The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

6 THE PHONOSCOPE March, 1897 ttbe Ipbonograpb In December, 1877, a young man came into the office of the Scientific American, and placed before the editors a small, simple machine about which very few preliminary remarks were offered. The visitor without any ceremony whatever turned the crank, and to the astonishment of all present the machine said: "Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?" The machine thus spoke for itself, and made known the fact that it was the phonograph, an instrument about which much was said and written, although little was known. The young man was Edison, and the phonograph was his latest invention. Even then he was a wellknown and successful inventor. The invention was novel, original and apparently destined to find immediate application to hundreds of uses. Everyone wanted to hear the wonderful talking machine, and at once a modified form of the original phonograph was brought out and shown everywhere, amusing thousands upon thousands; but it did not fulfill the requirements of the inventor. It was scarcely more than a scientific curiosity. Edison, however, recognized the fact that it contained the elements of a successful talking machine, and thoroughly believtd it was destined to become far more useful than curious or amusing. He contended that it would be a faithful stenographer, reproducing not only the words of the speaker, but the quality and inflections of his voice; and that letters, instead of being written, would be talked. He believed that the words of great statesmen and divines would be handed down to future generations; that the voices of the world's prima donnas would be stored and preserved, so that, long after they had passed away, their songs could be heard. These and many other things were expected of the phonograph. It was, however, doomed to a period of silence. It remained a toy and nothing more for years. The original instrument consisted of three principal parts — the mouthpiece, into which speech was uttered; the spirally grooved cylinder, carrying a sheet of tinfoil which received the record of the movements of the diaphragm in the mouthpiece; and a second mouthpiece, by which the speech recorded on the cylinder was reproduced. In this instrument the shaft of the cylinder was provided with a thread of the same pitch as the spiral on the surface of the cylinder, so that the needle of the receiving mouthpiece was enabled to traverse the surface of the tinfoil opposite the groove of the cylinder. Bv careful adjustment this instrument was made to reproduce familiar words and sentences, so that they would be recognized and understood by the listener; but it was necessary that the listener should hear the sounds uttered into the receiving mouthpiece of the phonograph to positively understand the words uttered by the instrument. In later instruments exhibited throughout the country and the world, the same difficulty obtained, and perfection of articulation was sacrificed to volume of sound. This was necessary, as the instruments were exhibited before large audiences, where, it goes without saying, the instrument, to be entertaining, had to be heard. These instruments had each one mouthpiece and one diaphragm, which answered the double purpose of receiving the sound and of giving it out again. Finally it was made known to the public that the ideal phonograph had been constructed; that it was unmistakably a good talker; and that the machine, which most people believed to have reached its growth, had after all been refined and improved until it was capable of faithfully reproducing every word, syllable, vowel, consonant, aspirate and sounds oi every kind. During the dormancy of the phonograph, its inventor secured both world-wide fame and a colossal fortune by means of his electric light and other well known inventions. He devoted much time to the phonograph, and not only perfected the instrument itself, but established a large factory provided with special tools for its manufacture. The phonograph is now used for taking dictation of any kind, for the reproduction of instrumental and vocal music, for teaching languages, for correspondence and for various other purposes. A very interesting and popular use of the phonograph is the distribution of the songs of great singers, sermons and speeches, recitations, the words of great men and women, music of many parts, etc., so that the owner of a phonograph may enjoy these things at little expense. The perfect performance of the phonograph depends upon its mechanical perfection — upon the regularity of its speed, the susceptibility of the wax cylinder to the impressions of the stylus, the delicacy of the diaphragm, and the skill used by the operator in recording and reproducing the record. The Phonograph's Jag It was nearly midnight ! The last train for New York had left the Erie Railroad station in Rutherford standing where it had stood for many a day. But the lights in the Erie Hotel still sparkled merrily and invitingly. Inside the hostelry there was silence. The proprietor was behind the bar interviewing the thing that rings a bell and shows you what the round cost. In front of the abdomen rest stood a tall and wide German. He was tired, and his Italic posture plainly showed that he had taken several during the evening. The bartender was quietly wiping off the receptacles of torture and putting them to sleep for the night. Beyond the clink produced by this operation there was no sound. In fact, it was so quiet that one could almost hear the peppermint drops upon the shelf back of the bar. The weary German had meanwhile been indguing in abbreviated siestas, until he was suddenly brought back to real life by an idea, which struck him somewhere above the neck and beneath the hat. He had become seized with a strong desire to listen to music. Evidently his dreams had partaken of a torchlight procession nature. By a circuitous route and easy stages, he finally managed to reach the phonograph which was sleeping peacefully in one corner of the room. Leaning one elbow upon Edison's wonder to steady himself the Teuton extracted a nickel from one of his pockets, allowed it to trickle down the alleyway leading from the slot, and then stuck his head into the brass funnel projecting from the top of the instrument. The man in the cellar didn't appear to be working, however, and after listening intently for several minutes, the disappointed German removed his head from the funnel, took himself to the bar, bought a beer and returned to the phonograph, carrying the beverage in his south paw. For a moment he gazed wonderingly at the big box, then he muttered something about it " being dry," and dashed the beer into the brass funnel. After thus cooling the coppers of the phonograph, he placed the empty glass upon the bar, buttoned up his cardigan jacket and went home. And now it is said that the phonograph is doing a rushing business at furnishing jags byelectricity at five cents per jag. TLhc (Srapbopbone /no rube Mandre/ The Columbia Graphophone INDEX OF PARTS [As promised our readers in our last issue, we L Speed Adjusting Screw illustrate above the Columbia graphophone with M Driving Chuck Holding Screw parts marked and described. — F-i).] N Shaving Knife O Knife Bar A Driven Chuck P Sapphire Shaving Blade B Driving Chuck Q Knife Bar Locking Lever C Driven Chuck Thumb Pieces R Reproducer D Trunnion S Speaking Tube E Trunnion Seat Tube T T Hearing Tube Ear Pieces G Motor Switch T Feed Screw I Feed Nut U U U Thumb Screws for Attaching 1 1 -Way K Carriage z Z Binding Posts