Wire Photo Fax Teardown
Fax machines had a moment in the sun, but they are actually much older than you might expect. Before the consumer-grade fax machines arrived, there was a thriving market for “wire photos” used by, for example, news organizations and the weather service. In the United States, the WEFax from Western Electric was fairly common and shows up on the surplus market. [Thomas] has an English unit, a Muirhead K-570B, that is very clearly not a consumer-oriented machine. His unit dates back to 1983, but it reminds us of many older designs. Check out his teardown in the video below.
The phone line connection on this device is a pair of banana jacks! There are even jacks for an external meter. Inside, the device is about what you’d expect for a 1983 build. PCBs with bare tinned conductors and lots of through-hole parts.
While not a universally well-known name, Muirhead was a pioneering Scottish inventor. He recorded the first human electrocardiogram and collaborated with Sir Oliver Lodge on wireless telegraph patents. While another Scotsman, Alexander Bain, worked out how to chemically print on paper and Arthur Korn built the first machines that optically scanned the page, it was Murihead, in 1947, that worked out using a drum as the scanner, just as this machine does.
Think this is among the oldest fax machines ever? No way. Remember, though, in 1983, the consumer fax machines were just about to appear. Ask FedEx, we are sure they remember.
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