Finally, a topic I know something about. The Ediphone was an early sound recording device for dictation using a wax cylinder as a medium. The machine was marketed by Thomas A. Edison Record company and was trademarked the Ediphone.
In the 1990’s, digital dictation became possible. Pocked sized digital voice recorders stored sounds on computer memory chips. We called the system a Dictaphone.
Why do I know something about this? I worked as a medical transcriptionist in a hospital department for many years.
My job was to take the small tape out of the digital recorder and transcribe the medical tape. The doctor would then sign the strips and I would place them in the patient’s medical chart.
Every once in a while, a tape would break. We had a man in the hospital’s maintenance department who could splice the tape back together by drilling a small hole in the edge of the cassette. That guy was a real life saver as the tape could then be transcribed and the doctor would not have to repeat the transcription.
Years ago, the hospital’s medical record department was filled with transcriptionists typing away for eight hours a day.
Now the hospital’s medical record’s department is empty of transcriptionists as it was cheaper to have the dictation done by outside firms. That way the hospital doesn’t have to pay benefits to anyone. Sadly, that’s progress for you.
I snapped this photograph while visiting the Habitat for Humanity Restore Shop in the Reston/Herndon location.
I’m not sure what the Ediphone was priced at, but it was a rare and unusual item to see up close.
Thomas Edison Ediphone