IBM dictation machines

Last updated
IBM dictation machines
IBM Dictation Machine.jpg
Introduced1960
Discontinued1982

IBM Electric Typewriter Division (later IBM Office Products Division) manufactured and sold dictation equipment from 1960 until 1982. This was a totally new product area for IBM who had no previous experience in this field. The Typewriter Division entered the market to meet Thomas J. Watson Jr.'s goal to double their business size every five years, which given their dominance in the electric typewriter market, meant they needed to offer a wider variety of product types. IBMs goal with dictation machines was to provide efficient, easy to use products that offered high audio fidelity. However while dictation machines were complementary with IBMs typewriter product range (since the two could be used and sold together), it did require IBMs Sales reps to learn how to sell a totally different product. [1] This was because many executives (included IBM's own) were reluctant to use dictation machines. IBM was the market leader by 1965, outselling their biggest competitor Dictaphone and driving Ediphone (a division of Edison) out of the market. [2] Unit sales peaked in 1969 at 98,000 units, which was roughly a 33% market share. [3]

Contents

Peirce Wire Recorder Company (1940-1959)

The origin of IBM's dictation machines began with a tube tester company called Radiotechnic Laboratories, founded in the late 1920s in Evanston, IL. Charles Peirce bought the company in 1938 and in an attempt to find new revenue sources, they began making wire recorders for the US Army in 1940. Peirce subsequently changed the company name to the Peirce Wire Recorder Company. In September 1945 they released the first wire recorder for public consumption, selling them through Macy's Departments Store in New York for US$400 with a recording time of 60 minutes. [4]

They were soon however outcompeted by companies like Webcor and by disk recorders sold by Audograph and Gray, but survived because they had an exclusive contract with the US Air Force to supply cockpit voice recorders. Looking to develop a better alternative to the wax cylinder dictation machine, they developed a dictation machine that records on a magnetic belt and which does not rely on sprocket holes (since the holes wear out over time). This was released in 1952 and technically perfected by 1955 with their 560 D model, at which time the company was renamed to Peirce Dictation Systems.

In October 1958 IBM contacted Peirce as they were looking to shortcut product development time for dictation machines by purchasing the intellectual property of a company they assess as technically superior. While being one of the smallest dictation machine manufacturers in the US, Peirce were the only USA based one using magnetic media, which IBM favored. After the economic downturn of 1957/58, Charles Peirce was willing to sell the patents and assets of his company and so a contract was signed on July 15, 1959, and the sale completed on August 15, 1959. [4] This was the first company IBM had acquired since 1933 when they bought the Electromatic Typewriter Company. Of the roughly 100 employees at Peirce at that time, IBM only hired 10, leaving Peirce to retrench the other 90. IBM retained Charles Peirce as a consultant but effectively never used his services. [3] They did, however, hire his son-in-law Sam Kalow, who become the Sales Manager and later Product Manager of IBM dictation equipment, remaining with IBM until 1969. [3]

IBM Executary

Models 211, 212, 213 and 224 with foot pedal and headphones. IBM Dictation Machine Range.jpg
Models 211, 212, 213 and 224 with foot pedal and headphones.

The IBM Executary Dictation Machine was announced on October 17, 1960, by the IBM Electric Typewriter Division. The term Executary is a combination of the words executive and secretary. [3]

They record dictation on a magnetic belt called a Magnabelt (a mylar belt coated with a ferromagnetic material), that can hold up to 14 minutes of recordings. [5] [6] A bar magnet can be used to perform a complete erasure of the belt in six seconds. [7] [1] IBM advertising at the time simply said: "It could very well change your ideas about dictation equipment". [8] IBM initially claimed the belt could be re-used 1000s of times and could be easily mailed, although later advertising only claimed re-use of 100s of times. [9] IBM will later offer a belt that can hold 28 minutes. [10]

IBM Executary Model 211/212/213

There are three models. They measure 11 in (280 mm) x 9+1⁄4 in (230 mm) x 3+1⁄4 in (83 mm) and weigh around 14 lb (6.4 kg). The front panel is blue unless a no-charge colour panel is specified with the order. [6] The models are:

