Ediphone, Model D

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

29.2003.6

Credit

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

Material

Metal
Wood (Plant material)

Color

Brown
Black (Color)
Gold (Color)

Dimensions

Height: 36 in
Width: 17 in
Length: 13 in
Weight: 102 lbs

Inscriptions

on plate: EDISON BUSINESS PHONOGRAPH / TYPE [blank] MODEL D / MANUFACTURED UNDER THE PATENTS OF / THOMAS A. EDISON, et als, at Orange, N.J., U.S.A. / JUN.26, 1900. (RE-ISSUED SEPT. 25, 1900.) / [...] / DEC. 31, 1907 / OTHER PATENTS PENDING / THIS MACHINE IS SOLD UPON THE CONDITION THIS IT IS LICENSED TO BE USED OR VENDED ONLY SO LONG AS THIS SERIAL NUMBER 14796 IS NOT REMOVED OR CHANGED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, AND THAT EVERY POSSESSOR OF THIS MACHINE ADMITS THE VALIDITY OF THE ABOVE ENUMERATED PATENTS. on base: Thomas A Edison / TRADE / MARK on front: Edison
Ediphone, Model D