High-Speed Facsimile (Source: Popular Mechanics 7-1951)

As many as 180,000 words of printed matter can be transmitted and recorded within one hour through a new high-speed facsimile system. Photos and diagrams also can be transmitted to any distant point and recorded without photographic, chemical or drying equipment. The system, developed by Western Union, uses either radio beams or communications wires as a means of transmission. The sending operator slips the printed material into a transparent cylinder and closes the endgate of the cylinder. This starts the cylinder spinning at 1800 revolutions per minute, and a photocell acting with a pin point of light scans the material. At the receiving end, needlelike instruments “print” a copy of the material on a dry recording paper. At the conclusion of the message an automatic signal causes a knife to cut the facsimile copy from the roll of dry recording paper.