(FORTUNE Magazine) – Americans' infatuation with facsimile machines is growing deeper. Faster than a bicycle messenger and cheaper than Federal Express, faxes send and receive written and graphic information by regular telephone links. Sales are leaping (see chart). The reason, says Donald Ryan of research firm CAP International: ''Fax machines are gaining equal status with such essential office equipment as copiers, typewriters, and phone systems.'' More than 30 companies, mostly Japanese, are jostling to get more of the American market. Dataquest, a research firm, says the leaders are Sharp Electronics, Ricoh, and Canon U.S.A. Prices range from $900 to $12,000, with many machines listed at under $2,000. Prices of the cheapest faxes will probably drop to as little as $500 by 1990. With prices falling, small and medium-size businesses are becoming the jet fuel in fax's rapid rise. ''Instead of spending 40 minutes on the phone taking orders and talking about the weather, I get what I need over the fax in a few minutes,'' says Ed Vanderbeck, sales manager of Black Millwork, an Allendale, New Jersey, window distributor. Some Americans are beginning to regard the fax like the telephone: They never want to be far from one. When private investor Clifford Heinz set sail for the South Pacific recently, he equipped his boat with a fax. This year US Fax Inc. plans to place over 2,000 machines in hotels, airports, and other locations. Where next? There's no telling -- but in Japan some executives have installed faxes in their cars.

CHART: TEXT NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: SOURCE: CAP INTERNATIONAL CAPTION: A FORMIDABLE FUTURE FOR FAX Sales should explode as prices fall to as little as $500 by 1990. Small business will fuel the growth. DESCRIPTION: Sales of facsimile machines, 1985-1987, with projections for 1988-1990.