faxes became widely used in the 1980s and are still used by businesses and individuals today. However, today the Internet is probably used more often to transfer documents.

How Fax Machines Work

A fax machine is a machine that sends messages to another fax machine by a phone line. When the message is sent to the other machine it decodes the message and prints it out.

In order for the fax machine to work, the machine has to scan the paper. To scan the paper, it has to use photosensitive devices which basically send a message whether there is or is not ink on the page. When the fax machine receives this information, it uses this on-off signal to either apply or not apply ink to the page.

You can walk into almost any office in the United States and you will find a fax machine. Fax machines have been around for more than one hundred years.

The History of the Fax Machine

In 1843, the fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain, a Scottish mechanic. He made his fax machine by combining clock and telegraph technology.

After Bain’s invention, there were a number of historical events that followed. In 1862, Giovanni Caselli built a pantelegraph that was used by the French Post and Telegraph for many years. In 1902, Arthur Korn invented a way of transmitting photographs through electric wires. In 1914, Edouard Belin established the concept for remote fax photo/news reporting. Also, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) improved telephone facsimile technology by making a telephotography machine that was used to send political convention photos in 1924. Then again in 1925, Edouard Belin invented the Belinograph. Then on March 5, 1955 the first radio facsimile transmission was sent across the country! In 1966, Xerox introduced a fax machine that was smaller and easier to use which encouraged offices to use them. By the 1980’s, fax machines were extremely common.

Spamming

What do you think spamming is?

1. A way of sending people faxes by a different machine.

2. Slipping a piece of Spam into a friend’s sandwich.

3. An illegal way of sending faxes to people without permission.

4. Using an old fax machine to send a fax.

Citations

Online Sources

Bellis, Mary. “Alexander Bain.” The History of the Fax Machine – Alexander Bain. 15 December 2004 <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventers/blfax.htm>.

Brain, Marshall. “How Fax Machines Work.” Howstuffworks. 15 December 2004 <http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/fax/machine.htm/printable>.

“Fax Machine.” Invention of the Fax Machine. 15 December 2004 <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story051.htm>.

“Junk fax.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 9 March 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_fax>.

Perini, Lynda. "Fax machine." World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. 15 December 2004 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar192830>.

“What is a Fax?” World Fax, Inc. 22 December 2004. <http://www.worldfax.com/fax_history.shtml>.

Images

Copyrighted clip art images from "Microsoft Office Online" <http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1> (October-March, 2004-2005). Clip art only available to licensed users for non-commercial purposes.