EOTO: Fax Machine

Considering that the evolution of the fax machine was before my time, I have never put that much thought into the invention, or how it was created. I always just considered it a part of a printer, but I just wanted to briefly discuss the history behind it and the impact that it had on our society, even in the present day. 

The first ever fax was credited to Alexander Bain in 1846, as he was trying to send an image over a wire. He worked on this machine for quite some time until he was able to synchronize the motion of two pendulums through a clock. That motion was able to scan a message, line by line, and the image was able to be projected through a cylinder. Although this was a huge accomplishment and an image was able to be transferred, the quality was obviously very poor. Frederick Bakewell was credited with slightly changing, and improving Bain’s machine. He was able to replace the pendulums with rotating cylinders to create a much clearer image. Although Bain’s and Bakewell’s invention was not perfect, it was the first major step towards transferring images. 

Jumping about 20 years later in 1863, Giovanni Caselli was credited with creating the Pantelegraph, which started operation in 1865 in Paris and Lyon. The Pantelegraph is a combination of a pantograph and a telegraph. A pantograph is a machine used to copy drawings and words, and a telegraph is a system for transmitting messages over long distance wires. The reason why Caselli is credited with the first “successful” version of a fax machine, is because Caselli’s pantelegraph used a regulating clock that was able to repeatedly keep the sending and receiving mechanisms working together. Bain and Bakewell struggled with being able to correctly align two machines in two different locations. 

The fax machine has had a great impact on society over time. Without the fax machine, we would not have been able to learn how to send and receive documents or photos. It was one of the first forms of communication and allowed other people to expand on the idea, as it only became more advanced throughout the years. About 100 years later after Caselli’s invention, the first commercial fax machine was created that could be connected to any telephone line. That creation led to the fax machine getting implemented with the printer, which is something that is very popular, as we usually see them in offices, school buildings and in some of our own houses. Even In the past, a fax machine used to be the fastest and most efficient way to communicate and it only got even more popular when fax went wireless, colorful and 3D in the early 21st century. People all around the world were exposed to fax and it truly changed everyone’s perception on the advancement of technology. Although our generation nowadays typically associates a fax machine with a printer, it is important to know the history of how the fax machine evolved globally and gained its popularity on its own. Without it, who knows how or when we would have learned how to transmit files and documents. 

https://faxauthority.com/fax-history/ 

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-fax-machine-1991379