Ediphone

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

Location

Not on exhibit to the public.

Object ID

29.2003.14

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

Material

Composition (Material)
Iron alloy
Nickel (Metal)
Textile
Wax

Color

Black (Color)
Gold (Color)
Silver (Color)

Dimensions

Height: 35 in
Width: 12.5 in
Length: 16 in

Inscriptions

on front: REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. / The Ediphone / BUILT BY EDISON FOR BETTER LETTERS on plate: TRADE MARK / Thomas A Edison / THE EDIPHONE / PATENTED / [...] / SERIAL No 157717 / THOMAS A. EDISON, INC., ORANGE, N.J. U.S.A. on foot pedal: Electrip / PATENT APPLIED FOR / THOMAS A. EDISON, INC. / ORANGE, N.J., U.S.A.