In 1885, when the Volta Associates were sure that they had a number of practical inventions, they filed patent applications and also began to seek out investors.
They were granted Canadian and U.S. patents for the Graphophone in 1885 and 1886 respectively.
The Graphophone was originally intended for business use as a dictation recording and playback machine.
The Graphophone Company of Alexandria, Virginia, was created on January 6, 1886 and formally incorporated on February 3, 1886 by another of Bell's cousins.
It was formed to control the patents and to handle the commercial development of their numerous sound recording and reproduction inventions, one of which became the first dictation machine, the 'Dictaphone'.

After the Volta Associates gave several demonstrations in the City of Washington, businessmen from Philadelphia created the American Graphophone Company on March 28, 1887, in order to produce the machines for the budding phonograph marketplace.
The Volta Graphophone Company then merged with American Graphophone, which itself later evolved into Columbia Records (co-founded CBS, and now part of the Sony media empire).
Bell's portion of the share exchange at that time had an approximate value of US$200,000 (half of the total received by all of the Associates), $100,000 of which he soon dedicated to the newly formed Volta Bureau's research and pedagogical programs for the deaf.

The American Graphophone Company was founded by a group of investors mainly from the Washington D.C. area, including Edward Easton, a lawyer and Supreme Court reporter, who later assumed the presidency of the Columbia Graphophone Company.
The Howe Machine Factory (for sewing machines) in Bridgeport, Connecticut, became American Graphophone's first manufacturing plant.
Tainter resided there for several months to supervise manufacturing before becoming seriously ill, but later went on to continue his inventive work for many years, as health permitted.
The small Bridgeport plant which in its early times was able to produce three or four machines daily later became, as a successor firm, the Dictaphone Corporation.

Shortly after American Graphophone's creation, Jesse H. Lippincott used nearly $1 million (approximately $28,460,000 in today's dollars),  of an inheritance to gain control of it, as well as the rights to the Graphophone and the Bell and Tainter patents.
Not long later Lippincott purchased the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company, and then created the North American Phonograph Company to consolidate the national sales rights of both the Graphophone and the Edison Speaking Phonograph.
In the early 1890s Lippincott fell victim to the unit's mechanical problems and also to resistance from stenographers.
This would postpone the popularity of the Graphophone until 1889 when Louis Glass, manager of the Pacific Phonograph Company would popularize it again through the promotion of nickel-in-the-slot "entertainment" cylinders.

The work of the Volta Associates laid the foundation for the successful use of dictating machines in business, because their wax recording process was practical and their machines were durable.
But it would take several more years and the renewed efforts of Thomas Edison and the further improvements of Emile Berliner, and many others, before the recording industry became a major factor in home entertainment.
In 1885, when the Volta Associates were sure that they had a number of practical inventions, they filed patent applications and also began to seek out investors. They were granted Canadian and U.S. patents for the Graphophone in 1885 and 1886 respectively. The Graphophone was originally intended for business use as a dictation recording and playback machine. The Graphophone Company of Alexandria, Virginia, was created on January 6, 1886 and formally incorporated on February 3, 1886 by another of Bell's cousins. It was formed to control the patents and to handle the commercial development of their numerous sound recording and reproduction inventions, one of which became the first dictation machine, the 'Dictaphone'.
After the Volta Associates gave several demonstrations in the City of Washington, businessmen from Philadelphia created the American Graphophone Company on March 28, 1887, in order to produce the machines for the budding phonograph marketplace. The Volta Graphophone Company then merged with American Graphophone, which itself later evolved into Columbia Records (co-founded CBS, and now part of the Sony media empire). Bell's portion of the share exchange at that time had an approximate value of US$200,000 (half of the total received by all of the Associates), $100,000 of which he soon dedicated to the newly formed Volta Bureau's research and pedagogical programs for the deaf.
The American Graphophone Company was founded by a group of investors mainly from the Washington D.C. area, including Edward Easton, a lawyer and Supreme Court reporter, who later assumed the presidency of the Columbia Graphophone Company. The Howe Machine Factory (for sewing machines) in Bridgeport, Connecticut, became American Graphophone's first manufacturing plant. Tainter resided there for several months to supervise manufacturing before becoming seriously ill, but later went on to continue his inventive work for many years, as health permitted. The small Bridgeport plant which in its early times was able to produce three or four machines daily later became, as a successor firm, the Dictaphone Corporation.
Shortly after American Graphophone's creation, Jesse H. Lippincott used nearly $1 million (approximately $28,460,000 in today's dollars),  of an inheritance to gain control of it, as well as the rights to the Graphophone and the Bell and Tainter patents. Not long later Lippincott purchased the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company, and then created the North American Phonograph Company to consolidate the national sales rights of both the Graphophone and the Edison Speaking Phonograph. In the early 1890s Lippincott fell victim to the unit's mechanical problems and also to resistance from stenographers. This would postpone the popularity of the Graphophone until 1889 when Louis Glass, manager of the Pacific Phonograph Company would popularize it again through the promotion of nickel-in-the-slot "entertainment" cylinders.
The work of the Volta Associates laid the foundation for the successful use of dictating machines in business, because their wax recording process was practical and their machines were durable. But it would take several more years and the renewed efforts of Thomas Edison and the further improvements of Emile Berliner, and many others, before the recording industry became a major factor in home entertainment.
Volta Laboratory and Bureau