Edison Voicewriter Dictaphone

This is a rare 1950s Edison Voicewriter Dictaphone, with the original instructions, leather case and diamond disks onto which the recordings would be cut. It is made in the USA, by the Thomas A Edison company, model VPC-1, serial number vpc - 4964. It is not tested, and is a collectors item.
This Voicewriter dictation machine, commonly known as a “dictaphone,” was part of the long evolution of the dictation machine, which began when Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. The growing markets for recording devices of all kinds, led to rapid technological advancements in this arena during the mid-20th century. Message clarity was paramount and one common barrier to clarity was the malleability of the material used to capture the sound waves created by the user. Dents and dings in the surface, often wax, could reduce the quality of the recording. The Voicewriter stood out for its solution to this problem: the Diamond Disc, a 7-inch red plastic disc that replaced the wax discs and tinfoil sheets which had been used previously. Many businesses and government offices still preferred these discs to magnetic media well into the 1960s because they couldn’t be erased.
The size mentioned is of the outside box.