Device sorts faxes from voice calls

Press, 31 January 1989, Page 27

Device sorts faxes from voice calls

A Christchurch electronics firm is about to launch on the market a device that allows a fax machine and a telephone to share the same line automatically. Faxes — facsimile machines — continues to proliferate in New Zealand, and the price has come down so that they are economic for ever smaller businesses. One drawback of a fax for a very small business is that if the machine is always to be on-answer to callers, it will need a second telephone line. At business rates, this is expensive. Essence Electronics, of Linwood, has developed the Fax Catcher to beat the two-line problem. The Fax Catcher plugs into the normal phone line. It answers all incoming calls. Before the phone rings it determines whether the caller is a fax machine. If it is a fax, the incoming call is diverted to the fax machine before the phone rings. If the caller is not a fax machine, the phone (or phones if there are extensions) rings as normal. A person phoning in detects nothing. A phone answering machine will work normally through the FaxCatcher, and can be set to handle, incoming manual fax calls. These are when a person phones in, asks to be connected to the fax, and starts transmission by pressing a button. The phone-answering machine can be asked to press or dial nine. This will switch the call to the fax. Modem (computer to computer) calls are handled by the Fax Catcher as well. The device is in an aluminium box 23.5 cm by 10cm by scm deep, with one line in and two out. It has a built-in power supply with backup in case of mains-power failure. Mr Peter Solvander, the marketing manager and chief design engineer of Essence Electronics, says the Fax Catcher should pay for itself in six months by saving the cost of an extra phone line. The recommended retail price of the FaxCatcher is $549 before GST. Essence Electronics until now has specialised in lighting and audio

products: disco consoles for the hire market, smoke machines for night clubs, lighting effects, and stereo systems for party hire. The company faces increasing competition in this field from imports as tariffs are reduced.

The Fax Catcher is the first in what it hopes are a number of new products to widen its range. It was developed by the company’s principal, Mr David Peach. Patent protection is in the pipeline. A Hong Kong company is believed to be producing a similar device, but this seems to be unpatented. All machines which hook into the telephone network need type approval from Telecom, and this has been sought for the Fax Catcher. Mr Solvander does not believe there will be any Telecom objections to the device. Two of the big fax firms, Panasonic and Canon, are showing keen interest in the device, which will be on sale in a few weeks. Neil Birss