By: Elizabeth Morgan
Fax machines are some of the
most common office equipment today. A fax machine, short for facsimile machine, basically sends and
receives reproductions of a document through a telephone line. With a fax machine, sending
documents to any point in the world has become fast, convenient and easy. Despite the presence of
traditional courier services and the universality of email, the fax machine is still essential in
any office for instantaneous sharing of documents such as proofs, contracts and other
documents.
The fax machine’s process is
actually very simple. It is a scanner, a modem and a computer printer all in one device. First, as
the sender feeds the paper document into the machine, a scanner or sensor translates the images
into a sequence of light and dark dots. These dots are then encoded into audio tones and
transmitted through a regular phone line. At the receiving end, the fax machine translates the
tones and pieces the data together; then prints out a black and white reproduction of the original
document sent.
Today, there are many types of
fax machines available. Most are plain paper fax machines that use a typical copier, paper and
inking process. These fax machines differ either by their sending speeds, printing technology and
other features. Most fax machines send data at the top speed of 36.6 kbps or one page per 6 to 10
seconds.
Fax machine buyers can choose
from a number of fax printing technologies including inkjet and laser fax. Inkjet fax machines turn
out crisp and clear copies but are rather slow. Meanwhile, laser fax printers use the same
technology as laser printers and can produce high quality copies rapidly. Also, today’s fax
machines have evolved into multifunction devices that incorporate the functions of scanners,
copiers and computer printers.
Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Fax-Machines&id=222527
