the.com/dictaphone
The original voice memo, hungry for wax cylinders and the secrets of busy men.
means A small machine that records spoken words so they can be played back and typed up later, especially for dictating letters and memos.
from A trademark coined around the turn of the 20th century by the Columbia Graphophone Company, stitching together Latin 'dictare' (to dictate, to say repeatedly) and the Greek-derived '-phone' (sound, voice). It's a cousin of words like 'dictate' and 'telephone.' Like 'aspirin' and 'escalator,' it began as a brand name and quietly slid into everyday speech, becoming the generic word for any dictation recorder.
- name origin
- Trademark coined by the Columbia Graphophone Company
- wax cylinders
- Early models recorded onto shavable, reusable wax
- edison rival
- Spun from Edison's phonograph patents in 1907
- office staple
- Bosses dictated, typists transcribed for nearly a century
- watergate echo
- Voice-activated recorders descend from this dictation tech
edison dictating machine — thomas edison's 1877 invention that first recorded and played back sound using tinfoil cylinders
dictaphone corporation — founded 1923, dominated dictation equipment market with wax cylinder and later tape machines for offices
stenotype machine — court reporters' real-time shorthand device, still used in u.s. courtrooms since early 1900s