The Edison phonograph monthly (Mar 1903-Feb 1904)

10 EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY. PLAYING RECORDS BY TELEPHONE. Albert E. Lauten, of the Washington Cycle Company, New York City, has arranged a device by which he makes it possible to play Records by telephone ; in other words, a device which enables him to put a Record on a Phonograph in his store and enables any user of the telephone to hear it almost as satisfactorily as he would if in the store. Mr. Lauten places the Phonograph within twenty inches of the telephone transmitter, which must be lowered to a point exactly at right angles from the wall. He then connects the Phonograph and the telephone with % inch bicycle tubing, polished on the inside as brightly as possible, using fluxine, a brazing compound found in bicycle stores. This tubing is connected to the Phonograph with the usual rubber tubing, the edge of the metal tubing at the point of connection being filed within, so as to permit of ready transmission of the second waves. The mouthpiece is unscrewed and the tubing placed within onethirty-second of an inch from the diaphragm of the telephone. It is quite impossible in this article to explain in detail just how these connections are made, but any one with a mechanical turn of mind will doubtless be able to accomplish the same result, even though they do not arrange the device in the same way that Mr. Lauten has done. With the receiver of the telephone it is possible to talk to the customer at the other end of the wire, or the Phonograph horn may be placed inside the mouth piece and the Record heard in the same room in which the Phonograph is played; in other words, the sounds from the Records may pass through two telephones and come back to the operator at the machine. With this device Mr. Lauten has played a Record for a customer in Jersey City and heard it in his store at the same time. We have no doubt that if any Dealers are interested in the matter, Mr. Lauten will be willing to furnish information about it upon request. A SUCCESSFUL DEALER. Zanesville, Ohio, Jan. 14, 1904. My experience in the Phonograph business has been somewhat different than what I expected when I first took' it in as a side line in connection with the sewing machine business. I thought that if I could clear a profit of three or four dollars a week I would be doing very well. If I can do as I should the rest of the month, my first year, ending with January, will be a business of over $5,000. I started with a stock of 150 Records and three Phonographs. Now I carry a stock of over 2,000 Edison Records with from 12 to 15 Phonographs on hand. I am doing a payment business with the machines, but Records are cash. I never have any calls for goods, and as for machines and discs, while I have the three machines on hand I bought seven or eight months ago, and I sell a few of their Records. I don't think that it has ever paid me. So with what little I know of the business I will stay with the Edison goods. As a new Dealer for the first year, I do not think that I have done so bad. To the Edison Company must be given the credit for holding up prices. Charles A. Williams. A HANDSOME SALE. H. Jaffee, a Dealer at Hoboken, N. J., reports the sale of a Triumph Phonograph, a large horn and stand, cabinet and 150 Edison Gold Moulded Records to one customer and at one time. He claims that this sale is almost a record breaker. OUTDOOR PHONOGRAPH EXHIBITIONS AT 13 BELOW ZERO. M. Smith & Co., of Quebec, Canada, recently wrote that they were giving outdoor exhibitions at 13 degrees below zero with an Edison Home Phonograph. They made a seven-eighths inch hole in the door frame and passed through the end of an eighteen inch long rubber tube, attaching the horn outside of door, and the other end of the tube to the Home machine inside. They found that playing music in this manner was a good advertising medium. THE EDISON PHONOGRAPH STANDS FIRE. "Not long ago a dwelling caught fire here in our neighborhood in which was an Edison Phonograph and a piano," writes L. R. Porter, of Brockton, Mass. "Strange as it may seem the piano was pretty well burnt up but the Phonograph escaped with hardly a scratch. After the fire was out some one in the crowd standing around remarked that it was singular that the piano should get burned and the Phonograph not. A lad in short trousers then spoke up. "Oh, that's easy. You see the firemen can't play on the piano, but they can all play on the Phonograph." Cheers were given for the kid and the Edison Phonograph." [. C. S. MATTERS. AMHERST COLLEGE. Amherst, Mass, January 15, 1904. The system of teaching German employed by The International Correspondence Schools has been in use in my German Club for nearly a year. The Phonograph Records and the instruction books have proved an invaluable aid in acquiring the spoken language, and in supplementing the work of the class room. I believe every college could make good use of this system in connection with the regular methods of instruction. H. B. Richardson, Professor of German. Asbury Park, N. J., Jan. 9, 1904. International Text Book Co., Scranton, Pa. : Seeing your advertisement in December issue of the Edison Phonograph Monthly, I sent to Douglas & Co., of New York, for a sample set of Language Records and text books, and have succeeded in selling one set of German along with the Phonograph, and feel sure that other sales will result. I thank you for your interest and pains taken in getting me started right. C. R. Zacharias.