By: Glenn Moore

• Between 1973 and 1983 the number of fax machines in the U.S. increased from 30,000 to 300,000
• By 1989, the number of fax machines in the U.S. jumped to over 4,000,000
• By the late 1980’s compact fax machines had revolutionized everyday communications around the world
• In 1843, Alexander Bain devised an apparatus which was able to accurately reproduce writing on an electrically conductive surface; it was comprised of two pens, connected to two pendulums which were joined to a wire
• In 1876, Elisha Gray filed an unsuccessful claim for the invention of the telephone, just hours after Alexander Graham Bell successfully filed his patent claim for its invention
• Elisha Gray ultimately patented the facsimile transmission system and went on to be the founder of a company that later became Western Electric