The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

The Phonoscope. (Copyrighted, 1896.) A Monthly Journal Devoted to Scientific and Amusement Inventions Appertaining to Sound and Sight. Vol. I. NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 15, 1896. No. 1. IDoices of the ©eab. Everything on earth serves two purposes: a present and a future one. The deed of the hero and the saying of the wise man besides benefitting their immediate contemporaries serve as examples and guides to the succeeding generations. From time immemorial, therefore, the deeds and learning of the illustrious men and women of the world, have been recorded on stone, vellum, and papyrus, in manuscripts and books. These records have always been held in the highest esteem and veneration. Even amongst the lowest types of the human race we find some sort of record of their travels and their heroes. The celebrated libraries of Egypt, Greece, and Italy, attest the importance attributed by the ancient people of these countries to the preservation of the records of their thoughts and deeds; while to-day there is hardly a village, be it ever so humble, that boasts not its library and annals. The foremost amongst the public buildings of our great cities are the libraries— the storing place of the thoughts and the record of the deeds of our raee. Yet, at best, these records give but a poor reflection of the times and deeds they are intended to perpetuate. Like preserved fruit, however delicious, they lack the bloom of life: they are dry and difficult of digestion. We read in them in a third-hand fashion. The historian with all his personalities, the growth of the language, the monotony of the reading, all combine to cast about these records, a mist of uncertainty and doubt, which it requires assiduous work and study to dispel. Recently the writer had occasion to attend a phonograph recital. Among the cylinders used that night there were some whereon Hon. W. E. Gladstone and the venei'able Bismarck had recorded their voices. I have always been an ardent admirer of these great statesmen, both shoulders above all their contemporaries, but, as my means and leisure do not permit of my leaving home, my conception of th^m had been derived mainly from newspaper reports—the echo of the world, alas! so frequently twisted and tainted to suit the audience. Thus I have read the speeches of Gladstone and of Bismarck, and become familiar with their respective work, but I did not know their spirit until I heard their voice on the cylinder of a phonograph. The body, the strength, the soft modulation, the emphasis, so faithfully reproduced by this delicate mechanism, the life thus imparted to the words, made them sink indelibly into my soul, showing to me in the fulness of their power, the men whom till then I had known only vaguely. I felt their presence; their spirit pervaded me; I understood the secret of their greatness, as the subtle persuasiveness of their voice held me spellbound. If thus we could but listen to the voice of the great founders of this mighty commonwealth: Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and others, how easy it would be for us to grasp their great ideas and teachings and follow in their footsteps. But in their time the talking machines had not been thought of. To-day we are in a position to reap the full benefit of the genius of our great inventors. How salutary and consoling it is for loving children and friends to be able to retain the voices of their dear departed ones for communion in time of trouble, and of pleasure. The voice of that mother whose every thought has been for our welfare, whose last prayer was to call blessings down on us from Heaven; of that father whose stern, unbending, yet loving character first instructed us in the hard realities of life. Death cannot now deprive us of their help, advice and encouragement, if we will but record their voices whilst they live, and treasure them not only in our hearts, but in a certain and lasting form, on the surfaces of phonograph and graphophone cylinders. It is by the voice that men communicate with each other in all the fulness of their individuality. The voice, formerly invisible and irretrievably lost as soon as uttered, can now be caught in its passage and preserved practically for ever. The great speakers, singers, actors of to-day have it in their power to transmit to posterity all the excellencies they are so richly endowed with. Art in its perfection need no longer be lost to succeeding generations, who now shall be able to enjoy all its benefits by setting in motion the wheels of a simple machine. In future there need be no disputed readings, no doubtful interpretation of text or delivery. The phonographic record, being absolutely true, avoids both by preserving all utterances with every modulation and inflection of voice. Death has lost some of its sting since we are able to forever retain the voices of the dead. HOW HE WORKS AND RESTS. Thomas A. Edison went up to Lake Chautauqua, N. ¥., last month to bring home his family who had been spending their vacation at