STARS-Proposal:Fax Machines
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| − | {{STARSProposal|timeline={{STARSTimeline|year1=1843|event1=First patent on facsimile transmission by Alexander Bain in Britain|year2=1863|event2=First commercial facsimile operating system by Abbe Caselli in France|year3=1904|event3=First facsimile transmission by telephone by Arthur Korn in Germany|year4=1925|event4=First commercial wirephoto system by ATT|year5=1927|event5=First international fax service between Germany and Austria|year6=1928|event6=First Japanese fax system|year7=1935|event7=Introduction of AP wirephoto service|year8=1965|event8=Introduction of the Xerox Telecopier|year9=1977|event9=Introduction of the Japanese READ fax standard|year10=1980|event10=Approval by the CCITT of the Group 3 fax standard|year11=1986|event11=Introduction by Gammalink of the PC faxboard|year12=1997|event12=Peak of fax machine sales in the United States|year13=2000|event13=Peak of fax machine sales in Japan}}|synopsis=|bibliography=|resume=|complete=}}[[Category:STARS-Communications]] | + | {{STARSProposal|timeline={{STARSTimeline|year1=1843|event1=First patent on facsimile transmission by Alexander Bain in Britain|year2=1863|event2=First commercial facsimile operating system by Abbe Caselli in France|year3=1904|event3=First facsimile transmission by telephone by Arthur Korn in Germany|year4=1925|event4=First commercial wirephoto system by ATT|year5=1927|event5=First international fax service between Germany and Austria|year6=1928|event6=First Japanese fax system|year7=1935|event7=Introduction of AP wirephoto service|year8=1965|event8=Introduction of the Xerox Telecopier|year9=1977|event9=Introduction of the Japanese READ fax standard|year10=1980|event10=Approval by the CCITT of the Group 3 fax standard|year11=1986|event11=Introduction by Gammalink of the PC faxboard|year12=1997|event12=Peak of fax machine sales in the United States|year13=2000|event13=Peak of fax machine sales in Japan}}|synopsis=The basic concept of a fax machine -- a machine that electrically transmits an image -- has not changed since 1843. The three main components were, and remain, the scanner-transmitter, the transmitting medium, and the receiver-recorder. What has changed are its enabling and supporting technologies, the social environment, its competition, and the expectations and assumptions of its promoters and users. |
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| + | Facsimile’s history was in some sense a history of the telecommunications, electronics, and computer industries. Without them, there would be no fax industry. Three broad intertwined technical trends appeared in the century and a half of fax history. First, the complexity of fax equipment vastly increased over time. Second, as machines became more sophisticated, they became "black boxes," their technical aspects increasingly hidden from view. Third, they became easier to use while increasing in capability. | ||
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| + | For most of its long history, facsimile was a concept in search of implementation, an impractical solution in search of a feasible problem. The concept dates back to Alexander Bain’s 1843 patent. The first commercial service began (and ended) in the 1860s, but the first profitable service appeared only after World War I. The mid-1960s saw the first sustained efforts to produce fax machines for general business use. Not until the 1980s, however, did fax catch on and become an essential communications tool, first in Japan, followed by the United States, and then the rest of the world. By 2000, however, e-mail and the WorldWide Web had rendered the fax machine obsolescent though not obsolete. | ||
| + | |bibliography=|resume=|complete=}}[[Category:STARS-Communications]] | ||
Revision as of 16:15, 8 December 2010
Author: Jonathan Coopersmith
Timeline
| 1843 | First patent on facsimile transmission by Alexander Bain in Britain |
| 1863 | First commercial facsimile operating system by Abbe Caselli in France |
| 1904 | First facsimile transmission by telephone by Arthur Korn in Germany |
| 1925 | First commercial wirephoto system by ATT |
| 1927 | First international fax service between Germany and Austria |
| 1928 | First Japanese fax system |
| 1935 | Introduction of AP wirephoto service |
| 1965 | Introduction of the Xerox Telecopier |
| 1977 | Introduction of the Japanese READ fax standard |
| 1980 | Approval by the CCITT of the Group 3 fax standard |
| 1986 | Introduction by Gammalink of the PC faxboard |
| 1997 | Peak of fax machine sales in the United States |
| 2000 | Peak of fax machine sales in Japan |
Synopsis
The basic concept of a fax machine -- a machine that electrically transmits an image -- has not changed since 1843. The three main components were, and remain, the scanner-transmitter, the transmitting medium, and the receiver-recorder. What has changed are its enabling and supporting technologies, the social environment, its competition, and the expectations and assumptions of its promoters and users.
Facsimile’s history was in some sense a history of the telecommunications, electronics, and computer industries. Without them, there would be no fax industry. Three broad intertwined technical trends appeared in the century and a half of fax history. First, the complexity of fax equipment vastly increased over time. Second, as machines became more sophisticated, they became "black boxes," their technical aspects increasingly hidden from view. Third, they became easier to use while increasing in capability.
For most of its long history, facsimile was a concept in search of implementation, an impractical solution in search of a feasible problem. The concept dates back to Alexander Bain’s 1843 patent. The first commercial service began (and ended) in the 1860s, but the first profitable service appeared only after World War I. The mid-1960s saw the first sustained efforts to produce fax machines for general business use. Not until the 1980s, however, did fax catch on and become an essential communications tool, first in Japan, followed by the United States, and then the rest of the world. By 2000, however, e-mail and the WorldWide Web had rendered the fax machine obsolescent though not obsolete.
Bibliography
References of Historical Significance
References for Further Reading
