The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

I e '(Staphs, 'phones anb 'Scopes The Photo=Stereoscopic Field Glass Setting aside the ethical side of the question of photographing a person without his knowledge, an inventor has designed a photo-stereoseope field glass by which an operator can take a picture while appealing to be looking in a direction at right angles to the object to be photographed. The two objectives, which are necessary for the stereoscopic picture, are arranged at the side of the field glass, and there are proper attachments for regulation and the closing of the shutter. The magazine holds twelve plates, which are continuously pressed at the objective end by a spring. If it is desired to obtain but one simple photograph, aud not a stereoscope one, it is only necessary to mask one of the objectives with the hand. The Heliograph The Second Section, Brigade Signal Corps, made an interesting trial of signalling with the heliograph last month in conjunction with the Hartford Signal Corps. The New Haven Corps was stationed at Mt. Sanlord and the Hartford Corps on Mt. Tom, Massachusetts, a distance of over sixty miles. The experiments were not wholly successful owing to the haze, as the New Haven Corps could not make out the meaning of the messages sent from Mt. Tom. The greatest distance ever signalled by the corps was thirty miles. Lieutenant James Kingsley Blake commanded the corps, and he was aecomDanied by Corporals McFarland, Edward Uhl and others, the whole party numbering ten. The Monster flicrophonograph A large Dussaud microphonograph, now being constructed for the Paris Exhibition of 1900, is expected to make the voice heard by 10,000 people. This form of apparatus is especially designed for the deaf, and for the study of the feeble sounds given out by the organs of the body in nealthaad disease It magnifies the voice much as a lens magnifies objects to the eye. The register is a modified phonograph, with a diaphragm vibrated by small electro magnets, reeeiviug currents through a microphone; the repeater is somewhat similar, wiih a microphone attached to the membrane, the current for this being obtained from one to sixty battery cells and thence passing to a telephone. The intensity depends upon the amount of current passing. The instrument is beiug used in the education of deaf mutes, and has had a marked effect in stimulating the nerves and apparatus of hearing. The Eophone The practical value of the eophone, an instrument about which so much has been said and written, would appear to be confirmed by the Secretary of the Treasury's call upon Congress for some twelve thousand dollars in order to place them on revenue cutters. As is well understood, the eophone is a sound-catching device, its purpose being the determination with all possible accuracy, in a fog or darkness, of the location of sound, both as to direction and distance. It is formed of two bell-mounted receivers, placed one on each side of a sheet of metal or other material, extending some distance in front of the receiver A tube from the left hand sound receiver is placed at the left ear of the person operating the eophone, and a tube from the rightband receiver at the right ear. When the sound is heard with equal plainness in both ears, the instru. inent is pointing in the direction of the sound; when, however, the sound is heard with greater plainness in one ear than in the ether, the instrument is pointing at an angle with the direction of the sound. The sensitiveness possessed by this peculiarity of THE PHONOSCOPE construction, even under the most strained circumstances, is said to be very remarkable. The instru" ment is attached to the top of the pilot house, the tubes from the receivers beiug brought inside the house for use by the pilot. The Hegaphone The reports of the rowing contests have all contained reference to the megaphone, through which the various coaches communicated with the crews, and accounts from' the training headquarters had similar references. The simple instrument is found to be so valuable as a means of communication that it is now looked upon as a part of the necessary paraphernalia in a rowing contest. The megaphone is simply a large cone from thirty to foriy-eighl inches long, made of waterproof fibre or light metal. The voice of a person speaking into the small end is carried easily a distance of a mile, while a loud call, when neither wind nor obstructions interfere, may be heard on the water, in open country or along the shore a disiance of two miles. The instrument is often used as a receiver also. The small end is placed at the ear. and sounds from a distance which would otherwise be inaudible can be heard distinctly. The instrument is usually held in the hands of the person who uses it. like a speaking trumpet, but it is constructed so that it can be fixed to a tripod or a swivel, and Ihe person using it may remain seated and direct it to any point. By means of the megaphone the audiences at nearly all open-air athletic meetings are informed as to the winners, and at these places, as well as in the rowing world, it has become an invaluable in-trument. The Labiograph A new and scientific method of recording speech has been invented. Our ordinary system of writing is an arbitrary and clumsy way of representing spoken words. A truly scientific