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Telephone Answering Machine

National Museum of American History

Object Details

PhoneMate
Description (Brief)
This PhoneMate model 6950 illustrates answering machine technology in the midst of radical change. From the earliest designs in the 1900s, answering machines used magnetic recording technology, recording on either wire or coated tape. Most machines of the 1960s and 1970s used two tapes, one for the outgoing message and one to record the incoming message. Advances in digital memory design during the 1980s led the model 6950's designers to eliminate the outgoing message tape by using digital memory instead. The incoming message was still recorded on a standard tape cassette. The suggested retail price was $179.98.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
from PhoneMate, thru Shun Yamaura
1989
ID Number
1989.0371.02
accession number
1989.0371
catalog number
1989.0371.02
model number
6950
Object Name
answering machine
recording device
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 7 cm x 19 cm x 22 cm; 2 3/4 in x 7 1/2 in x 8 11/16 in
See more items in
Work and Industry: Electricity
Magnetic Recording
Communications
National Museum of American History
Record ID
nmah_1292438
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-aa25-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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  • Telephones

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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