News and journalism
Dictaphone Turns 100
Speech Technology magazine, n.d.
Read the originalRead on October 16, 2026
- What it is
- A trade-magazine history of the Dictaphone brand. It covers the 1907 trademark, the rivalry with Edison's Ediphone, the move from wax cylinders to the Dictabelt in 1947, and the later shift to magnetic tape.
- How much weight it carries
- A trade magazine article written for the speech industry. Its dates match other sources, but the article is undated on the page we read, so we list the year as not given.
Facts taken from this source
- Dictaphone phased out wax cylinders in favor of the plastic Dictabelt in 1947.
“it phased them out in favor of 1947’s plastic carving Dictabelt” (Dictaphone history section)
- Dictaphone dominated the market so thoroughly that its name became the generic term for dictation machines.
“so thoroughly dominated the market ... became the generic term for the machines.” (Dictaphone history section)
- Plastic dictation belts were later replaced by magnetic tape and then by hard drive dictation machines.
“Plastic, in turn, gave way to magnetic tape and later hard drive dictation machines as the dictation medium of choice.” (Dictaphone history section)