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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Telautograph | ||
| First fictional reference to a fax machine. |
This is probably the first mention of a device for sending a signature (or other created graphic image) via telephone in fiction; it is the essence of a fax machine.
| She hesitated, and then, impulsively, "I wonder if it would be too much to ask you for your autograph?"
Ralph then attached the Telautograph to his Telephot while the girl did the same. When both instruments were connected he signed his name and he saw his signature appear simultaneously on the machine in Switzerland. |
| Technovelgy from Ralph 124c 41 +,
by Hugo Gernsback. Published by Modern Electrics in 1911 Additional resources -
|
Gernsback did not invent the fax machine, or even the idea of sending an image using a telephone. In 1862 the Italian physicist Giovanni Casellie built the pantelegraph which was used by the French Post and Telegraph agency between Paris and Marseilles from 1856 to 1870. The word is a combination of "pantograph" and "telegraph." A pantograph is a device that has a simple physical connection between a pointer and a drawing pen on a piece of paper. By altering the linkage between the pointer and the pen, the scale of the drawing could be increased or decreased. The pantograph dates from 1630. Thomas Jefferson thought they were cool; he built one into Monticello.
The telautograph machine itself was invented by Elisha Gray in 1888 and was displayed at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. It's purpose was to send handwriting via telegraph lines. See a good article on it at Telautograph Forerunner to Modern Fax.
The first instance of a photograph being sent electronically was in 1902 using a process called telephotography. Find out more at Invention of the Fax Machine
The essential business purpose of a facsimile (or fax) machine is to send a piece of paper with a legal signature. Electronic signatures have made slow progress; it is still a problem with electronic medical records, among other uses.
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Telautograph-related
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- LongPen By Unotchit: Margaret Atwood's Telautograph For Book Signing
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| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
| NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards |
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'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
'This robot is a creature... It is a manlike being. Therefore, like any other talking, thinking man, he is entitled to a court trial!'
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
