If you missed it, check out the first post of the series: Fax Machines
PHONE CALLS ARE ANSWERED BY MACHINE (May, 1924)
I’d seen a lot of answering machines in later magazines but I was pretty surprised to see this one in a 1924 Popular Mechanics. It even features a dial indicator that shows how many calls the owner has missed.

Device Answers Phone and Tells Caller When You Will Return to Office (Aug, 1932)
This later product called the “Ansophone” is a an answering machine in the literal sense of the word. It will answer the phone and play a message to the caller, but it doesn’t record any incoming messages.

The Perfect Secretary—a Machine (Apr, 1933)
This gigantic contraption seems to be functionally equivalent to the first machine above. You’d think after almost a decade that the technology would allow a smaller device, not a bigger one. I’m guessing that it probably worked a lot better though.

Midget Radio for Policemen Is Carried in Pocket
Latest equipment for the English bobby is a miniature radio receiving set with which he picks up instructions from police headquarters while on duty. The set is so small that the policeman carries the complete outfit in his pocket.
I’m guessing they figured it was unenforceable because they abandoned the trademark in 1984.
Last Night We Exchanged Letters With Mom, Then Had A Party For Eleven People In Nine Different States And Only Had To Wash One Glass…
That’s CompuServe, The Personal Communications Network For Every Computer Owner
And it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you own. You’ll use CompuServe’s Electronic Mail system (we call it Emailâ„¢) to compose, edit and send letters to friends or business associates. The system delivers any number of messages to other users anywhere in North America.
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Huh, apparently at some time after this article was published an extra ‘e’ was added to employee because in this article it’s all employes and employe.
Heroes of the Switchboard and Phone Lines
FIRES, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes— these are some of the hazards that bring drama into the work of telephone employes. Keeping communication lines open during disasters is a vital matter. As long as nature behaves herself, as long as things go along normally, the work of the lineman, the operator, and the man on the test board is routine, but when trouble begins heroes are made.
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