Western Union Co. completed the first transcontinental telegraph line and launched the first commercial communications satellite in the United States. It was also a pioneer in facsimile technology, exhibiting the IntraFax shown here at the American Association for the Advancement of Science convention in 1952. Designed to send messages within a company, it was part of multiple Western Union fax services that delivered information over private networks. Despite operating roughly 33 percent of all U.S. fax machines in America in 1971, the company eventually abandoned the technology.