Giovanni Caselli (8 June 1815 – 25 April 1891) was an Italian priest, inventor, and physicist. He studied electricity and magnetism as a child which led to his invention of the

pantelegraph The pantelegraph (Italian: ''pantelegrafo''; French: ''pantélégraphe'') was an early form of facsimile machine transmitting over normal telegraph lines developed by Giovanni Caselli, used commercially in the 1860s, that was the first such de ...

(also known as the universal telegraph or all-purpose telegraph), the forerunner of the

fax machine Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

. The world's first practical operating facsimile machine ("fax") system put into use was by Caselli. He had worldwide patents on his system. His technology idea was further developed into today's

analog television Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, instantaneous phase and frequency, ...

. Caselli was a student and professor at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

in Italy. He started a technical journal that explained physics in

layman's terms Plain English (or layman's terms) are groups of words that are to be clear and easy to know. It usually avoids the use of rare words and uncommon euphemisms to explain the subject. Plain English wording is intended to be suitable for almost anyone, ...

. For his pantelegraph technology he was awarded the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

of France. Parisian scientists and engineers started the Pantelegraph Society to exchange ideas about the pantelegraph and the associated synchronizing apparatus, in order to get the sending and receiving mechanisms to work together properly.

Early life

Caselli was born in the town of

Siena, Italy Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

on 25 April 1815. As a child, he was tutored in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

by Italian physicist

Leopoldo Nobili Leopoldo Nobili, born on 5 July 1784 in Trassilico (Toscana) and died on 22 August 1835 in Florence, was an Italian physicist who invented a number of instruments critical to investigating thermodynamics and electrochemistry. Born Trassilico, Gar ...

. These studies involved

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an outco ...

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

, electricity and

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

. He became a priest in 1836. Caselli became a student at the

and studied literature, history, science, and religion. He lived in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

from 1841 to 1848 and was a teacher for the sons of the

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

of the

basilica of San Vitale The Basilica of San Vitale is a late antique church in Ravenna, Italy. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture. It is one of eight structures in Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO ...

. He participated in the

insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

of 1848 for the takeover of

Duchy of Parma The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza ( it, Ducato di Parma e Piacenza, la, Ducatus Parmae et Placentiae), was an Italian state created in 1545 and located in northern Italy, in the current region of Emilia-Romagna. Originally a realm of the Farnese ...

to be part of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, and was expelled from the area for his actions during this

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forced ...

. He returned to Florence where he became a professor in physics at the University of Florence in 1849. In 1851, he founded the technical journal ''La Ricreazione'' that explained physics, written in

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

's terms, to the public. He studied electricity and magnetism, and he created the

between 1855 and 1861, which was the precursor of the fax machine.

Pantelegraph

Pantelegrafo Caselli Museo scienza e tecnologia Milano

Pantelegrafo Caselli particolare Museo scienza e tecnologia Milano

''Pantèlègraph'' is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsAlexander Bain was working on this technology as was physicist

Frederick Bakewell Frederick Collier Bakewell (29 September 1800 – 26 September 1869) was an English physicist who improved on the concept of the facsimile machine introduced by Alexander Bain in 1842 and demonstrated a working laboratory version at the 1 ...

. The major problem of the time was to get perfect synchronization between the transmitting and receiving parts so they would work together correctly. Caselli developed an electrochemical technology with a "synchronizing apparatus" (regulating clock) to make the sending and receiving mechanisms work together that was far superior to any technology Bain or Bakewell had. The technique involves an image made using non-conductive ink on a piece of

tin foil Tin foil, also spelled tinfoil, is a thin foil made of tin. Tin foil was superseded after World War II by cheaper and more durable aluminium foil, which is still referred to as "tin foil" in many regions (an example of a misnomer). History ...

. A

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision w ...

in the electrical path of the tin foil is passed over the foil where it delicately touches it. The stylus passes evenly with scans slightly apart. Then what happens is that electricity conducts where there is no ink contacting the stylus and does not where there is ink in between. This causes spurts of electricity matching the image as it is being scanned. The signals are then sent along a long distance telegraph line. The receiving apparatus at the other end has an electrical stylus and draws blue ink on white paper, reproducing the image line-by-line. The resulting document is a ''fac simile'' (Latin, "make similar") of the original image scanned. Caselli made a prototype of his system by 1856 and presented it to

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II( it, Leopoldo Giovanni Giuseppe Francesco Ferdinando Carlo, german: Leopold Johann Joseph Franz Ferdinand Karl, English: ''Leopold John Joseph Francis Ferdinand Charles''. (3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870) was Grand Duke of Tusc ...

, in a demonstration that used telegraph lines. The Duke was so impressed with Caselli's device that the duke financed Caselli's experiments. When the Duke's enthusiasm waned, Caselli moved to Paris to introduce his invention to

. Napoleon immediately became an enthusiastic admirer of the technology. Caselli perfected his pantelegraph (also known as the autotelegraph) between 1857 and 1861 in Paris under the leadership of French inventor and engineer

Paul-Gustave Froment Paul-Gustave Froment (born March 3, 1815 in Paris, died 1865) was a French mechanic, instrument maker and inventor. Life He was born in Paris and was educated at the Collège Sainte-Barbe and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Having demonstrated fro ...

