The Gray “PhonAudograph”
Miscellaneous, Telephone History July 3rd. 2008, 9:26am
Were historical research is concerned, internet sources must be taken with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find information on the PhonAudograph from anywhere else, so just bear in mind that my sources could be in error. Having said that, it should be remembered that books aren’t always the bastion of accuracy they’re assumed to be either!
The PhonAudograph was a dictation machine manufactured by the Gray Manufacturing Company, the same Hartford, Connecticut business that was known as The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company prior to 1939. The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company was a proud and storied outfit. Their founder, William Gray, secured a patent on his innovative pay phone mechanism in 1889, a design that proved highly successful. In 1905 Gray filed suit against several companies that had been infringing on the patent, including Western Electric. The patent was upheld, the end result of which was a profitable joint manufacturing agreement between Gray Telephone Mfg. and Western Electric that spanned from 1909 until 1934, when the agreement expired. It is said that the company eventually sold to Automatic Electric, but when that took place, or if in fact such a sale occurred at all, isn’t clear. In 1945 Gray introduced a sound-actuated dictation machine called the Audograph. The machine, which recorded onto thin vinyl disks, was moderately popular, but might have been forgotten had one not been used by the Dallas Police Department on November 22nd 1963. For better or worse, the machine found a place in history by capturing the audio from the Kennedy assassination.
Having been used specifically to record the police motorcade frequency, it was hoped that the Audograph disk could help establish the number of gunshots and was studied extensively. Unfortunately no significant evidence could be gleaned from the recording produced by the well-worn machine. So that’s the Audograph. But where does the PhonAudograph fit in? The PhonAudograph was sold simultaneously with the Audograph, which would indicate that they were intended to target a different use or price range. 
The advertisements shown here aren’t particularly revealing, although this second one would seem to indicate that a conventional Audograph machine does the work, with the “telephone” used to actuate recording and playback remotely. It is interesting to note that the earlier model of the PhonAudograph shown here is based on a Western Electric Model 302 shell (or a very close facsimile thereof), and the later “PhonAudograph III” built on the Connecticut Telephone & Electric body. The switch to the Connecticut body occurred in the mid-50’s, at which time both the retiring 302 body and new Connecticut body had styling that could best be described as “tired”. The reason for the change isn’t known, and might simply have been a logical way to shorten the supply-line distance. I have no knowledge of Connecticut Telephone’s history, but I guess it’s also possible that the company was purchased by Gray. In any event, Gray, and their PhonAudograph, sailed off into the sunset (went bankrupt) in 1976.