IBM Magnabelt Magnabelt rear of cover.jpg
IBM Magnabelt

IBM Executary Model 214

The Model 214 is a portable unit that is larger than the Model 211 and was introduced in July 1961. [1]

IBM Model 224 Portable Recorder IBM Model 224.jpg
IBM Model 224 Portable Recorder

IBM Executary Model 224 Dictation Unit

Source: [13] [14]

The Model 224 is a portable dictation machine released in 1965 as a follow-on to the much larger Model 214. The combination of its low weight and small form factor with integrated microphone and a very quiet motor, made it a sales success, especially as it was very easy to demonstrate. The success of the Model 224 helped promote sales across the whole product line. [15]

IBM Executary Models 27x (1968-1972)

IBM Executary 271 Recorder IBM Dictation Unit Model 271.jpg
IBM Executary 271 Recorder

Announced on October 17, 1968, by IBM Office Products Division. The cases are designed by Eliot Noyes & Associates. According to IBM these new units have improved serviceability and distinctive new styling and offer more than 20 features. [14]

There are three key new models that all use a 3 in (76 mm) belt that can hold either 10 or 20 minutes of recording time based on belt speed. The user can select the belt speed with a switch, with the 10 minute setting being compatible with the older transcribers. [15]

Also available in 1969 were the following:

Announced in May 1971:

IBM input processing equipment (1972-1975)

Announced September 1972, IBM renamed their dictation products as input processing equipment. [14] The new branding was an unsuccessful attempt to market dictation machines to prospects who were averse to the term "dictation machine". They also used the 3 in (76 mm) belt. [15]

The following models are listed as part of this release:

IBM 6:5 Cartridge System (1975-1981)

6-5 logo.jpg

Announced on March, 1975, [14] the 6:5 refers to the fact that each disc holds 6 minutes and by inserting two cartridges into a recorder you can record 5 hours, thus 6:5 equates to 6minutes:5hours. [18] The cartridges came in five colours (including blue, orange and green). [18] [19] : 151  Eliot Noyes & Associates were again consulted on the design. [19] : 151  Unlike in 1958 when Peirce is the only US based manufacturer using a magnetic medium, by the release of the 6:5 in 1975, IBM is the only manufacturer not using magnetic tape (the others are all using either an endless loop of magnetic tape, or are using standard, mini or micro cassettes). [20]

There are three major models. The front logo on the larger models says: IBM 6:5

IBM 6:5 Portable Recorder Model 284 IBM 6-5 Portable Recorder.jpg
IBM 6:5 Portable Recorder Model 284

Has the following characteristics:

Has the following additional machine types: [11]

The American Nurses Association was an example customer. Staff could dial in externally and record dictation over the phone. [22]

In a survey done by Management World magazine in 1981, IBM was number 4 in the market with 27% of the respondents using their products. [20]

The 6:5 range was withdrawn from marketing Dec 31, 1981. [11]

Cassette recorder

IBM Executive Recorder IBM Executive Recorder Model 294.jpg
IBM Executive Recorder

In 1979 IBM announced a Mini-Cassette dictation recorder called the IBM Executive Recorder, manufactured by a third party in Japan. It weighs 10 oz (280 g) and can record 30 minutes. It can also be used as a transcriber with an optional foot-pedal, headset and power adapter. [23] The sound quality is poor compared to competing micro-cassette machines and it is incompatible with either IBM's magnetic belt or 6:5 models. In response to complaints, IBM Austin developed a dual-media transcriber (Model 292) that accepts both the mini-cassette and the 6:5 cartridge. [24]

The mini-cassette dictation recorder was not successful in the marketplace and was withdrawn on September 30, 1982. [15] [11]

Famous users

Lyndon B. Johnson used a variety of dictation machines from various vendors including an IBM Executary to record telephone conversations. [25]

Richard Nixon used a portable IBM Executary to record meeting notes. [26] He also kept one beside his bed. [27]

Manufacturing plants

Dictation machines were designed and assembled by IBM Lexington [6] as well as by IBM Canada. [28] Development was also performed by IBM Austin. [15]

In 1962 IBM Berlin (West Germany) began manufacturing dictation equipment. A new Office Products plant is constructed in Berlin in 1974. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Word processor (electronic device)</span> Electronic device

A word processor is an electronic device for text, composing, editing, formatting, and printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassette tape</span> Magnetic audio tape recording format

The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tape recorder</span> Machine for recording sound

An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for storage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">8-track cartridge</span> Magnetic tape sound recording format

The 8-track tape is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which pre-dated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for pre-recorded music.

