was a Japanese inventor who registered over 1,000

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s throughout the world, including patents for a Caller-ID system and telephone

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

s. He filed for his first telephone answering machine patent, what would become the Ansa Fone, in Japan in 1958, followed by the United States in 1963, granted in the United States in 1968. Bell's monopoly over telephony in the United States combined with the recent Hush-A-Phone and

Carterfone The Carterfone is a device invented by Thomas Carter. It connects a two-way radio system to the telephone system, allowing someone on the radio to talk to someone on the phone. This makes it a direct predecessor to today's autopatch. The conne ...

decisions required that all telephone answering machines be connected through strictly mechanical means. This is evidenced through the mechanical arms used to pick up the telephone handset and the lack of any electrical connections with the telephone device itself. He patented Caller-ID in Japan in 1976, and received a United States patent in 1980. In 1983 he invented a digital telephone answering device. He was a recipient of Japan's Medal of Honour, the Yellow Ribbon, and was designated as a Living National Treasure. Hashimoto was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree ('honoris causa') by

New Jersey Institute of Technology New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

in 1994 for his outstanding contributions to the field of

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is ...

References

External links

"Phonetel: Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto's legacy""New Jersey Institute of Technology 2009 Commencement Ceremony Guide"
1995 deaths Japanese inventors Year of birth missing {{Japan-engineer-stub