Full spool of wire used in magnetic wire recorder. Unknown make.

Spool of wire for magnetic wire recorder.

Recording sound to magnetic wire was first conceived by engineer Oberlin Smith after visiting Thomas Edison’s laboratory in 1878. He proposed transforming electrical signals from a telephone receiver to magnetic pulses recorded onto wire. The first operational system was created by Danish engineer Valdemar Pulsen demonstrating recording and playback.

Wire recorders were used in the early decades of the twentieth century but were superseded by the development of magnetic recording onto tape that was developed from the 1930s. Tape offered an improved sound quality.

Magnetic wire recorders were predominantly used for dictation.