Fact File about the Invention of the Fax Machine: Invention: Fax Machine *** Date of Invention: 1843 *** Name of Inventor: Alexander Bain *** Lifespan of Inventor: 1810 - 1877 *** Nationality of Inventor: Scottish *** Historical Period: Second US Industrial Revolution / Victorian (1850 - 1914) *** Category: Communications and Information *** Country of Origin: Scotland *** Facts about the Inventor, Alexander Bain, and the invention of the Fax Machine ***

Fact 1: Who invented the Fax Machine? The Fax Machine was invented by Alexander Bain in 1843 during the Second US Industrial Revolution era of inventions (1850 - 1914). Alexander Bain received British patent 9745 on May 27, 1843 for his "Electric Printing Telegraph."

Fact 2: Who invented the Fax Machine? Prior to the invention of the Fax Machine the telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse in 1838. Alexander Bain went on to discover a way to use a series of electrical pulses across two wires to transmit a two dimensional image via his Fax Machine.

Fact 3: Who invented the Fax Machine? The inventor of the Fax Machine, Alexander Bain, was born on October 1810 in Watten, Caithness, Scotland, UK and died on January 2, 1877.

Fact 4: Who invented the Fax Machine? The early years of Alexander Bain were spent in Watten, Caithness, Scotland, UK where he was raised by his family. His father was a crofter and Alexander was one of thirteen children. Alexander Bain received a basic education but at a young age developed an interest in science and the new inventions that were being made during the Industrial Revolution.

Fact 5: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain did not want to go into farming and made the decision to move to London to learn the art of clock making and obtained a position as an assistant to a clockmaker in Clerkenwell, London.  

Fact 6: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain learned his trade and began developing electric clocks and became the first person to invent and patent the electric clock on October 10, 1840. He

Fact 7: Who invented the Fax Machine? He became absorbed into finding practical uses of electricity and went on to invent and patent a clock that used an electromagnetic pendulum and an electric current instead instead of traditional springs or weights.

Fact 8: Who invented the Fax Machine? In the early 1840's Alexander Bain began to develop ideas for creating what would become a Fax Machine and discovered that he could use a clock to synchronize the movement of two pendulums making it possible to scan a message on a line-by-line basis.

Fact 9: Who invented the Fax Machine? His next task was to develop a way of transmitting exact copies of documents (facsimiles). The basis for his ideas for transmission was the recently invented telegraph.

Fact 10: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain attached metal pins on a cylinder and an electric probe transmitted on and off pulses (similar to a telegraph) then scanned the pins using a stylus mounted on a pendulum.

Fact 11: Who invented the Fax Machine? His facsimile machine was able to reproduce images. The receiving station received the pulses and printed the results onto electrochemically sensitive paper that had was impregnated with a chemical solution.

Fact 12: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain had succeeded in inventing the Fax Machine by combining parts from clock mechanisms together with telegraph machines to create his new invention.

Fact 13: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain patented the first Fax Machine on May 27, 1843 and received British patent number 9745 for his "Electric Printing Telegraph". The patent was for "improvements in producing and regulating electric currents and improvements in timepieces, and in electric printing, and signal telegraphs".

Fact 14: Who invented the Fax Machine? The images at this time were of a poor quality because of the lack of synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver. Alexander Bain's Fax machine never achieved commercial success during his lifetime. However, his other inventions, including the chemical telegraph, made him a very wealthy man. 

Fact 15: Who invented the Fax Machine? Alexander Bain died on January 2, 1877 and was buried in the Auld Aisle Cemetery, Kirkintilloch, Scotland.

Fact 16: Who invented the Fax Machine? The invention, concept and principles of Alexander Bain's Fax Machine inspired many other inventors to improve the device as and when new improved technologies were discovered.

Fact 17: Who invented the Fax Machine? The first inventor to improve the Fax Machine was Frederick Blakewell  (29 September 1800 – 26 September 1869) by replacing the pendulums of Alexander Bain's system with synchronized rotating cylinders. Frederick Blakewell received a patent for what he called a "copying telegraph" and demonstrated a version of his Fax Machine at the 1851 World's Fair in London.

Fact 18: Who invented the Fax Machine? The invention of another type of Fax Machine called the Pantelegraph that copied words and drawings, together with Morse Code was made by Giovanni Caselli (8 June 1815 – 25 April 1891). The Pantelegraph was invented in 1860 and was the world's first practical operating Fax Machine.

Fact 19: Who invented the Fax Machine? In 1895, a watchmaker from St. Paul, Minnesota called Ernest Hummel invented a Fax Machine device called the Telediagraph. The Telediagraph synchronised rotating 8-inch drums, with a platinum stylus used as an electrode in the transmitter and took 20-30 minutes to send a picture.

Fact 20: Who invented the Fax Machine? In 1902 the photoelectric system called the Bildetelegraph was invented by Arthur Korn that was specifically aimed at the transmission of photographs.

Fact 21: Who invented the Fax Machine? The telephotography Fax Machine was developed by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1924 to send photographs at high speed over long distance for newspaper publication.

Fact 22: Who invented the Fax Machine? In 1924 Richard H. Ranger (13 June 1889 – 10 January 1962) invented the wireless photo radiogram, or oceanic radio facsimile, the forerunner of today’s "Fax" machines.

Fact 23: Who invented the Fax Machine? French inventor Edouard Beeline introduced the Belinograph Fax Machine in 1925 that used a powerful light beam and a photoelectric cell to convert the light, or the absence of light, on an image into electrical impulses.

Fact 24: Who invented the Fax Machine? The Radiophoto Fax Machine was invented in 1926 by RCA using radio broadcasting technology to send faxes.

Fact 25: Who invented the Fax Machine? In 1966 the Xerox Corporation began manufacturing a small fax machine that could be connected to any telephone line. By the 1980's the prices of Fax machines had dropped and soon became a welcome addition to home offices and the 1990's provided readily available Internet fax services.