Facsimile Receiver
January 1947 Radio News

January 1947 Radio News [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio & Television News, published 1919-1959. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

The first facsimile (fax) machines for home use were receive only, and got their data not from the telephone line but from a commercial broadcast radio receiver. Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Finch Telecommunications were two of the earliest entrants into the realm. As opposed to modern digital fax machines, these analog systems used a scanning raster light beam and a photodetector to read and encode the original document image, and then a complimentary scanning method on the receiving end literally burned the image into special thermal paper. The Radio Historian website has an excellent article covering the history of radio facsimile, and how its being was motivated by the newspaper industry fretting over market share being lost to commercial AM and FM radio.

Facsimile Receiver

Persons attending the recent convention of the National Association of Broadcasters witnessed the first public demonstration of the new Finch facsimile receivers for home use.

Available in table and console models, this modern facsimile recorder is combined with an FM-AM home receiver to provide complete home entertainment. The cabinets in which these models are housed are of specially selected woods.

The facsimile recorder is capable of scanning 28 square inches per minute at 105 lines per inch. The radio provides both standard and 88-108 mc. FM sound program reception.

This unit is being manufactured by Finch Telecommunications, Inc., 10 East 40th Street, New York 16, New York.

Posted March 6, 2023
(updated from original post on 9/1/2016)