Did the egyptians invent a working fax before the telephone was invented. I’m not proof positive, but I recall a program on one of the interesting channels (TLC or Discovery) where it was said they had found a device that was the basis for the fax. It
described how egyptians used encrypted messages with this device. They would send a messenger on camel back with a stone tablet with bumps and lines on it. When the tablet was delivered they would place the tablet on a hand operated slide. A fulcrum would sit between the stone and the papyrus. On one end of the fulcrum was a dull point of contact and the other some sort of stylus. They would move the stone to cause the dull side to rise and fall and lay ink onto the papyrus. It would work one line at a time, just like a fax machine. I’m trying to convince a buddy of mine that I’m not making it up. I can’t find it anywhere on the world wide web.
If anyone knows what I’m talking about, say it load. My buddy thinks it’s funny and ridiculous that I think this.:smack:
I’m with your buddy.
Some of the shows on Discovery are legit, but most of them are whatever any fool with a camera and a production company can sell cheap.
There used to be a show on The Learning Channel called “The Secret Life of Machines” which stated that a working fax machine was invented in the 1840’s by a Scotsman named Alexander Bain.
In what sense is the device you describe anything like a fax machine? Such a device is certainly possible, but far more complicated (and risky) than just sending an encoded message on papyrus, or having the messenger remember it. I can’t imagine what you saw, but I doubt that it was a reproduction of anything we know the Egyptians actually did.