MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin man who invented the telephone answering machine died recently at age 92.

Joseph James Zimmerman Jr. invented the machine in 1948 and patented it a year later.

A funeral service will be held Monday at St. Mary’s Church in Elm Grove.

The first answering machine was a box that —

Beeeeeeeeeeep.

Ah shit…! [re-dial]

— lifted the telephone receiver from its cradle when it rang. A second box had a control panel with a 78 rpm record player inside. It played a recorded greeting. A wire recorder on top of the second box received a series of 30-second messages.

Zimmermann was born in Milwaukee in 1912. He graduated from Marquette University in 1935 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Besides the answering machine, Zimmermann owned dozens of other patents.

Shame on you if you didn’t see that coming.