Fax machine scene from Bullitt

[artringwald]

When I was a service technician back in the 70's, I used to work on the same fax machine shown in this scene from Bullitt. It was noisy because it used an electromechanical stylus to print with carbon paper. I can tell they had to edit this scene, because it took 6 minutes for each page, not the 40 seconds in the movie. You gotta love the acoustic coupler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQGAaCSFlJI

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

When I was a service technician back in the 70's, I used to work on the same fax machine shown in this scene from Bullitt. It was noisy because it used an electromechanical stylus to print with carbon paper. I can tell they had to edit this scene, because it took 6 minutes for each page, not the 40 seconds in the movie. You gotta love the acoustic coupler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQGAaCSFlJI

It's amusing seeing some of those old scenes.

I recently bought the boxed DVD set of Columbo episodes. One of the finest detective shows ever. He was the first of the "character" detectives. But the technology is all 70s and 80s. Fun, though, when that technology plays into the story. Like when one of the clues that solves the case is one of those old handsets that has lit buttons at the bottom to show which phone line is being used. Columbo notices that one of the buttons doesn't light up when the line is being used, which leads him to who the real killer is.

I also laugh when I see Major League, and Corbin Bernsen's character has one of those old brick style telephones, and the point of the scene is that he has the latest gizmos.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Its one of the reasons I really like watching old movies, it gives you a glimpse into what life was like back then. I love to see references to old products or the cost for different things.

 

[Kal]

We're already at a point now where a FAX machine is history.

The other day I was told that a financial firm's only method of electronically accepting a document was by FAX. They would not accept an email attachment of an image file or pdf file. Strange as the FAX is almost the same. So I made a pdf of the document and sent it thru an on line FAX provider. Net result is they received a pdf file electronically and didn't know the difference.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Up until last year, I was a truck driver. I frequently went into warehouses/shipping departments, and they were printing bills on continuous feed carbon paper with an early 1990's IBM Dot-Matrix printer. Many were pulling up the information on a UNIX amber monochrome dumb terminal.

I guess 1990s office tech is more reliable/cost-efficient than insecure crash-prone Windows and ink-gobbling Inkjet - or Laser - printers.

TS

 

[artringwald]

I'll be glad when fax finally goes away. I don't know how many times I've accidentally dialed a business's fax number because it's listed next to their voice number. Unfortunately we'll be stuck with fax until a method of transferring documents becomes standardized that's more secure than email.