. The world's first practical operating facsimile machine ("fax") system put into use was by Caselli and utilized a scanning technology Froment devised. In 1858 Caselli's improved version was demonstrated by French physicist Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel at the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

in Paris. Napoleon saw 1860 a demonstration given of Caselli's pantelegraph and then put in an order for the operation of it within the French telegraph network that started about a year later in the country. Caselli had access to not only the French telegraph lines for his pantelegraph facsimile machine technology, but finances were provided by Napoleon. A test was done successfully then between Paris and

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

with the signature of composer

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

as the image sent, and it was received away recognizable. Caselli did testing in 1863 between Paris and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, a distance of , which turned out to be successful. French law was enacted in 1864 for it to be officially used on the French telegraph network that was normally used just for telegraph messages. In 1865, operations commenced on a Paris to Lyon line, and this line was extended to Marseille in 1867. Although rudimentary, Caselli had invented the first commercial fax system and the birth of the fax cover sheet. The mid-nineteenth century pantelegraph took about two minutes to transmit a sheet of paper by with 25 handwritten words on it. The early twentieth century modern fax machine took about one minute to transmit a sheet of paper by with 250 handwritten words on it. File:PantelegraphCaselli01.png, Caselli's pantelegraph patented in 1861 File:Pantelegraph tinfoil mechanism.jpg, Pantelegraph "reading" tinfoil mechanism File:Pantelegraph image 10 Feb 1862.jpg, Pantelegraph image, Paris to Lyons on 10 Feb 1862 File:Caselli pantelegraph image.jpg, Caselli pantelegraph images were blue ink

Later life and legacy

Caselli applied in 1861 for a patent for his ''pantélégraphe'' in Europe and ultimately received European patent number 2,532 for the device. He applied for a patent in 1863 in the United States and it received patent number 37,563. Caselli successfully demonstrated his pantelegraph at the 1861 Florence Exhibition to an audience which had the King of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel. Napoleon visited Caselli at his workshop in 1860 to see a demonstration on how the machine worked. Napoleon was impressed on how well Caselli's apparatus worked and granted him permission to use the French telegraph lines for trials to develop out the machine further. In 1861, Caselli officially registered his invention as a patent. It was in full-scale operation by 1865 between Paris and Lyon. Because of the communication service the pantelegraph did Caselli was hailed as a hero for coming up with the technology and Napoleon bestowed the Legion of Honor upon him. England had an experimental line in 1863 between the cities of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

for a four-month period to test the operation of the device. The French State Legislature Council in 1867 authorized an electrical line between

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and the town of

to be permanently installed to run a pantelegraph. Napoleon bought Caselli's pantelegraph as a public service and put it into place for the transmission of images from Paris to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. It was in place until Napoleon's defeat in the

Battle of Sedan (1870) The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, ...

. Russian Tsar Alexander II put an experimental service in place between his palaces in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

between 1861 and 1865. In the first year of operation of the pantelegraph, the system transmitted almost 5,000 faxes, with a peak of faxes being sent at the rate of 110 per hour. In spite of all this, the technology developed too slowly to make it fully reliable. Caselli ultimately gave up on his invention and moved from Paris back to

, where he died in 1891. The majority of Caselli's patents, letters, and proofs of teleautographic transmissions are nowadays kept at the municipal library of

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

in Tuscany, Italy, and some can be found in the archives of the

Museo Galileo Museo Galileo, the former ''Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza'' (Institute and Museum of the History of Science) is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicate ...

in Florence. Caselli's scanning technology became popular again in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. English physicist and inventor

Shelford Bidwell Shelford Bidwell FRS (6 March 1848 – 18 December 1909) was an English physicist and inventor. He is best known for his work with "telephotography", a precursor to the modern fax machine. Private life He was born in Thetford, Norfolk the eldes ...

constructed the phototelegraph in 1881 that scanned and transmitted images using

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

photocells A photoresistor (also known as a photocell, or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-conductive cell) is a passive component that decreases resistance with respect to receiving luminosity (light) on the component's sensitive surface. The resi ...

. German physicist Arthur Korn in the early 1900s developed a practical mechanical television system, known as the ''Bildtelegraph'', that transmitted photographs and fingerprints of criminals. In the early 1900s, French photographer and engineer

Édouard Belin Édouard Belin (5 March 1876 – 4 March 1963) was a French photographer and inventor. In 1907 Belin invented a phototelegraphic apparatus called the Bélinographe (télestéréographe)—a system for receiving photographs over telephone ...

invented a phototelegraphic apparatus called the ''Bélinographe'' (''télestéréographe''), which was a system for receiving photographs over telephone wires and was used by newspapers. His system was used beginning in 1928 by French radio stations to broadcast scanned photographs over airwaves. In 1923,

Richard H. Ranger Richard Howland Ranger (13 June 1889 – 10 January 1962) was an American electrical engineer, music engineer and inventor. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of John Hilliard and Emily Anthen Gillet Ranger, He served in the U.S. Ar ...

, engineer of

Radio Corporation of America The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, invented the wireless photoradiogram radio facsimile that was able to scan and send images of pictures and signed documents across the Atlantic Ocean, between England and the United States.

Herbert E. Ives Herbert Eugene Ives (July 31, 1882 – November 13, 1953) was a scientist and engineer who headed the development of facsimile and television systems at AT&T in the first half of the twentieth century. He is best known for the 1938 Ives–Stilwel ...

, television engineer of

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, designed a system in 1927 that transmitted live scanned images of a person's face using electronic "electric eyes" mounted in a cabinet. This was a forerunner of the movable studio

television camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...

and the hand-held

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caselli, Giovanni 1815 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Italian inventors 19th-century Italian physicists Catholic clergy scientists