# Fultograph

> an early image transmission system, similar in function to fax machines

**Wikidata**: [Q1473797](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1473797)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fultograph)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/fultograph

## Summary
The Fultograph was an early image-transmission system invented in 1928 by Otho Fulton that let newspapers and the BBC broadcast pictures over radio waves; receivers printed the images on paper, making it the world’s first mass-market “fax machine” for the general public.

## Key Facts
- Invented in 1928 by Irish engineer Otho Fulton and manufactured industrially the same year.
- Named after its inventor—Fulton + “graph” (writer).
- Used by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 30 Oct 1928 until 1932 to transmit daily “radio pictures” to the public.
- Classified as a subclass of fax (facsimile) technology and also protected as a registered trademark.
- Described in five Wikipedia language editions (Catalan, German, English, Polish, Russian).
- Museum Digital tag ID 33176 links to surviving hardware and documentation.

## FAQs
### Q: How did the Fultograph send pictures through the air?
A: The BBC modulated picture data onto a standard medium-wave radio carrier; home receivers decoded the signal and burned the image onto chemically treated paper line-by-line.

### Q: When did the BBC stop Fultograph broadcasts?
A: Regular transmissions ended in 1932 after four years, as higher-definition television experiments made radio-picture services obsolete.

### Q: Is a Fultograph the same as a fax machine?
A: It is an early fax relative: both transmit still images, but Fultograph used broadcast radio rather than telephone lines and was meant for mass reception, not point-to-point messaging.

## Why It Matters
Before television, the Fultograph gave ordinary households their first glimpse of “instant” visual news. By marrying radio’s reach with facsimile’s detail, it proved that images could travel at the speed of sound, paving the way for picture agencies, wire-photo services, and ultimately TV. Newspapers promoted the device to boost circulation, while listeners formed Fultograph clubs to share the daily prints—an early social network. Although superseded by faster fax and TV, the system demonstrated consumer appetite for receiving pictures in the home, a psychological shift that later drove adoption of television, teletext, and even the internet.

## Notable For
- First commercial system to deliver newspaper-quality photos via public radio broadcasts.
- Only mass-market facsimile product available to British consumers before 1930.
- Surviving hardware is held in museum collections tagged under a unique Museum Digital identifier.
- Combined trademark protection with open technical standards, allowing multiple manufacturers to build receivers.

## References

1. [Source](https://historictech.com/the-fultograph-the-worlds-1st-fax-machine-from-1927/)