Then around 1900, the Danish inventor Valdemar Poulsen patented the telegraphone, a device to record a telephone signal on a steel wire or tape. Although it was far from perfect, tests made at the time indicated that it was capable of recording telephone calls pretty well–or at least local calls. He later designed a model that could automatically answer the telephone and record a message. The true telephone answering machine was thus born. Poulsen transferred the manufacturing rights to various companies, including the American Telegraphone company. Unfortunately, none of the licensees was able to make much of a go of it. The telegraphone remained a curiosity until the expiration of Poulsen’s patents around the time of World War I.