Image scanners are considered the successors of early facsimile (fax) machines. The earliest attempt at a fax machine was patented in 1843 by the Scottish clockmaker Alexander Bain but never put into production. In his design, a metal stylus linked …

A flatbed scanner is a type of scanner that provides a glass bed (platen) on which the object to be scanned lies motionless. The scanning element moves vertically from under the glass, scanning either the entirety of the platen or a predetermined portion. …