Do you remember when everyone was putting strange messages on their answering machines? Most of them were humorous the first time you heard them, but then they were just “old”. For example, “Yes, we ARE avoiding people and screening our calls. Please leave a message and if we like you, we’ll pick up the phone or call you back. If we don’t pick up the phone or call back, take a hint…” or “Hello, hello, hello?”

During that time, answering machines were becoming the big thing for everyone and it was fun to record something different for your message. Now, most everyone has either voicemail or an answering machine and many of those messages are considered just annoying. Jan 30th is a day for eliminating those irritating messages.

I find it interesting how we all take voicemail and answering machines for granted anymore. Did you know that the answering machine was first thought about before the 1900’s? In 1878, shortly after inventing his phonograph, Thomas Edison created a “top ten list” of uses of the phonograph. Number ten read: “Connection with the telephone, so as take that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication”. Edison actually experiemented with creating an answering machine for many years but had trouble connecting his recording machine to the telephone.

Valdemar Poulsen, a Danish telephone engineer and inventor, patented what he called a telegraphone in 1898. The telegraphone was the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound recording and reproduction.  It recorded, on a wire, the varying magnetic fields produced by a sound. The magnetized wire could then be used to play back the sound.

Willy Müller invented the first automatic answering machine in 1935. This answering machine was a three-foot-tall machine popular with Orthodox Jews who were forbidden to answer the phone on the Sabbath.

The Ansafone, created by inventor Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto for Phonetel, was the first answering machine sold in the USA, beginning in 1960.

According to Casio TAD History (Telephone Answering Devices): Casio Communications created the modern telephone answering device (TAD) as we know it today. The product, the Model 400 is now featured in the Smithsonian.

In the late seventies Gordon Matthews began working on the technology that would eventually be called “voicemail.”  In 1979, he formed a company called VMX, which stands for Voice Message Express. He applied for a patent in 1979 to cover his voicemail invention and sold the first system to 3M.  A few years later, in 1982 the patent for his invention was awarded.  Eventually, the company was sold to Octel.

So there you have it. Let’s give answering messages the respect they deserve and eliminate inane messages!

Chia Pet Rescue