Victorian Fax?

November 29, 2004 11:54 PM

Faxing since 1843.
posted by arse_hat (19 comments total)

Awesome.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:15 AM on November 30, 2004

seconded!
posted by quonsar at 12:21 AM on November 30, 2004

I love the idea of replicating that machinery and making images with it . Tinkering art. Great post.
posted by Rumple at 12:35 AM on November 30, 2004

Awesome post. I thought it was a gag until I read deeper into the site. Amazing. Thank you.
posted by fandango_matt at 1:03 AM on November 30, 2004

Those of you who find this kind of stuff fascinating (as I do) will probably enjoy this 1930s filmreel that demonstrates how pictures were transmitted via wire prior to modern faxes.
posted by neckro23 at 1:55 AM on November 30, 2004

superb!
posted by dabitch at 3:58 AM on November 30, 2004

Monty Burns to Smithers: "Put this on that Faxtrola!"
posted by fixedgear at 5:59 AM on November 30, 2004

Excellent post! And I want to know why we didn't keep calling it a "telediagraph"; it's so much more impressive than "fax."
posted by languagehat at 8:49 AM on November 30, 2004

They demonstrated something similar on the show "The Secret Life of Machines", which you can sometimes catch in reruns.

Here's a little comic they made that explains how it works:

The Secret Life of the Fax Machine
posted by o0o0o at 9:15 AM on November 30, 2004

Great link.
posted by MattD at 9:28 AM on November 30, 2004

I was about to mention "The Secret Life of Machines" episode. I thought they also mentioned (although it's been a long time since I saw it) something about monks using some mechanical arm thing to do something similar much earlier.

o0o0o, do you remember anything about that?
posted by Human Stain at 9:30 AM on November 30, 2004

I too was about to mention Tim Hunkin's The Secret Life of Machines which was part of a post awhile back.
posted by euphorb at 9:38 AM on November 30, 2004

Human Stain, I don't recall monks being mentioned in that episode, but I'm rather sure they were during the photo copier episode.

I found a full Episode Guide but it's unfortunately rather skimpy on the details.

There's also some stills from each episode that might help jar your memory... though it didn't help mine.
posted by o0o0o at 10:21 AM on November 30, 2004

Human Stain. Do you mean the pantograph ?
posted by arse_hat at 10:31 AM on November 30, 2004

Hmm, the pantograph could be it. Or, it could have been a side effect of what I'm referring to here.
posted by Human Stain at 11:46 AM on November 30, 2004

Wow. Nifty indeed.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:50 AM on November 30, 2004

Excellent - cheers!
posted by carter at 9:11 PM on November 30, 2004

Very cool. Yet another reason why I love MetaFilter.
posted by horhey at 12:33 AM on December 2, 2004

But the big question is, how long did it take for the first unsolicited menu to be sent via this grandaddy o' the fax machine?
posted by drew at 11:44 AM on December 2, 2004