Dacom
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications, Information Technology |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Founder | Daniel Hochman, Don Weber |
Area served | United States (initially), later Japan (via Ricoh) |
Key people | Daniel Hochman (President), Don Weber (Vice President) |
| Products | Digital facsimile machines (e.g., DFC-10, Dacom 111, Dacom 412 Secure Fax) |
Dacom, Inc. was established in 1966 by ex-Lockheed engineers Daniel Hochman, serving as President, and Don Weber, Vice President. Their groundbreaking digital image compression innovations, initially created for satellite communication applications, paved the way for the first commercially available digital fax machine and enabled facsimile transmission in under a minute via standard telephone lines. In recognition of their impact, Dacom earned the IR-100 Award in 1973 (now known as the R&D 100 Awards) for the most notable new product in Information Technology. The company's patents and technological advancements form the foundation of today's desktop fax devices.
History
Daniel Hochman, a trailblazer in digital electronics, managed a Lockheed division focused on developing compact television systems for space data transmission during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Collaborating with Donald Weber, the team tackled issues related to transmitting high-resolution images over low-power satellite links by inventing sophisticated data compression methods.
In 1966, seeing commercial opportunities, Hochman and Weber departed Lockheed to launch Dacom (an abbreviation of Data Compression), intending to create digital facsimile machines capable of faster image transmission than analog models produced by competitors such as Xerox and Magnavox. Initial offerings included the DFC-10 and Dacom 111 units. Their compression technology was showcased at the 1970 International Conference on Communications and has remained integral to image digitization processes.
By 1971, Dacom formed a strategic alliance with CBS and Savin to obtain development capital and expand market reach. This collaboration resulted in the formation of Rapifax Company, which took majority ownership of Dacom and handled product marketing. Shortly thereafter, the Dacom 412 Secure Fax was introduced as the first digital facsimile capable of sub-minute transmissions, earning the 1973 IR-100 Best Product of the Year accolade.
Later in 1973, Ricoh acquired a controlling stake in Rapifax by buying CBS’s shares; eventually, Savin’s remaining interest was also sold to Ricoh. Despite legal disputes initiated by Dacom’s founders, Ricoh moved research and manufacturing operations to Japan. Dacom’s technology was subsequently incorporated into Ricoh’s range of fax machines.
Throughout the 1970s, Dacom effectively marketed premium facsimile equipment aimed at corporate clients, government bodies, military communications, and remote newspaper production. The Rapifax 100 model emerged as a dominant product in rapid facsimile transmission during this era.
Patents Assigned to Dacom, Inc.
| Patent No. | Description | Inventors | Date granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR2053965 CA917571 US4135214 |
Techniques for adaptive encoding and decoding that minimize transmitted symbols | Donald R. Weber | 4/16/1971 12/26/1972 1/16/1979 |
| US3868477 | Binary facsimile system featuring automatic contrast adjustment | Howard Katzman | 2/25/1975 |
| GB1409365 US3916095 CA1002175-7 |
Facsimile data compression utilizing dual-line systems for transmission and reproduction | Donald R. Weber Lou Joseph Edward A. Poe Ralph W. Austed |
10/8/1975 10/28/1975 12/21/1975 |
| US3965290 | Apparatus converting video signals to binary format for image reproduction systems | James G. Tisue | 6/24/1976 |
| US4000368 | Electronic non-uniform clock generator employing a modulo N counter for precise pulse counting | James G. Tisue | 12/28/1976 |
| US4084196 | Electronic halftone generator enabling effective black-and-white facsimile image transmission and reproduction | James G. Tisue Donald R. Weber Peter A. Johanson |
4/11/1978 |
| US4107610 | Data processing system converting analog inputs into binary signals for storage, communication, and reconstruction | Donald R. Weber | 8/15/1978 |