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| 1843 | With the use of telegraph technology, a Scottish physicist named Alexander Bain develops and patents the first primitive facsimile machine called a "recording telegraph". A sending and receiving machine is set up at each end of a telegraph line. The sending machine is designed to sense light and dark spots by way of a stylus attached to a pendulum which passes over the metal type. The metal-to-stylus contact is either open or closed depending on what is on the metal plate. The open/close effect regulates a direct current sent over the telegraph lines. On the other end, the receiver device's pendulum creates a brown stain as it swings across chemically treated paper each time an electric current passes through the pendulum. |
| 1843-Early 1900's | Fax is used only on telegraph lines due to the lack of and distance limitations of telephone lines. Fax is also only used for unique point-to-point applications such as sending information and photographs across the country to newspapers. Fax use remains specialized until the 1940's and relies on expensive dedicated transmission facilities for use. As telephone services expand, fax moves from telegraph to telephone lines while fax equipment begins to evolve into portable, self-contained fax transmission equipment. |
| 1848 | Bain's commercially unsuccessful device is replaced by a cylinder-and-screw mechanism developed by Frederick Bakewell, an English physicist. It uses insulating ink written on a metal surface and is credited as being the forerunner of the modern facsimile machine. |
| 1861 | The Pantelegraph machine is patented by Giovanni Caselli. It becomes the first commercial fax machine when a circuit between Lyon and Paris is set up in 1865. The fax service continues until 1870. |
| 1902 | Dr. Arthur Korn, an American inventor, develops a photoelectric scanning system for the transmission and reproduction of photography. |
| 1907 | Korn establishes a commercial picture transmission system, which becomes the world's first facsimile system, and begins to transmit pictures between Paris, London and Berlin using radio waves as a communications channel. |
| 1911 | First amplitude modulator for fax is patented by Rosing allowing fax machines to transmit over telephone lines. |
| 1922 | Korn sends a picture of Pope Pius XI from Rome to the United States by radio. The picture appears in The New York World News on the same day it was sent. |
| 1924 | RCA faxes photos across the Atlantic in six minutes. Higher speed fax systems are developed by Western Union, RCA and AT&T for the faxing of photos across the U.S. |
| 1934 | The Associated Press introduces the first wire service for the distribution of photos and text. |
| 1935 | Wide World Wire Photos (later called Times Facsimile Corporation) is formed. It uses Austin G. Cooley's semi-portable fax system to operate for the New York Times. |
| 1939 | More than 1,000 U.S. households are experimentally equipped with fax receivers that electronically print morning newspapers overnight. The newspapers are transmitted by fax via kit-built radio attachments. |
| 1941 | The U.S. Military uses facsimile to transmit maps, orders and weather charts during World War II. |
| 1945 | The U.S. Air Force set a worldwide standard for fax transmission of weather maps. By comparison to modern machines, the military equipment is slow and cumbersome. During this time, fax services are developing across the U.S. for the transmission of news, weather, and law enforcement information. |
| 1946 | Radio fax becomes obsolete with the debut of commercial television. |
| 1948 | The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorizes commercial development of facsimile technology as an element of the telecommunications industry. The FCC holds extensive hearings and finds that facsimile has progressed out of the trial and error stage. Facsimile equipment is technically sound and receives wide acceptance in public demonstrations. Western Union develops a small-copy office fax unit called Deskfax. 50,000 units are made to send telegrams between customer offices and the Western Union office. |
| 1952 | Dr. Robert Wernikoff, a Boston telecommunications expert, invents a facsimile terminal that utilizes digital technology, allowing fax machines to be smaller in size and transmit faster, and paving the way for integrated circuitry. |
| 1960 | The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) TR-29 standards committee for fax is formed. |
| 1961 | FCC authorizes general microwave transmission. AT&T announces Telpak, a low-cost wideband transmission service, making it economically feasible to consider fax transmission of documents as an "everyday" business system. |
| 1963 | Authorization is granted to send fax over the PSTN using a facsimile coupling device with a special analog modem. |
| 1964 | Long Distance Xerography (LDX), the world's first facsimile system for business use, is introduced. The system electronically transmits anything typed, sketched or printed on paper. The system consists of a document scanner, a broadband transmission link (microwave channel, coaxial cable, or special telephone line) and a document printer. However, LDX requires separate equipment for scanning, transmission, and receiving. The equipment is large and bulky. |
| 1965 | The first U.S. large production office fax called the Magnavox Telecopier is marketed by Xerox. |
| 1966 | As faxing begins to move from specialized usage to the business field, the problem of compatibility, the ability of two machines to communicate, becomes a serious problem. Each manufacturer is using a different design and transmission protocol, therefore only fax machines from the same manufacturer can communicate. The first action to standardize fax communications is initiated by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), a U.S. Standards organization. The EIA issues Standard RS-328 which standardizes the way fax equipment should communicate and paves the way for faxing between diverse machines. |
