Answering Machine - History

History

The answering machine was originally invented in 1898 by Valdemar Poulsen, and was the first practical device used for recording telephone conversations. Poulsen's device, known as a telegraphone, laid the foundation for the invention of the answering machines used today. The creation of the first practical automatic answering device for telephones is in dispute. Many claim it was William Muller in 1935, but it could have been created already in 1931 by William Schergens.

The first commercial answering machine offered in the US was in 1949, the Tel-Magnet, which played the outgoing message and recorded the incoming message on a magnetic wire. It was priced at $200 but was not a commercial success.
The first commercially successful answering machine was the Ansafone created by inventor Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto, who was employed by a company called Phonetel. This company began selling the first answering machines in the US in 1960.

While early answering machines used magnetic tape technology, most modern equipment uses solid state memory storage; some devices use a combination of both, with a solid state circuit for the outgoing message and a cassette for the incoming messages. In 1983, Kazuo Hashimoto received a patent for a digital answering machine architecture with US Patent 4,616,110. The first digital answering machine brought to the market was AT&T's 1337; an activity led by Trey Weaver. Mr. Hashimoto sued AT&T but quickly dropped the suit because the AT&T architecture was significantly different from his patent.