A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a portable mini system or a part of a home component system. In the latter case it is also called a component cassette deck or just a component deck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictaphone</span> American producer of dictation machines

Dictaphone was an American company founded by Alexander Graham Bell that produced dictation machines. It is now a division of Nuance Communications, based in Burlington, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ampex</span> American company that pioneered the use of videotape

Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence. Ampex operates as Ampex Data Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Delta Information Systems, and consists of two business units. The Silicon Valley unit, known internally as Ampex Data Systems (ADS), manufactures digital data storage systems capable of functioning in harsh environments. The Colorado Springs, Colorado, unit, referred to as Ampex Intelligent Systems (AIS), serves as a laboratory and hub for the company's line of industrial control systems, cyber security products and services and its artificial intelligence/machine learning technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video tape recorder</span> Tape recorder designed to record and play back video and audio material on magnetic tape

A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. They were used in television studios, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock and making recording for television applications cheaper and quicker. Beginning in 1963, videotape machines made instant replay during televised sporting events possible. Improved formats, in which the tape was contained inside a videocassette, were introduced around 1969; the machines which play them are called videocassette recorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PlayTape</span> Magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback

PlayTape is a 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) audiotape format and mono or stereo playback system introduced in 1966 by Frank Stanton. It is a two-track system, and was launched to compete with existing 4-track cartridge technology. The cartridges play anywhere from eight to 24 minutes, and are continuous. Because of its portability, PlayTape was an almost instant success, and over 3,000 artists had published in this format by 1968. White cases usually meant about eight songs were on the tape.

The Mini-Cassette, often written minicassette, is a magnetic tape audio cassette format introduced by Philips in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 6400 Accounting Machine</span>

The IBM 6400 Accounting Machine is a series of four calculating and accounting machines produced by the IBM Electric Typewriter (ET) division in 1962. It was announced in January 1963 and was sold to perform what IBM referred to as BICARSA, which stood for billing, inventory control, accounts receivable and sales analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM MT/ST</span>

The IBM MT/ST was a model of the IBM Selectric typewriter, built into its own desk, integrated with magnetic tape recording and playback facilities, located in an attached enclosure, with controls and a bank of relays. It was released by IBM in 1964. It recorded text typed on 1/2" magnetic tape, approximately 25 kilobytes per tape cassette, and allowed editing and re-recording during playback. It was the first system marketed as a word processor. Most models had two tape drives, which greatly facilitated revision and enabled features such as mail merge. An add-on module added a third tape station, to record the combined output of playback from the two stations.

Magnetic-tape data storage is a system for storing digital information on magnetic tape using digital recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictation machine</span> Device for recording human speech

A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record speech for playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Selectric</span> Line of electric typewriters by IBM

The IBM Selectric was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabamobil</span> Audio tape format

Sabamobil was a magnetic tape audio cartridge format made by SABA that came to the market in 1964. It used already-available four-track ¼ inch tape on 3-inch reels (7.62 cm), with two mono channels per side, using a tape speed of 3¾ ips (9.5 cm/s), and was compatible with reel-to-reel audio tape recording except the against remove secured ends of the tape in the reel. The cartridge could be opened without the need of any tools by removing two holding clamps. Tape head and capstan were placed between the reels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM copier family</span> Line of photocopiers designed and manufactured by IBM

