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The Predecessor of the Facsimile from the Last Century


By Bjarne Castella

Already in the middle of the 19th century the picture telegraph invented by the Englishman Bain could deliver up-to-the-minute text sent via the telegraph network.


To send a fax is today as natural as to lift the receiver and deliver a message. Large parts of the business sector would probably break down if the facsimile suddenly disappeared. And it has in fact only existed for about 10 years. Or has it? It will undoubtedly come as a surprise to most people that the facsimile – at least as a principle – was invented before the telephone network that it utilizes. As a matter of fact, it originates from the days of the old telegraph.

Samuel Morse’s dash-dot telegraph was patented in 1837, but already in 1851 came next step in the development: The Englishman Bain’s picture telegraph. It was, however, not of practical use until it had been improved by the Italian Giovanni Caselli who introduced it as a colossal hit of an invention in 1865. The newspaper "Illustreret Tidende" [Illustrated Chronicle] brought the following enthusiastic cry of jubilation on 9th April 1865:

Replacement of the Telegraph

"How much mention has the electrochemical – or as they are also called autographic – telegraphs brought about during the last decade since Bain presented his first attempt at the World Exhibition in 1851!

Now it was no longer necessary to send telegrams dot by dot and dash by dash in a language which first had to be learned by the individual initiates; no translations and transcriptions were needed any more, - a job which became more troublesome and laborious as the amount of sent telegrams increased, and which in the rush often caused quite a few inaccuracies and mistakes in the wordings of the telegrams.

Far from it – everything is now ever so much easier. You buy a piece of special telegraph paper of a certain size (which is conveniently available at any place of sale) marked e.g. in the same way as envelopes; the sender writes his message with ordinary ink, hands it in at the nearest telegraph station; the message written on the sheet of paper is then telegraphed as indicated in the following description, and on a sheet of paper of exactly the same size an exact copy, written in the same hand and in the same way, in short a complete autograph, appears at the telegraph apparatus at the place to which the message is being sent. What a great progress!

Portraits of Criminals

With Morse’s telegraph you almost thought that everything was gained by getting a sheet of paper back covered with dashes and dots. And now you do not only get the message, but in fact a message in the sender’s own handwriting which means that you become far better able to prevent intentional fraud and mystifications.

Moreover, very long messages – e.g. King’s speeches – could be reproduced in stenographic writing by which an infinity of time is saved, and finally the electrochemical telegraph is also able to draw in the same way as it is able to write, which means that together with the proclamation for somebody’s arrest it can also provide a portrait of the criminal.

Indeed, the electrochemical telegraphs - in the way that they have now been implemented by abbot Caselli under the name of the pan-telegraph (the one telegraphing everything) for valid operation - must be considered as the most wonderful of all the wonders of telegraphy.

In the beginning, in 1855, when Casseli published his theories and described the apparatus the way he had devised it, it did not evoke much response, but by means of incessant staying power and numerous improvements with regard to size and appliance of the apparatus as well as the agents used for printing the telegrams, he has finally succeeded in making a breakthrough.

Functioning in Thunderstorms

Already in August 1862, after 8 months of rather splendid attempts between Paris and Amiens, it was decided to extend these to the line Paris-Lyon, and later Marseille. Even on this last line, which is considered one of the most difficult of all French lines, Caselli’s pan-telegraph was functioning absolutely satisfactorily. As a matter of fact, even during a thunderstorm, which made telegraphing with ordinary apparatuses completely impossible besides being highly dangerous to the operators, its regularity was not interrupted for a second.

The principle is easy to understand on basis of drawings and is, in short, as follows: A telegram is written in ink on silver paper and as a metal needle at the place of dispatch is moving forwards and backwards on the entire sheet of paper and as each time it has run over the width of the paper, it is moved about 1/6 line forward, the current will alternately be led to the place of reception and alternately down into the ground.

Every time the metal needle touches the silver paper, the earth connection is switched on and the electricity seeks away by this – the shortest – way. On the other hand, each time the needle touches the ink, the earth connection is interrupted, and the electricity is driven into the telegraph wire to the nearest station where it sets another metal needle in motion with entirely isochronal and equal movements.

Rather Expensive

If you place a sheet of paper sensitized with iron cyanide under the metal needle at the place of reception, the iron cyanide will be decomposed every time it is affected by the electricity: cyanide is segregated, and the paper is dyed blue on the place in question!

In this way any drawing or script is reproduced by a lot of tiny parallel lines, each 1/6 of a line away from the next one. The prints are extraordinarily distinct. The softness of the electrochemical traits provides them with some resemblance to copperplate where sometimes reproductions of the pen-and-ink drawings are more beautiful than the originals! The apparatus is designed to send or receive two telegrams at a time.

This is an outline of Caselli’s because of its great simplicity so easily understood telegraph apparatus. Still prices are admittedly rather high as each telegram costs 20 centimes per square centimeter or almost 3 marks per square inch besides special payment for the paper. But these prices will, of course, decrease considerably in the course of time.


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