system would be one based on the motion of the lips. The newly invented system is, in fact, merely a record of these motions. The writing is obtained by means of an ingenious instrument called the labiograph, or lip writer. The labiograph is a French invention. One instrument is now in the possession of Dr. Arthur McDonald, of the Bureau of Education in Washington, who is making experiments with it. It is a simple device. Attached to an upright pedestal are a pair of parallel tongs of brass. The forks are grooved on their outer sides in order to fit the lips and are fixed at right angles to the pedestal. The tongs are held open by a spring. As they are moved by the lips they compress a small bellows, to which is attached a tube of considerable length. The air driven through the tube passes to another bellows which moves a recorder. This comes in contact with a revolving wheel covered with smoked paper. The changing position of the pointer traces an irregular line on the paper somewhat similar to that produced by the receiving instrument of the ocean cable. It is, of course, a work of some time to learn to read the writing of the labiograph, just as it is to learn telegraphy. But the figures produced are very marked, much more so than those which are read with ease by cable operators. Any one can satisfy himself that the lines are readable by comparing the same words spoken by different persons. The writing of the labiog^raph does not record letters, but the sounds of which a word is composed. It is, of course, purely phonetic, and takes no account of spelling. So delicate is the instrument that the intervals between the sounds in one word are recorded. The sounds which are accompanied by the closing of the lips are represented by the highest curves. Those in which the lips are only slightly contracted are represented Jrrae, 18§1 by lower curves, and those in which they are held wide apart appear as depressions. The varying height of the lines is the chief factor in enabling one to read them, as it is in ocean telegraphy. This instrument, however, is only in the infancy of its development. The Microphone The microphone is now being experimented upon with a view to making it available for detecting the approach of a hostile force while the latter is yet some distance away and far beyond ordinary hearing. The microphone will magnify the sound of the footsteps of a fly until it is almost as loud as the noise made by a man's feet. In its proposed modifications it will attune itself to the vibrations made by the feet of distant soldiers on the march, and thus betray their presence and their probable numbers to the pursuing or pursued army possessing such a valuable instrument. A great change has taken place in the sapping and mining department of the army since electricitv was introduced on a practical basis. Mines are now laid by the Engineer Corps and exploded with a greater degree of nicety than when slow burning fuses were used. Rivers can now be guarded almost by one man, stationed where he can operate a circuit in which a number of submarine torpedoes are included. The torpedoes used in the army differ from those used in the navy. The latter include a propelling apparatus, which carries them through the water. Those used in the army are generally anchored at the bottom of the stream. Given a number of torpedoes, judiciously placed, a single officer could make the passage of an armv across a river a decidedly hazardous undertaking. The value of electric firing, as far as the guns themselves are concerned, is admitted, particularly on shipboard or for coast defence. There is no lost interval of time between the command of the gun captain and the actual exploding of the piece. The instant the gun is to be fired the officer connects the circuit and the ball is on its way to its destination. If the object aimed at be a distant vessel rising and falling with the waves, or a moving body of cavalry on land, the value of an instant discharge can be easily recognized. The possibilities claimed for the balloon of the future are bright. There is nothing improbable in the supposition of a general of the future using a balloon as a point of observation and transmitting his orders by wire to his army beneath him. An officer with everything thus under his eye could be in electric communication with every gun on the field, just as the commander of the man-of-war in his conning tower is able to personally operate every gun on his ship. Slot Machines Atty. Qen. Crow, of Missouri, Holds That They Are .Unlawful Atty. Gen. Edward C. Crow, at the request of Gov. Stephens, has rendered the following opinion in regard to the slot machines: Replying to your inquiry as to whether or not our laws provide a method for the suppression of the use of the "slot machine," kept as a device or game, the terms of playing which are that the win. ner shall receive something of value from the loser, I beg to say that in my opinion under the law of our State ample power exists in the properly constituted authorities to punish as a criminal offense those who set up, keep, use or maintain said devices for the purpose above mentioned. The attempted licensing of any county, township, town or city in this State which attempt to or does license said device are violating directly section 3S11, Revised Statutes, 1SS9, of Missouri.