[GreenKeys] Slightly OT, A Movie you may Enjoy-

[Sam Hallas]

Bruce Gentry wrote:
>  I was wrong on my belief the French invented the fax. I was referring
>  to the pendulum scan fax you are, and gave incorrect credit. Could I
>  have been deceived by the French being the first to embrace and apply
>  Mr. Bain's equipment, or is that idea also a mistake?

Bruce,
I was not aware of the chronology of FAX invention till I started 
Googling. You're quite right that the French were the early adopters 
with the first commercial system.

I found reference to Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli, who devised a 
rival system to Bain which he called the Pantèlègraph. It was the first 
practical application and was taken up by the French government. I found 
the story at:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Caselli>
More stuff at:
<http://www.telephonecollecting.org/caselli.htm>
and a Quicktime video of a pantelegraph working at:
<http://www.ece.rice.edu/~jdw/images/95137a05.qt>

Fascinating stuff - and Caselli's patent was earlier than Bell's patent 
for the telephone. Unfortunately it couldn't compete with the regular 
telegraph of Morse or Baudot. I think it wasn't until the 1910s when 
photelectric cells allowed photographs to be transmitted that facsimile 
came into its own for newspapers.

Cheers,
Sam