Dictaphone, Also Known as a Commercial Graphophone, circa 1908

Summary

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

American Graphophone Company 

Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc. 

Dictaphone Company of America 

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

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