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' Fax The Facts
Facsimile (Fax) Machine The Latest In High Technology
By James Heffner
"Send out that order for 2000 widgets, and get a quote on the price. Oh! by the way, order lunch from Gino's
and, while you're at it send birthday greetings to my Aunt Martha in Sioux City. Don't take the time or trouble to
telephone all that information just fax it."
Want to hear your favorite song on station WXYZ? Send them a fax. Can't wait for the overnight mail? Have
that contract faxed.
Make room Webster, here comes the latest verb. Faxing is the act of transmitting everything from birthday
greetings to industrial orders to fingerprint files over the latest high-tech gadget, the facsimile machine.
The facsimile machine is a device that sends images across telephone lines at the same price of a telephone
call. The page you feed into your machine is converted electronically to a series of barely audible beeps and
squeals. The receiving machine decodes the noises, reconstructs the image and prints a copy on a sheet of glossy
thermal paper in less time than it takes to relay the same information by voice in most cases. And with increased
accuracy. *
Massey Hardware has been using a fax machine for about nine months. Massey's is a wholesale distributor of
pipe valves and fittings. Owner, Henry Massey is sQld on the accuracy point. "We sell a lot of fractional sizes and
when you're talking on the phone," said Massey , "sometimes a two and a half
inch valve might end up being ordered as a one-half inch valve, whereas, in
print that error may never happen.”
Strange as it seems fax technology was invented by a Scottish clockmaker,
Alexander Bain, in 1842. Bain discovered the principle of a scanner converting
a page into sounds and he was able to utilize a crude inking machine to prove
his theory. Today, according to Donna Murdoch of the American Facsimile An
Association, we fax over 82 million pages daily. More and more, these ma- Na Mmp———crt—h—e
chines are making their way into American households. TT
In addition to the 850,000 devices being utilized by in-
dustry, there were over 20,000 installed in private resi-
dences last year. The 1989 total will reach 1.3 million
units. There's even a directory on the market with more
than 120,000 business and government listings.
Why the rapid growth?
New technology, mostly," said
David Wells of Marathon Business
Services in Kings Mountain. "These
machines are being improved every-
day."
Marathon sells and services fax
machines in this area. "Research and
The use of regular bond paper will be a vast improvement. The thermal coated paper presently used is unpleas-
ant to handle and expensive—about $20 per roll.
Fax machines cost anywhere from 600 dollars to 5000 dollars but the price is coming down. Never mind the
costs, to a company that used them they will eventually pay for themselves. A three page letter faxed from here
to the west coast would cost about a dollar versus about twelve dollars by overnight mail.
Carl Sutton, owner of Belmont Industrial Tooling and Supply Company is sold on the cost effectiveness of fax
machines. "We've used ours for about a year," he said. "We send and receive orders and we transmit photos of
tools and prints. It saves time and prevents errors in part numbers. We fax about seventy-five percent of our pur-
chase orders. Our machine has paid for itself many times over."
They're good for business, also. According to Henry Massey customers will sometimes place orders with those
who have fax machines simply because they don't want to sit down and read a long list of items over the tele-
phone.
The Eaton Corporation Transmission Division of Kings Mountain utilizes fax services within about fifteen
plants. Eaton's Mary Tuttle uses them extensively. "They're very handy for sending and receiving quotes, plans
and especially urgent questions. I send about 35 faxes a day and I guess we receive 20 to 30."
"I sold two machines to a company in Shelby with a subsidiary in the Dominican Republic, and I'm told they
No word on the winner.
HTT
development is ongoing in the fac-
simile industry," said Wells. "There
are, for example, several different
grades and quality of paper. The ma-
chines are getting more versatile, too.
Some are used for copying as well as
transmitting documents. There's a
ilaser machine on the market now that
produces copy-machine quality out-
put and stores the received informa-
paid for themselves in a year,"
All is not milk and honey, of course. Where there is a medium of transmission there's
misuse, sometimes instigated by the users themselves. A radio station in Tennessee,
for example conducted a "fax your fanny" contest. People would sit on their copy ma-
chines, take a picture and send it over their fax. The station received over 60 entries.
said David Wells.
The junk faxes are starting to pile up. Some entrepreneurs have acquired a list of fax
numbers and are sending a broad range of solicitations including mail room supplies,
office equipment, yellow page ads and even advertisements for other fax machines.
And the mass marketers love it. A direct mail firm in California estimates they are re-
ceiving a 6.75 response rate on faxed ads where the
normal mail order rate of return is about one percent.
"That can get expensive," said Wells. "It ties up your
telephone line and your machine not to mention wast-
ing the expensive paper you must use."
But take heart. Most states know about the situation
and steps are being taken to create legislation that
would prevent or limit unsolicited fax messages.
I heard about one fax dating service," said Wells,
"but by and large, the junk faxes haven't made a big
impact in this part of the country yet. But who knows?
Fax machines are limited only by the imagination."
Some fast thinkers around the country have created
new businesses with their fax machines, offering fax
services for about $5 for the first page
and $2 per page thereafter. The same
companies will receive faxes for about
one dollar per page, and that's all gravy.
