Ediphone Voicewriter, 1930-1950

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

1930-1950

Location

Not on exhibit to the public.

Object ID

2014.0.17.134

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Cardboard
Chromium
Paper (Fiber product)
Rubber (Material)
Steel (Alloy)
Wax

Dimensions

Height: 33 in
Width: 11.5 in
Length: 13 in

Inscriptions

plaque: Ediphone Patent 1,615,114 Serial No. KfD 554948 cylinder covers: Edison Ediphone Thomas A. Edison Voicewriter Master Wax Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated West Orange, N.J.