By Sarah Martinez · Published April 14, 2026 · Updated June 8, 2026 · 8 min read
The fax machine was invented in 1843 — 33 years before the telephone. That answer surprises most people, who assume fax is a product of the 1980s office. The truth stretches back to the age of the telegraph, clockmakers, and Napoleon III.
But "what year was the fax machine invented" turns out to be more nuanced than a single date. There are at least three legitimate answers depending on what you mean by "invented": the first patent, the first commercial service, or the first machine that looks like what we'd recognize today. This guide covers all three — and explains what modern fax looks like in 2026.
The Short Answer
1843 — Alexander Bain's British Patent No. 9745, filed May 27, 1843, is the recognized origin of fax technology. The first commercial fax service launched in 1865. The first modern office fax machine arrived in 1966.
The Three "Invention" Dates You'll Encounter
When researching who invented the fax machine, you'll find three different years cited across sources. All three are accurate — they describe different milestones:
| Year | Milestone | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 1843 | First patent for fax technology | Alexander Bain |
| 1865 | First commercial fax service | Giovanni Caselli |
| 1966 | First modern telephone-compatible fax | Xerox Corporation |
Each milestone represents a genuine leap. Bain described the concept. Caselli proved it could run as a business. Xerox put it in every office.
1843: Alexander Bain and the First Fax Patent
The story of fax technology begins in 1843, with a Scottish clockmaker named Alexander Bain.
On May 27, 1843, Bain received British Patent No. 9745 for his "Electric Printing Telegraph." The device used two synchronized clock pendulums — one at the transmitter, one at the receiver — to scan a flat metallic surface and reproduce text on chemically-treated paper at the other end.
The concept was remarkable for its time. The telegraph itself had only been patented seven years earlier. Yet Bain was already imagining how to transmit images, not just dots and dashes.
Patent Dispute
Bain's patent triggered a dispute with telegraph pioneer Charles Wheatstone, who accused him of stealing ideas. The Royal Society investigated and sided with Bain, confirming his invention was independent and original.
Bain's device worked in principle but never became a commercial product. The core challenge — keeping both pendulums synchronized over long distances — was never reliably solved. But the foundational concept was established: scan a document line by line, convert it to an electrical signal, and reconstruct it at the other end.
That concept is still how fax works today.
1865: Giovanni Caselli and the First Commercial Fax Service
The leap from laboratory curiosity to running business was made by an Italian physicist who had Napoleon III as his investor.
Giovanni Caselli (1815–1891) developed his "pantelegraph" through the 1850s, solving the synchronization problem that had stymied Bain. His precision pendulum clock kept transmitter and receiver in step regardless of the distance between them.
Napoleon III witnessed a demonstration and ordered the pantelegraph integrated into the French national telegraph network. In February 1865, Caselli launched the world's first commercial fax service between Paris and Lyon.
The results were immediate:
- The service transmitted nearly 5,000 faxes in its first year
- Peak throughput reached 110 faxes per hour
- The most common use was bank signature verification — the same use case that drives fax in legal and financial services today
Caselli was awarded the Legion of Honor. His service extended to Marseille in 1867 before shutting down during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Fax Predates the Telephone
Giovanni Caselli's commercial fax service began in 1865 — 11 years before Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. Fax is one of the oldest electrical communication technologies ever built.
1900s–1960s: From Photo Wire to Office Machine
After Caselli, fax technology evolved through several distinct phases before reaching modern offices.
Photo Wire Services (1900s–1930s)
German physicist Arthur Korn invented the Bildtelegraph ("picture telegraph") around 1902, using photoelectric cells to transmit photographs — not just line art. Newspapers and police departments quickly adopted it.
By 1907, a photograph could be transmitted from Munich to Berlin. By 1908, a wanted criminal's photo was sent from Paris to London. By the 1920s, wire photo services had become essential infrastructure for global news organizations.
The First "Office" Fax Machine (1964–1966)
The modern office fax machine arrived in two steps, both from Xerox:
- 1964: The Xerox LDX (Long Distance Xerography) — the first fax machine connected via standard telephone lines. It weighed approximately 1,100 pounds total (scanner plus printer) and cost $800/month to lease.
- 1966: The Xerox Magnafax Telecopier — cut weight to 46 pounds, plugged into any standard phone jack, and transmitted one page in about 6 minutes. This is the ancestor of every office fax machine that followed.
1980: The Group 3 Standard and the Office Fax Boom
The fax machine's transformation from specialized equipment to universal office appliance happened in a single year: 1980.
That year, the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) adopted the Group 3 standard — a digital compression protocol that allowed any fax machine to communicate with any other, regardless of manufacturer, and cut transmission time to under one minute per page.
The results were dramatic:
| Year | US Fax Machines in Use |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 25,000 |
| 1980 | 250,000 |
| 1985 | 500,000 |
| 1990 | 5,000,000 |
| 1997 | Peak sales year |
Japanese manufacturers — Sharp, Panasonic, Canon, Brother — drove costs down rapidly. By the late 1980s, a standalone fax machine cost less than $500 and every office had one.
