Capture Technologies, Inc. – 73 years of success begins
The wax cylinder used to make Keith Potger's recording of Guardian Angel, Guiding Light.
Capture Technologies, Inc, began in 1948 as US Audio, Inc. founded by William Scott. US Audio’s first office, and headquarters, was in Emeryville, California, conveniently located to serve two of the largest Northern California markets: Oakland and San Francisco. The original purpose of US Audio, Inc was to sell and service dictation machines.
The dictating machine was invented by Thomas Edison in 1886. The first sound ever recorded was by Edison, ten years prior to using the discovery for business purposes. Through this discovery, the Dictation Industry was born. Sound was recorded on a removable wax cylinder by using a megaphone which transmitted the sound, through a needle, to the wax cylinder. Playback was the reverse of the recording function. The sound was played back through the megaphone. Documents were recorded by executives; the wax cylinder given to a secretary to do what became known as transcription. When completed, the secretary placed the wax cylinder on what was basically a small lathe and removed a small layer of wax; thus, removing the recording and returning the cylinder to the executive for the next dictation.
The next revelation in this process was in 1923, when Alexander Graham Bell started a company named Dictaphone and dictation was on its way to becoming a household word. By the time US Audio, Inc. began, in 1948, the technology had progressed to vinyl discs and magnetic belts, however, the concept was the same: executives saved time by recording their thoughts, ideas, and letters rather than writing or using a stenographer. For a more complete history of the recording media used throughout the years, this article is an excellent resource.
More on the evolution from US Audio, Inc. to Capture Technologies, in our next post – stay tuned!
Ed Wright
Author, entrepreneur, ultimate optimist who believes hard work - works!