| 1967 | In the landmark "Carterfone" decision, the FCC permits the interconnection of acoustic couplers for fax transmissions. Previously, long distance companies and the common carriers prohibited customers from connecting electronic devices to their network of telephone lines. |
| 1968 | In the late 1960's, faxing becomes more common on the international level, and in 1968 the Consultative Committee for International Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT), a United Nations group which sets standards for data communications, issues an international fax standard for fax transmission called Group 1. This overshadows the previous standard set by the EIA and moves fax standardization to the international level. The Group 1 classification is for analog facsimile devices that operate at a speed of six minutes per page using FM modulation. A four-minute speed is also included in this category as a manufacturer's option. This group represents the early machines pioneered by manufacturers in the late 1960's to early 1970's. |
| 1969 | Fax machines are allowed to electrically connect their signals to the PSTN, but only through a telephone-company-provided device that isolated and protected the telephone network. |
| 1974 | CCITT initiates Group 1 standards. First digital fax machine called Rapifax 100 is designed by Dacom using Donald Weber's adaptive run-length coding algorithm. |
| 1975 | The number of fax machines in the U.S. is 100,000. |
| 1976 | CCITT initiates Group 2 standards. Japan starts mass manufacturing Group 2 fax machines at low cost and recognizes fax technology as a simpler way of quick graphic communication of their written language (Kanji). |
| 1978 | The FCC issues Part 68 regulations for direct electrical connection of fax machines and other devices to the PSTN. The equipment must be tested for compliance and assigned a registration number by the FCC. |
| 1980 | CCITT initiates Group 3 standards |
| 1981 | U.S. Senate passes the Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act allowing greater competition in the telecommunications industry. |
| 1983 | The number of fax machines in the U.S. is estimated at 300,000. |
| 1984 | CCITT initiates Group 4 basic standards for fax terminals designed to operate on high-speed data networks, such as the Integrated System Digital Network (ISDN). These terminals can transmit as fast as 3 seconds per page. The first computer-linked fax machines are produced by Xerox and Murata. Federal Express introduces Zap Mail, a fax service that is hampered by the fact that it is not perceived as facsimile but as a faster way of sending documents overnight mail. |
| 1985 | The first computer fax board is produced by GammaLink. |
| 1986 | The American Facsimile Association is founded in Philadelphia. Zap Mail service is discontinued as more companies purchase fax equipment of their own. |
| 1987 | First self-service, credit card accessed fax machines are introduced. The first plain-paper fax machine is introduced by Canon. |
| 1988 | The number of fax machines in the U.S. now at 1.5 million. Error Correction Mode (ECM) is added to CCITT Group 3 Recommendation. Small-format (A5 and A6 paper size) is added to CCITT Group 3 Recommendation. The first fax-on-demand systems are introduced. The first LAN fax server is produced by Castelle. |
| 1989 | The number of fax machines in the U.S. grows to 2.5 million. The first 14.4 Kbps fax machine is produced by Pitney Bowes. The first color fax machines are introduced. The first Group 3 machines with Modified Modified Read (MMR) compression are introduced. |
| 1990 | The Class 1 and Class 2 standards for fax modems are submitted for standards approval. The first multifunctional fax machine is introduced by Xerox. |
| 1991 | V.17 (14.4 Kbps) transmission speed and Modified Modified Read (MMR) coding with Error Correction Mode (ECM) are added to the CCITT Group 3 Recommendation. The Class 1 standard is approved, but the Class 2 standard is not. A Group 3/ISDN digital fax alternative to Group 4 is proposed. TTIs are required on all U.S. fax machines. |
| 1992 | The passing of the Telephone Consumers Protection Act by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which set regulations for the unauthorized faxing of advertising and "junk fax". The T.434 group of enhancements to Group 3 are approved. They include Subaddressing, Binary File Transfer (BFT), Superfine Mode and Selective Polling. Group 3/ISDN and Group 3/UDI are specified as alternatives to Group 4. |
| 1993 | All standards are handled by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the parent organization of the CCITT. The CCITT changes its name to ITU-T. Recommendations are set by the ITU-T committee. The Class 2.0 standard for fax modems is proposed. Voice capability is added to fax/data modem chips. The first portable fax machine with a built-in cellular interface is introduced. |
| 1994 | MNP10 (Microcom Networking Protocol) Enhanced Cellular is announced by Microcom which enhances modem performance over circuit-switched cellular networks. The Class 2.0 standard is approved. The Multi-function Peripheral Interface (MFPI) is standardized by the TIA/EIA. |
| 1995 | An agreement is reached on a 28.8 Kbps Group 3 standard. A color fax standard based on JPEG is approved. The JBIG standard for improved halftone compression is approved. The Multifunction Peripheral Association (MFPA) proposes the MFPI as an ITU standard. |
| 1996 | The 28.8 Kbps and 33.6 Kbps portions of the V.34 fax transmission standard are approved. The first Internet faxing products are introduced. The first 33.6 Kbps fax machine is introduced by Pitney Bowes. |