Dictaphone, Also Known as a Commercial Graphophone, circa 1908
Add to SetSummary
Dictaphones and Ediphones were sound recording devices used for efficient oral dictation in business settings. When Edison invented the phonograph, one proposed use was "dictation without the aid of stenographers." Its tinfoil playback medium lacked quality, however. Alexander Graham Bell's Graphophone (later, Dictaphone) improved the phonograph by using wax cylinders for superior playback; cylinders were also used in the competing Ediphone.
Dictaphones and Ediphones were sound recording devices used for efficient oral dictation in business settings. When Edison invented the phonograph, one proposed use was "dictation without the aid of stenographers." Its tinfoil playback medium lacked quality, however. Alexander Graham Bell's Graphophone (later, Dictaphone) improved the phonograph by using wax cylinders for superior playback; cylinders were also used in the competing Ediphone.
Artifact
Dictating machine
Date Made
circa 1908
Creators
Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.
Place of Creation
United States, New York, New York
Creator Notes
Dictaphone became the trademarked name used by the dictating machine licensed and manufactured by the American Graphophone Company and promoted by the Columbia Phonograph Company.
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
00.4.2120
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Brass (Alloy)
Ceramic (Material)
Glass (Material)
Iron alloy
Nickel (Metal)
Textile
Wood (Plant Material)
Dimensions
Height: 36 in
Width: 12 in
Length: 17 in
Inscriptions
label, front: The Commercial Graphophone Patented June 10 1890 . . . July 27 1897 Columbia Phonograph Co. label, rear: The Graphophone and Columbia Records were Awarded the Grand Prize at the Paris Exposition 1900 St. Louis Exposition 1904 Milan Exposition 1906 plaque: Dictaphone Manufactured by American Graphophone Co. for Dictaphone Company of America New York