Thomas Edison gave his dictation machine the commercial name Ediphone.
The Ediphone was an improved form of Edison’s sound-recording technology, adapted for office dictation rather than entertainment. It recorded speech on wax cylinders so that a typist or secretary could replay the material and prepare written documents.
Edison introduced the system in the early twentieth century as businesses increasingly used mechanical office equipment. The machine’s practical purpose distinguished it from the original phonograph, which Edison had promoted primarily for recording and reproducing sound for general listeners.
Ediphone is sometimes confused with Dictaphone. Dictaphone was a competing brand and company associated with Alexander Graham Bell’s group and later commercial developments. Edison’s own dictation product used the Ediphone name. The system also illustrates how Edison’s laboratory repeatedly adapted recording technology for specialized markets.