Fax Machines

A fax machine is specialist peice of office equipment that can scan and print a document, and send a copy over a telephone connection to another fax machine.

These become very popular from the 1970’s, and although many people regard facsimile technology (ie, fax) as somewhat out of date in the modern age of the internet, fax machines still prove very useful.

While most people can send text documents much more easily via e-mail, the one big advantage of fax machines is where documents require a human signature.

This means fax machines are still commonly used between businesses, to send important documents, which can then be signed and sent back within minutes - something neither e-mail nor the postal service can match.

For that reason, fax machines still remain common in the workplace, and ironically are becoming more common in the home.

This is because the rise of the internet and e-mail communications means that important documents can more easily be e-mailed over, signed, then faxed back - where they can either be printed out on a fax machine, or simply routed to an e-mail box.

Types of fax machine

Fax machine technology hasn’t stayed still - it continues to evolve with developments in the electronics industry.

Many fax machines are no longer just standalone, but also come with other technology built in, such as digital phones, answering machines, and even scanner/copier machines.

The following types are the more common form of fax machine:

Inkjet Fax Machines

Inkjet fax machines use similar technology to bubblejet printers, in that they have tiny heated elements set against an ink cartridge, and when heated in the right sequence, the ink blows off into recognisable alpha-numerical characters.

Inkjet fax machines are relatively cheap to buy and operate, and remain at the most accessible end of the market.

Laser fax machines

Laser fax machines use more modern - and expensive - laser technology, to create a higher quality image.

This is especially useful where the fax machine may be required to print technical documents or graphical images.

Laser printing is traditionally faster than inkjet printing as well.

Multifunction fax machines

Multifunction fax machines are basically a fax machine with other office equipment built into it - more commonly a scanner - which allows the fax machine to do more specialist tasks. Please see Multifunction machines.

Fax machine references

• Fax Machines: Brother, a leading manufacturer (USA)
• Fax Machines: Differing types of fax machine from A2B Office (UK)
• Fax Machines: Explanation of fax technology at the Wikipedia
• Fax history: A history of the development of fax machines
• Fax Machine Me: A reference site of different models of fax machine available in the UK
• Office World Fax Machines: The main fax machine category from Office World Me
• Fax Machines: Fax machines by Sharp, another producer.