SCANNING OUR PAST STARS: FAX MACHINES Editor’s note: This month we continue a series of reprints from the IEEE Global History Network’s STARS articles. 1 STARS is an online compendium of in- vited, peer-reviewed articles on the his- tory of major developments in electrical and computer science and technology. Some light editing has been done to make the article more suitable for a journal publication. I. INTRODUCTION The basic concept of a facsimile, or fax, machineVa machine that elec- trically transmits an imageVhas not changed since 1843. The three main components remain the scanner transmitter, the transmitting medi- um, and the receiver recorder. Three broad, intertwined, technical trends help define the history of facsimile. 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, and ironically enough, they became easier to use while more sophisticated in capabili- ty. Beyond the black, or gray, or white box of the machine, there were changes in facsimile’s enabling and supporting technologies, the social environment, its competition, and the expectations and assumptions of its promoters and users. The history of the fax machine reflects the changing nature of ‘‘high technology,’’ a phrase signifying a technology on the cutting edge of novelty and almostVor actuallyV practical. Facsimile’s history relies on technical and business advances in the telecommunications, electron- ics, and computer industries; without them, there would be no fax industry. Fax history is therefore a global tale, involving the competition and diffu- sion of ideas, research, and manufac- turing from Europe to North America to Japan and back. These shifts re- flected larger movements of technol- ogy, manufacturing, and capital, and thus changes in the relative capabili- ties and status of countries. An integral part of fax’s evolution was competitionVwithin the technol- ogy, and without. From Alexander Bain and Frederick Bakewell in the 1840s, Giovanni Caselli and Bernhard Meyer in the 1860s, Arthur Korn and Eduoard Belin in the 1910s, Wirephoto and Soundphoto in the 1930s, Times Facsimile Inc. and Radio Inventions Inc. after World War II, to Western Union and Xerox in the 1950s–1960s, there was no area of the fax market, no niche too small, for players to struggle against each other for commercial acceptance (Fig. 1). Until the 1950s, individuals were the key developers and rivals. Alexander Bain, a Scotsman who im- migrated to London to pursue clock- making opportunities, patented the first facsimile machine in 1843. Un- like his electrochemical paper, his machine never reached the market, nor did Frederick Bakewell’s 1848 in- vention, which was displayed at the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition in London. Some, like Thomas Edison or John V. L. Hogan, operated their own companies while others, like Austin Cooley or John Young, worked within larger corporate structures. While individuals remained critically important, after the 1950s the grow- ing amount of technical expertise, financial resources, and marketing ability needed to create a commer- cially viable product meant corpora- tions became the main players. The failure of numerous startups with good ideas but little else reinforces this point. Optimism about fax’s potential resided in a procession of enthusiasts and advocates whose visions outran the technically and commercially pos- sible until the 1980s. Facsimile doc- ument transmission was a ‘‘coming wonder’’ in the 1930s, a ‘‘Cinderella’’ in the 1940s, a ‘‘commercial infant’’ in the 1950s, and a ‘‘sleeping giant’’ in the 1960s. Time after time, manufac- turers and potential customers pro- posed uses years or decades ahead of their successful implementation. The many proposed and attempted uses meant that fax’s consumers changed Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/JPROC.2014.2360032 1 Please refer to the STARS website for additional information and to view the full article: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/ STARS:Fax_Machines. The history of the fax machine reflects the changing nature of ‘‘high technology,’’ a phrase signifying a technology on the cutting edge of novelty and almostVor actuallyVpractical. 0018-9219 Ó 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information. 1858 Proceedings of the IEEE | Vol. 102, No. 11, November 2014