It may seem unbelievable, but we owe the invention of the fax machine to a scottish engineer called Alexander Bain, who received a patent for his invention in 1843! This was just seven years after Samuel Morse invented the telegraph, and Bain developed his idea from the telegraph technology. Bain's idea was to scan a flat metal surface with a stylus mounted on a pendulum, the stylus then picked up the designs on the plate. Bain was helped by his knowledge of clock building, which enabled him to design the machinery needed.
An english physicist called Frederick Bakewell demonstrated the worlds first fax transmission in 1851 at the world fair in London. Bakewell's system unlike Bain's involved the use of metal cylinders to send and receive the images. This system was commonly used on fax machines in the 1960s. Various types of the fax machine were tried over the years, the vast majority based on Bain's original idea. This was until 1902 when Professor Arthur Korn from Germany developed the first photo electric scanning system, this was the first machine not to use the Bain's contact technique. By 1922 faxes could be sent across the atlantic and were already becoming essential for big business.
The first colour faxes used three transmissions to send images, today they are sent in a single transmission. Although Bain never actually transmitted a fax, it was his idea which started the whole thing off. Bain could never have imagined how important his idea was, or how widespread his invention would be. Despite the incredible rise of e-mails the fax machine is still a fundamental part of today's office. So it is essential to make sure your office fax is in working order, to help we have made a guide to fax repairs . |
