STARS: Fax Machines [Scanning Our Past]

The basic concept of a facsimile, or fax, machine-a machine that electrically transmits an image-has not changed since 1843. The three main components remain the scanner transmitter, the transmitting medium, 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 capability. 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.