IBM Office Products Division (OPD) manufactured and sold copier equipment and supplies from 1970 till IBM withdrew from the copier market in 1988. IBM's decision to compete in this market resulted in the first commercial use of an organic photoconductor now widely used in most photocopiers. It is often held up as an example of a corporate u-turn, where a company rejects a technology and then adopts it. It showed that despite the size of IBM's sales and engineering organisations, this did not guarantee success in every market it chose to compete in. The development effort that resulted in the IBM Copier helped in the development of IBMs first laser printer, the IBM 3800.`

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Product Center</span> Former store

IBM Product Center was an American retailer wholly owned by International Business Machines that sold the company's office equipment, which consisted at the time mostly of photocopiers, typewriters and personal computers. The first store opened in 1980 in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "IBM Archives: IBM Office Products Division highlights". www.ibm.com. 2003-01-23. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  2. ↑ Morton, David (2000). Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound Recording in America. Rutgers University Press. ISBN   978-0-8135-2747-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Oral-History:Samuel Kalow - Engineering and Technology History Wiki". ethw.org. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  4. 1 2 "Peirce Wire Recorder, Evanston, IL manufacturer in USA, Mode". www.radiomuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  5. ↑ "Magnabelt (1961 - 1972)". Museum of Obsolete Media. 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  6. 1 2 3 "IBM Archives: IBM Executary Model 212". www.ibm.com. 2003-01-23. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  7. ↑ ET Customer Engineering Newsletter (PDF). IBM. 1961.
  8. ↑ U S NEWS-WORLD REPORT 1960-12-05: Vol 49 Iss 23. U.S. News & World Report. 1960-12-05.
  9. ↑ Purchasing Week 1960-10-24: Vol 3 Iss 43. Adams Business Media. 1960-10-24. pp. 1–2.
  10. 1 2 3 The Office 1969-03: Vol 69 Iss 3. Mr. William R. Schulhof. 1969. p. 88.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Service for Consultants (PDF). IBM. 1983.
  12. ↑ Business Week 1960-10-29: Iss 1626. Bloomberg L.P. 1960-10-29.
  13. 1 2 3 "Vintage Technics. IBM 224 Dictating Unit". vintage-technics.ru. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "IBM Archives: IBM Office Products Division highlights - page 2". www.ibm.com. 2003-01-23. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 DeLoca, Cornelius; Kalow, Samuel (1991). The Romance Division... A Different Side of IBM. D & K Book Company, Inc. p. 168. ISBN   978-0533090846.
  16. 1 2 Engineering News 1965-08-26: Iss 213. Heywood-Temple Industrial. 1965-08-26. p. 12.
  17. ↑ The Office 1971-05: Vol 73 Iss 5. Mr. William R. Schulhof. 1971. p. 122.
  18. 1 2 "The New IBM 6:5 Cartridge System". ABA Journal. American Bar Association. 1975.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Design review : Industrial design 22nd annual. New York: Whitney Library of Design. 1976. ISBN   978-0-8230-7149-4.
  20. 1 2 Management World 1981-11: Vol 10 Iss 11. Administrative Management Society. p. 8.
  21. ↑ "The IBM 6:5 Cartridge". ABA Journal. American Bar Association. 1976. p. 1395.
  22. ↑ The Office 1977-05: Vol 85 Iss 5. Mr. William R. Schulhof. pp. 20–22.
  23. ↑ Management World 1979-08: Vol 8 Iss 8. Administrative Management Society. p. 32.
  24. ↑ DeLoca, Cornelius; Kalow, Samuel (1991). The Romance Division... A Different Side of IBM. D & K Book Company, Inc. pp. 158–170. ISBN   978-0533090846.
  25. ↑ "Did You Know? U.S. Presidents Have Secretly Recorded Conversations Since 1940". History News Network. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  26. ↑ "An Answer of the Spirit - The Story of President Nixon's First Inaugural Address". 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  27. ↑ Reeves, Richard (2002-10-10). President Nixon: Alone in the White House. Simon and Schuster. p. 359. ISBN   978-0-7432-2719-3.
  28. ↑ "IBM office word processing system recorders and transcription devices with related accessories". collection.maas.museum. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  29. ↑ "Some key dates in IBMs Operations in Europe" (PDF). IBM .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.