The sending party pays for the phone call
and the receiver's only expense is about
ten cents per page for the paper. A few
firms. will send your fax overseas for
something on the order of $8 a page aver-
age.
tion in a buffer, then shuts the line
down while the machine prints out
the fax. Company and facsimile ma-
chines in one unit that use bond pape:
are available also, but they're expen-
sive at this juncture."
Ah, Do You Remember Thes
TALK ABOUT OLD TIMES-Marie Falls Devinney, left, and Lillian Fisher Ware of Clearwater, Fla.
chat about old times during a reunion of the KMHS Class of 1939.
WELCOMES VISITORS-Dan Finger, left, welcomes Mrs. Crowell Little of Chapel Hill and Mrs. W. T.
{Weir to the 50th reunion of the Class of 1939. Mrs. Weir was a teacher and Mrs. Little's husband the high
school football team.
e?
‘The year was 1939-do you remember?
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It
was the era of Hitler. The world was coming out of an
economic depression; the world was heading into a
war. The past was viewed with distaste; the future was
anticipated with fear.
The last generation of that era, the Class of 39 was
graduating high school. In Kings Mountain the class.
was composed of 66 young 16 and 17-year -olds with
new high school diplomas, eagerly awaiting to step
forward in an uncertain time. They went-each in his
and her own direction.
May 6, 1989 on the 50th anniversary of their high
school prom night and a half century after receiving
their high school diplomas, 26 members of the class
and their spouses returned to Kings Mountain for a re-
union.
"And what a reunion that was!" exclaimed organiz-
ers Mary Helen Patrick and Dan Finger.
"Who said you can't go home again? We did and it
was great!" said Mrs. Patrick who noted that for one
brief moment in time they were all 16 and 17 year olds
again as they recounted fond memories during a "Do
You Remember?" party which opened three days of
activities at Holiday Inn.
The 1939ers also visited their old alma mater, now
Central School, and visited former classmates in this
area.
Saturday evening, May 6, was the big night and the
music of "Carolina's Finest" brought back memories of
the Big Band Sound. They danced to such oldies as
"Stardust," "Moonlight Serenade", "Woodchoppers
Ball" and "There'll Never Be Another You" invoking
memories of the Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey Band,
Glenn Miller Orchestra, Harry James and other big
names from the era.
The Class of 1939 provided at least five sweetheart
couples who married. They were Mary Helen
Hambright and Lawrence Patrick, who provided the
dance music for the big night; Dan and Dot Finger;
Maude Plonk and Tom Harper; Hazel Falls and Jones
Fortune and A. B. and Helen Falls. Dan Finger got the
idea to invite the class members back to Kings
Mountain and Mary Helen Patrick was chairman of the
general planning committee which also included Kings
Mountain members of the class.
The Class of 1939 was the last class to graduate in
the 11th grade. Three members of the Class of '39
went on to prep school after high school graduation:
Lawrence Patrick, Paul Neisler Jr. and Mary Helen
Hambright. Many went away to college. Two members
of the class died in World War II while serving with
the USAF. They were James Nickels and James
Darracott. Nickel's sister, Nancy Nickels, now of
Charlotte, sent flowers for the occasion in memory of
her brother.
So the fax machine boom some people
predicted twenty years ago has finally ar-
rived. The horizon seems to be unlimited.
Chances are that, in a few short years,
they'll be as plentiful as VCR's.
REUNION DANCE-Mary Helen Patrick enjoys
the music of the Big Band Sound with Jones
Fortune as Sue Ruddock and Dan Finger dance to
the music along with Mr. and Mrs. Jim Anthony.
Eighteen members of the Class of '39 died. The 26
returning class members came from as far away as
Tennessee, Florida and Virginia.
Special guests for the reunion activities were former
teachers Josephine E. Weir and Peggy Craig and her
husband, Bill Craig; Helen Hendricks, all of Kings
Mountain, and Mr. and Mrs. Crowell Little of Chapel
Hill. Little coached football at KMHS in 1939. The
mascot for the class of 1939, Phyllis Ware Austin, and
husband, Gene, were also special guests.
Don Bridges was principal of KMHS in 1939 and B.
N. Barnes, now of Lumberton, was superintendent.
The Class of 1939 prepared the first yearbook and the
class motto was "Ambition Has No Rest."
"We can't literally turn back the clock of time-only
in our memories-but it was fun to play, once again, "do
you remember," said Mrs. Patrick.
"Among unabashed tears and cheers, it was pure
magic," she said.
Returning for the Class of 1939 reunion were Mr.
and Mrs. J. E. Anthony, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Patterson,
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Goforth, Mr. and Mrs. Jones
Fortune, Sue Ruddock, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Finger, Mr.
and Mrs. Fred Wright Jr., Lillian Fisher Ware, Mr. and
Mrs. M. D. Phifer, Virginia Falls Hardin, Mr. and Mrs.
Stough Devenney, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Whetstine, Helen
Cloninger Price, Sara Proctor Chaney, Jeanette Smith
Clark, I.fargaret Mitcham Williams, Mr. and Mrs, H.
L. Patrick, Pat and O. C. Kiser, Mr. and Mrs. Coley
Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Walker, Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Tobias, Mr. and Mrs. O. E. Sedberry and Mr,
and Mrs. Willie Lee Thompson.
"It was great fun to take that stroll down memory
lane," said Mrs. Patrick.
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