The principle of sending a facsimile over wire-line (telephone) and then via radio began in the late 1800′s. It wasn’t until the 1970′s that fax machines, similar to what is in use today, were made commercially available with the release of the Exxon Qwip.
These early fax machines were expensive and could only be afforded by companies with a serious need to communicate drawings, design sketches or signed documents between locations. Because of the synchronization required between machines, only devices of same manufacture could communicate. Standards did develop and eventually in the 1980′s the analog audio signal that transfers the pictures between two machines became international standards. By 1996 the last of the analog fax signals were retired in favor of new digital signaling.
Up until this time fax machines printed there received messages by direct thermal printers hat actually burned the paper with the printed image. Improvements came in the form of thermal paper which was expensive and resulted in a printed copy with a short life-time. It was not accepted in archives or as documentary evidence in some courts of law unless it was photo-copied onto regular archival paper.
Nowadays, fax machines print out excellent copies on regular bond paper with ink systems similar to modern laser printers. And with the transfer to internet faxing protocols, it is easy and much more reliable to send a fax than it’s ever been.
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