Abstract

Telephone polling apparatus is disclosed for supplying a prerecorded message to a plurality of telephone subscriber stations in sequence and recording responses from the stations after supplying the message thereto. The apparatus stores a telephone number to be called, couples the apparatus to a telephone line, and responds to a dial tone on the telephone line to place a call over the telephone line to the station identified by the stored telephone number. An energy detection device in cooperation with timing elements provides discrimination between a busy condition, an answer condition, a recorded announcement condition, and a no answer condition on the telephone line. When an answer condition is detected, the prerecorded message is transmitted over the telephone line, and, at the end thereof, a recording medium is coupled to the telephone line for recording a response to the message. A selectively variable time period is provided for recording the response. At the end of the time period, the apparatus is uncoupled from the telephone line. The apparatus further includes a sequencer which is responsive to the uncoupling or the discrimination of either the busy condition, the no answer condition, or the recorded announcement condition, for incrementing the stored telephone number by a predetermined number and for activating the coupling again.