The Complete Fax Machine Invention Timeline
| Year | Milestone | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1843 | Alexander Bain's Electric Printing Telegraph patent | First fax concept — synchronized pendulums scan and reproduce documents over telegraph wire |
| 1851 | Frederick Bakewell demonstrates Image Telegraph | Replaces pendulums with rotating cylinders; first public demo at London's Great Exhibition |
| 1865 | Caselli pantelegraph commercial service launches | Paris–Lyon service transmits ~5,000 faxes in year one; most common use: bank signatures |
| 1902 | Arthur Korn invents the Bildtelegraph | Photoelectric scanning enables transmission of photographs, not just text — adopted by newspapers and police |
| 1924 | First transatlantic wireless photo fax | RCA transmits photo of President Coolidge from New York to London via radio |
| 1948 | Western Union Deskfax | First compact consumer-targeted fax device; ~50,000 units deployed |
| 1964 | Xerox LDX — first telephone-line fax | 1,100 lb machine connects via standard phone lines; $800/month lease |
| 1966 | Xerox Magnafax Telecopier | 46 lb portable fax; any standard phone jack; 6 min/page — the direct ancestor of modern office fax |
| 1980 | ITU Group 3 Standard (T.4/T.30) | Universal compatibility; under 1 min/page; triggers mass-market office fax boom |
| 1985 | GammaFax — first computer fax board | PCs can now send and receive faxes directly; begins shift to software-based faxing |
| 1996 | eFax launches — first online fax service | Faxes receivable via email; no machine required; cloud fax era begins |
| 1997 | US fax machine sales peak | Highest point of standalone fax hardware before internet email displaces personal faxing |
| 2026 | Cloud fax market: $2.52 billion | Fax thrives in healthcare, legal, and government — delivered via smartphone apps and APIs |
Why Fax Is Still Relevant in 2026
If fax was invented in 1843, why are we still talking about it in 2026?
Because the use cases that drove Caselli's service in 1865 — document verification, legal signatures, secure point-to-point transmission — are still requirements today. Email servers get breached. Cloud platforms have retention policies. A fax is a direct point-to-point transmission that lands in one place.
The numbers bear this out:
- 43 million fax machines remain connected to phone lines worldwide
- 75%+ of US healthcare providers use fax for patient record sharing
- 90%+ of Japanese local governments use fax for daily communication
- The global fax services market is valued at $3.31 billion and growing ~5% per year
Healthcare providers treat fax as HIPAA-compliant for Protected Health Information (PHI) precisely because it is not stored on email servers or third-party cloud platforms. Legal firms use it for court filings where an original signature fax is legally binding. The IRS accepts faxed tax returns and authorizations.
Modern Fax in 2026: What to Look For
The office fax machine of 1980 has evolved considerably. Most faxes today are sent over the internet — no dedicated hardware required. When evaluating a modern fax solution, here's what matters:
Key Features to Compare
| Feature | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Mobile app | Send faxes from a smartphone, no machine or computer needed |
| Delivery confirmation | Receipt with timestamp proves the fax was received |
| HIPAA compliance | Required for healthcare, medical records, patient data |
| Virtual fax number | Receive faxes without a dedicated phone line |
| Pay-per-fax pricing | Better than a monthly plan if you fax occasionally |
| File format support | PDF, Word, images — don't get locked into one format |
mFax: Fax from Your Smartphone
mFax.to lets you send faxes directly from your iPhone or Android phone in under 2 minutes. Upload a PDF, snap a photo, enter the fax number, and send — no machine, no physical phone line, no trip to the UPS Store.
Over 5 million users have used mFax, with a 98% delivery success rate and a 4.8-star App Store rating.
For occasional personal faxing — tax forms, medical records, signed contracts — the pay-per-fax model means you only pay when you send.
For businesses that need a dedicated fax number, team accounts, HIPAA compliance, and audit logs, mFax Business starts at about $9/mo (billed annually) — and it is fully customizable. Instead of rigid fixed tiers, you build your own plan with a live calculator, choosing the exact seats and pages you need ($3/seat + $4 per 100 pages) and paying only for what you use.
Try mFax Free
mFax.to — send your first fax from your phone in under 2 minutes. No machine. No monthly fee until you need it.
Fax Machine vs. Online Fax: 2026 Comparison
| Physical Fax Machine | Online Fax Service | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware needed | Yes (machine + phone line) | No |
| Cost | $100–$500 upfront + phone line | Pay-per-fax or ~$20/mo |
| Maintenance | Toner, paper, repairs | None |
| Mobile access | No | Yes |
| Delivery receipt | Printed confirmation | Digital receipt with timestamp |
| HIPAA compliant | With fax line only | Yes (with qualified provider) |
| Send from anywhere | No | Yes |
For most individuals and small businesses, an online fax service provides better functionality at lower cost. The standalone fax machine only makes sense in high-volume office environments with existing phone infrastructure — a shrinking use case in 2026.
Interesting Facts About the Fax Machine Invention
- Fax is older than the telephone — Bain's 1843 patent predates Bell's 1876 patent by 33 years
- The first fax message was the signature of composer Gioacchino Rossini, transmitted over 140 km between Paris and Amiens in 1860
- The most common early fax use was bank signature verification — the same reason financial services still fax today
- Napoleon III personally funded the first commercial fax service after seeing a demonstration
- The Xerox LDX (1964) weighed 1,100 pounds — the equivalent of a small car
- The UK's National Health Service was described in 2017 as "the world's largest purchaser of fax machines"
- The word "fax" is short for "facsimile," from Latin: fac ("make") + simile ("similar") — literally "make a copy"
How to Send a Fax Today (Without a Machine)
You don't need any of the hardware that Bain, Caselli, or Xerox built to send a fax in 2026. The steps:
- Download the mFax app from the App Store or Google Play
- Upload your document — PDF, photo, Word file
- Enter the recipient's fax number including area code
- Tap Send — you'll receive a delivery confirmation within minutes
That's it. The underlying technology traces back 180 years to Alexander Bain's workshop in Scotland. The experience is a two-minute task on your phone.
For more on fax technology and modern alternatives, see our guides to the history of the fax machine, how fax machines work, and the best online fax services.
Send Your Fax Now
Whether you're curious about fax history or actually need to send a document, mFax.to handles both the legacy fax number on the other end and the modern smartphone you're holding.
Download the app or visit mFax.to — no machine required, no monthly commitment until you're ready.