It may seem that the fax machine was invented only a handful of years ago, but the truth is it has been over 100 years in the making. The first recognized version of a fax machine was invented in 1843. Now, if you want to know when online faxing became available, look back to a couple of years ago.
History of Traditional Faxing
Though the actual science and technology of the traditional fax machine predates the late 1980s, it wasn’t until that time that fax machines became standard business equipment. The original technology was invented in England, 1843, by Alexander Bain. An American named Elisha Gray, invented and patented the first facsimile transmission system, and started a company that later became the West Electric Company.
By 1902 a German inventor, Arthur Korn came up with “telephotography.” His invention introduced the idea of breaking an image down into pieces, and transmitting them via electrical wires. The first inter-city fax was sent by Korn from Munich to Berlin in, 1907.
In 1925, a Frenchman named Eouard Belin invented a system where he placed an image on a cylinder. And by scanning it with a powerful light with the use of a photoelectric cell, converted the light into electrical impulses, which could be sent from one place to another. This invention was what all subsequent versions of the fax machine were based on.
It was in 1964, that the Xerox Corporation invented the Long Distance Xerography or LDX. Then in 1966, they introduced the first fax machine which could be connected to a phone line. It was called the Magnafax Telecopier, and could transmit a letter-sized document to another location in six minutes.
In the 1970s the Japanese began to manufacture smaller faster models of the Magnafax. During the 1980s, the fax machines became ubiquitous throughout the business community.
Online Faxing
Image via Wikipedia
The advent of the Internet has given birth to faster, more digitally-designed forms of communication. Computers have become affordable the world over, and with the means of connecting them all into a giant web, we have seen technology in this area explode. Communication over the Internet has swallowed up all previous forms.
People now connect over their phones through the Internet in more and more instances which is displayed with the use of, Voice over IP. The providers of telephone and Internet have begun to blur, and the services and technology of each have bled back and forth between them. What is done through a phone line can now be done over Internet cables and vice-versa.
Online faxing, “Internet Faxing” or “e-faxing” is simply the original concept of faxing an image through the Internet. Also, the resulting transmission is received as an image file through email, or printed out. Sending an online fax is accomplished through online providers, or by using the correct software directly from your computer. Online faxing has made the transmission of an image quicker, easier, more efficient, and user-friendly than ever before.