that place. On his way home Edison stopped in Buffalo and was interviewed, in part as follows, by a reporter for the Buffalo "Express": "Have you been taking a rest . ' was the first question asked of Mr. Edison. "No, no," laughed the inventor. "What do I want of a rest? I never rest; what's the use of it?" The "Express" man agreed that a rest was not needful to Mr. Edison's robust appearance, and he asked the following: "Don't you ever rest?" "Well that depends what you mean by rest. I sleep, of course, but I hardly ever go on a vacation. My family go on vacations and I go after them." "What are you devoting your efforts to just now ?" "Oh twenty or thirty things. I always have that many things in prospect. I am striving to make a contrivance whereby I can use a phonograph and a vitascope in conjunction. This will make a regulation-sized theatrical production, with the scenes, acting and speaking. The kinetoscope was one step toward this, the vitascope was the next, and now I hope soon to have the climax. I have it about completed, but not quite so." It was noticeable that the inventor pronounced vitascope veetascope," which he says is correct. "Have you completed your autographic system of telegraphy?" "I have it completed, but it is not now in use. I expect it will be utilized for newspaper work and not for general telegraphy." "Have you anything in prospect which, when introduced, will be revolutionizing?" Mr. .Edison laughed, snapped the ashes off his cigar and answered: "The public doesn't like wind; it likes realities. I never like to tell what I may do, but when I have it done I am willing to discuss it. We are getting wind enough from the freesilver men, aren't we?" "Have you had any dealing with Li Hung Chang during his present visit here?" was asked by the reporter. "None whatever. Li Hung Chang tele graphed from New York to my Orange offic ! that I meet him at Niagara Falls. The telegram was forwarded to me, but I did net comply with it. I couldn't leave my famil. alone. I have no idea what he desired to se : me about." "Did any of your representatives meet him?' "No." "Have you scruples against discussing yompersonal habits?" "Scruples, no!" declared Mr. Edison, halflaughingly and with feigned amazement. have had too much experience with newspaper men to be modest. I am 49 years old, was formerly a telegraph operator and have been an inventor for 32 years." Mr. Edison laughed and asked, "Is there anything else you desire to know?' "How much do you sleep a day?' "I can't estimate it. Some days I don'v sleep; other days I sleep nearly all the time." "Is it a fact that you work sometimes for forty hours without sleep?" "Yes, yes; sometimes I go seventy hours without sleep. Very often I go forty-eight and fift;, and not infrequently sixty and seventy." "You eat regularly meanwhile?" "Yes, my meals are brought to me." "Do you ever have trouble sleeping?" "No, never. I can sleep anywhere, at any time, at a minute's notice. If I had trouble sleeping, I could not get along in my business. I very often take a few minutes' sleep for ; bit of refreshment." "Do you take long naps after a seventy-hour siege?" "Sometimes I sleep eighteen hours withoi waking. Sometimes I sleep but six or eight.'' "Do you feel any bad effects from this irregularity?" "None. I am perfectly well, always have been, and it looks now as if I always would be. I fear if I should become too regular it would have bad effects on me. People who claim to be regular in their habits are broken up by a day or two of irregularity. I, who am irregular all the time, have no such trouble." "Does not the constant thinking have a weakening effect on you?' "Certainly not. It is not hard work. It requires no physical exertion. It is a pleasure. I like it, and what one likes is never tiring. I always feel well. The papers in New York recently had me broken down in health and seeking a place of rest. You can see the falsity of those statements." "Do you think there is a limit to the possibility of electricity?" Mr. Edison hesitated a moment, winked one eye, as is his habit when he is deliberating, and answered: "No, I do not. Electricity will accomplish great things in the near future. The improvements of the next twenty years will, in my opinion, be as great as have been those of the last twenty. They will not be so amazing, because they will not strike us as having been so nearly impossible. Nothing now seems to be too great for the people to comprehend. "Will electricity supplant steam on the rail ways?" It will, yes, but just when I cannot predict. It will do so on many of the shorter lines righi along now, but on the trunk lines, not for some time — or until the electricians get what to them is the philosopher's stone; that is, generating electricity direct from coal. This is what all electricians are striving for now." "Are you working on i*"5" was asked of the inventor. "I have been working on it for several years." "Do you expect to make the discovery?" "There you are again," laughed Mr. Edison. "I --\ally can't say; but I will say that the problem is a baffling one."