Dictaphone, Also Known as a Commercial Graphophone, circa 1908
01
Artifact Overview
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 Details
Artifact
Dictating machine
Date Made
circa 1908
Place of Creation
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
Keywords |
|---|