The Phonogram, Vol. 1:1 (1891-01)

16 THE PHONOGRAM. I hour of the day or night, without waiting to find pen, ink or paper, and in much less time, than it would take to write out even the shortest memoranda. They can also publish their novels or essays exclusively in phonogram form, so as to talk to their readers personally; and in this way they can protect their works from being stolen by means of defective copyright laws. Mu- sical composers, in improvising composi- tions, will be able to have them recorded instantaneously on the phonograph. All phonographs are of uniform size, so that a record put upon the machine, in New York may be placed on another machine of the same pattern in.China, and speak ex- actly as it was spoken to on this continent. Each wax blank will receive from eight hun- dred to one thousand words; and, of course, several blanks may be used for one docu- ment, if needed. This uniform size and pattern render the, instrument ^perfectly practicable in offices which have business connections all over the globe. My private secretary to-day speaks all letters into the , phonograph, from which they are taken off by a typewriter or an ordinary longhand writer, with an immense saying of 'time and trouble. Persons having a large correspond- ence can talk all their letters ifito the pho- nograph in a very short tirntf and leave them to be listened to and c^tpied by an assistant* without the ‘delay involved in stenography, or the trouble of going over and correcting the copyist's workl which is almost inevitable under the conditions of dictation now prevailing. Furthermore, two business men, confer- ring together, can talk into the recorder, by means of a double transmitting tube, with perfect privacy, and yet obtain upon the cylinder an -unimpeachable transcript of their conversation in their own voices, with every break and pause, every hesitation or confident affirmation, every partial sugges- tion or particular explanation, infallibly set down in the wax. They can then have this conversation written out or typed by a secretary, for fu- ture reference; or can, if they prefer, have it multiple-copied by our mechanical process In this way many misunderstandings may be avoided. Interesting philosophic or lite- rary discussions and dialogues maybe re- corded in the same way. In fact, the pho- nograph will_do, and does at this moment accomplish, the same thing in respect of conversation which instantaneous photogra- phy does for moving objects—that is, it will present whatever it records with a minute accuracy unattained by any other means. A telephone subscriber ca#i place at his telephone a phonogram which \\*ill announce to the exchange, whenever he is called up, that he has left the office, and will return at a certain time. Similarly, one man call- ing at the*office of another, and not finding him, will talk into the phonograph anything he wishes to say. This saves the trouble of writing a note, and obviates the uncer- tainty of giving to the clerk, office-boy, or servant, an oral message that may be for- gotten or incorrectly delivered. Hotels and clubs will naturally find this function of the phonograph extremely serviceable, and their guests or patrons will avail themselves of the phonograms constantly. It must be borne in mind that I am hot talking now of things which on ay be possible in the future. I did my predicting ten years ago; and the functions above men- tioned are those which the present perfected phonograph is able to fulfill at this moment. To use the phonograph, a little instruction and practice are needed; but much less than the typewriter requires, and hardly more than the training needed for ihe^pe- ration of a sewing-machine. * • Thomas ALva Edison.