History of FAX, totally OT

Scot L. Harris webid at cfl.rr.com
Thu Feb 3 18:44:13 UTC 2005


On Thu, 2005-02-03 at 09:48, Gordon Keehn wrote:
> >    *Fax machines have actually been around since at least the 1800's. A
> >mechanical device which carved wood was set up in two towns in France
> >for some kind of exposition, with just a wire between the two towns. It
> >actually worked, and the idea's been around since then, building slowly
> >through the 1970's when my Dad owned a service for faxing checks between
> >truckstops and transportation companies.  Not a new idea, for a long
> >time.
> >  
> >
>     Those old enough to remember "Dragnet" in the '50s (Jack Webb, Ben 
> Alexander, and they don't make 'em like that anymore!) saw occasional 
> glimpses of a gadget with a sheet of paper wrapped around a rapidly 
> revolving drum, with a solenoid-controlled pen to draw the image.  I 
> don't recall what they called it but as a young teen, I thought it was 
> next thing to magic.
>     Cheers,
> Gordon Keehn

Qwip systems (was a division of Exxon) produced fax machines in the late
70's and early 80's.  Just before viable ink jet technology came along. 
They used a specially coated paper that was burned to produce the fax. 
At the time it was the way to send a fax.  Used fiber optic heads to
scan the page being sent. 

Apparently was widely used by various railroads and other companies to
send pages back and forth.

-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

YOW!!  What should the entire human race DO??  Consume a fifth of
CHIVAS REGAL, ski NUDE down MT. EVEREST, and have a wild SEX WEEKEND! 




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