Valdemar Poulsen invented the first answering machine in the year 1898. It was the very first known practical equipment that was used to record the telephone conversations. It was initially called as a telegraphone. It was this device, which laid the foundation for the common answering machines that we see nowadays. However, there is a dispute on the invention of the first automatic answering machine. Most scholars claim that it was invented by William Muller in 1935, while some others argue that it already existed as William Schergens invented it in the year 1931.
The Tel-Magnet was the first ever commercial answering device that hit the US markets in the year 1949. It functioned on recording the incoming message and playing the outgoing message through magnetic wires. It was not a huge success though. The Ansafone which was created by Dr. Hashimoto Kazuo was the first answering machine that attained commercial success.
