History of FAX, totally OT

[Gordon Keehn]

>    *Fax machines have actually been around since at least the 1800's. A
>mechanical device which carved wood was set up in two towns in France
>for some kind of exposition, with just a wire between the two towns. It
>actually worked, and the idea's been around since then, building slowly
>through the 1970's when my Dad owned a service for faxing checks between
>truckstops and transportation companies.  Not a new idea, for a long
>time.
>  
>
    Those old enough to remember "Dragnet" in the '50s (Jack Webb, Ben 
Alexander, and they don't make 'em like that anymore!) saw occasional 
glimpses of a gadget with a sheet of paper wrapped around a rapidly 
revolving drum, with a solenoid-controlled pen to draw the image.  I 
don't recall what they called it but as a young teen, I thought it was 
next thing to magic.
    Cheers,
Gordon Keehn