What is a Fultograph (Invented by Otto Fulton)?

Last Update: August 9th, 2021

The fultograph was an early precursor to the fax machine.

It worked by transmitting signals to a radio receiver and used an electrochemical process to darken areas of a sensitized paper wrapped over a rotating drum.

Invented by Otto Fulton, the system was used in the late 1920s to broadcast images over radio waves.

It has been noted that the machines were expensive and needed a qualified receiver to operate them.

Additional Resources:

• History of the Fultograph (Archived Link)
• Description of the Fultograph (in German)
• Wikipedia Fultograph Entry

More on the History of Fax:

• The History of Fax - From Alexander Bain's 1843 invention to today's internet based fax systems (and everything in between)
• Alexander Bain - Developed an Experimental Fax Machine between 1843 and 1846
• Arthur Korn - Developed Fax Machine for Transmitting Photographs
• Edouard Belin - Inventor of the Bélinographe
• Frederick Bakewell - Improved Bain's Facsimile Machine
• Giovanni Caselli - Inventor of the Pantelegraph. Sent images 800km across telegraph wires 9 years before Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone Patent
• Herbert E. Ives - Sent first color fax
• Richard H. Ranger - Invented first Transatlantic Radio Fax
• Rudolf Hell - Invented the Hellschreiber
• Shelford Bidwell - Research in the field of "Telephotography"
• Pantelegraph - An early fax invention used to transmit images over telegraph lines
• Fultograph - An early fax invention used to transmit images over radio waves"
• Telautograph - An early fax invention used to transmit signatures over long distances
• 3D Fax - A 1990s technique used to send computer code over a fax machine. Each page could hold about 50kb of information
• Radiofax - Still used today, a method for transmitting images over long distances through radio. Also known as HF Fax or Weatherfax