The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

The Phonoscope. (Copyrighted, 1896.) m A Monthly Journal Devoted to Scientific and Amusement Inventions Appertaining to Sound and Sight. Vol. I. NEW YORK, DECEMBER 15, 1896. No. 2. Ebison's Buto==^eleorapb. XPtHtll IReproouce Sfeetcbes 1,000 /IIMles. Thomas A. Edison's new autographic telegraph, on which, in conjunction with Patrick Kenney, he has been for many months at work, will revolutionize the whole system of newspaper illustration from distant points. By the aid of the autographic telegraph it will be easy for the artist to transmit by wire any kind of sketch with the certainty that it will be reproduced at the other end of the line. "There is nothing absolutely new in this idea," said Mr. Edison lately, to a World reporter. "It is simply a development of the old Cassella system, in which the transmission was made along a sort of pendulum. I had thought out and perfected the machine some years ago. when the telephone came along and stopped me. A business man desiring to give a practical description of a design in dry goods prints or in forms could make his meaning readily clearer over the telephone. "It afterwards occurred to me that the perfection of this little instrument might benefit my friends in the newspaper profession, and it Is for them that I have designed it. I want to say that no newspaper has or will have a monopoly in the use of the auto-telegraph. I shall reserve the patent and sell the machines to any newspaper that comes to buy it. "The process is simple enough. The artist makes his sketch in the usual manner. It does not matter what it may be. Directly the drawing is finished he wraps it around the little cylinder on top of the machine; he presses a button and in that same instant while the machines revolves the man in another room, say a thousand miles away, is reproducing that sketch. "He isn't necessary, as the cylinder removes a tiny steel needle finger, touches it and in that moment establishes the electrical connection at the other end. where another needle or finger, just as you choose, is touching another cylinder. "When the needle has traveled over all the lines of the original sketch you would see on the receiving paper at the other end a series of lines occupying positions corresponding with those in the original sketch. After each revolution the needle drops a trifle and when the lines come around again the dots are a little lower. And when the needles have gone from the top to the bottom of the cylinder you thus have a reproduction of the drawing. "I can say now that the instrument is ready for use. You could handle it at once with absolute certainty. Before I attempt to put it in the market I shall try to reduce it to a portable size so that the artist sent to Chicago or St. Louis may carry it in his pocket, dump it down on any kind of telegranb table and transmit the drawing with just asTnuch ease and as little ceremony as he would use in telegraphing a 200-word story. "Oh," said Mr. Edison, rumpling his hair with the characteristic gesture which has become famous, "I don't expect to achieve any marvelous thing with this little improvement— I don't say invention. The model belongs to Casella. I have only tried to get something to help the work of the newspaper boys. I don't look for a large sale or an extended market. Only the big dailies here and in Europe will have any use for it or care to buy it. "We can now use the instrument at 500 miles with ease, at 1,000 with reasonable accuracy, and before I have finished will try to span the continent from 'Frisco to New York." H ipbonoQtapb Stubto. Wbere Dotces of /IRoteO artists are Stereo. SARAH BERNHARDT LISTENING TO THE BETTINI MICRO-PHONOG.RAPH. Actors and singers of a century ago who made history in their social meetings in the green room, would no doubt have been astonished had they been told that their most noted successors would meet to talk or sing into a machine that would faithfully reproduce their voices. There is a pleasant room on the eighth floor in a big building on Sixteenth street, New York City, where men and women who are footlight favorites meet to laugh and talk, smoke cigarettes and exchange gossip. Their chief business there is to record in the phonograph some of the gems of operas or striking passages in plays. But incidentally there is a deal of enjoyment in hearing repeated the voices of other artists, perhaps on the other side of the world. The room is the studio, work shop and office of an inventor who has made many valuable improvements on the wonderful machine— the phonograph. He has a very large acquaintance among noted entertainers who come to this country, and his studio has become a resort for them. Nearly ail the noted visitors leave their photographs, on which are written sentiments of a more or less personal nature, and these are arranged on the wall in an attractive way. Taking one as an example there is a picture of Mme. Rejane, with this sentiment: "Ah, e'est admirable; j'ai n'en revie pas. Merci!" Taken altogether, there are stored away on cylinders, in properly labeled boxes, the voices of some of the most famous professional artists and singers in the world, and the collection is unequaled anywhere. There are songs by Yvette Guilbert, who sang into the phonograph on her recent visit to this country. When the writer visited the studio lately, Yvette's voice sounded from the phonograph, one of her English songs, "I Want You, My Honey." Then the voice gave "La Soularde" and an imitation of Bernhardt's style of delivery in a favorite character. Then followed a selection from "Izeyl," by Bernhardt herself, with all the passion in which the passage was recited on the stage. By way of variety Mr. Parko of the "Artist's Model" company gave a laughing song that was infectious. It was accompanied by the piano and was a revelation to those who have only heard the phonographs in the ferry houses and saloons. The next cylinder was one labeled "Melba," which was truly wonderful; the phonograph reproducing her wonderful voice in a marvelous manner, especially on the high notes which soared away above the staff and were rich and clear. Mark Twain interrupted the singer with a few remarks on the experience he had had in trying to make practical use of the instrument. The humorist is now on his lecturing tour around the world and the record he made in the phonograph was taken in December, 1893. . The capacity of the phonograph was then tested with a banjo solo, and the peculiar twang of the instrument could be heard even in the adjoining rooms. A cornet solo followed, with a piano accompaniment. Mrs. Lillie Langtry's voice followed in a selection from her play of "Gossip." It was obtained on her last visit to this country. John Drew then told a story. It was told at a dinner in January last given by Clyde Fitch in New York, at which there were many artists as guests. His story was about an experience he had in a little country town with James Lewis. A funny allusion was made to Mr. Lewis' dialogue in the hotel office with a bucolic person, who had witnessed the play on the same evening, and Mr. Drew was interrupted with laughter by Mrs. Drew. The phonograph faithfully reproduced the merry tones of Mrs. Drew and her husband's comments. A Nordica cylinder replaced that of Mr. Drew and the notes of a refrain from one of the operas resounded through the room. It would be tedious to name all the artists represented in the collection. Some, however, should be mentioned. Among them were Victor Maurel, the well-known baritone singer, who is remembered by New Yorkers in his first appearance in this country in 1873; Bensaude, another baritone not perhaps so well known, but who has a fine voice; Tomaso Salvini, who rolled out a grand passage from "Othello" in the Italian translation; M. Coquelin, the famous French actor, whose visit to this country will be remembered; Pol Plancon and Mme. Saville, the beautiful Frenchwoman who warbled a bit from the opera of "Rigoletto," and another from the opera of "Carmen." Then there were Lola Beeth, Ellen Terry, Julia Neilson and Olga Nethersole. Signor Nicolini has a cylinder to which he sang on his last visit to this country with Mme. Patti three years ago. Nicolini was never much of a singer and the phonograph of to-day does not give him even justice* as it has been considerably worn from repetitions given to those who wanted to hear Mme. Patti's husband sing. Sigrid Arnoldson's voice was heard in a cylinder to which the artist sang three years ago. All these and very many more cylinders are packed away in pretty wooden boxes and put carefully into a cabinet with glass doors that occupies one side of the laboratory. On another side are instruments in the process of manufacture. The artists who call at the studio are in the habit of using the cylinders to test their voices and in this way they make a practical use of the machine. When they are in good voice they register their notes on a cylinder and put it away. By reproducing the notes they are enabled to compare their voices with their own records at the time comparison is needed for study. When singing the artist is unable to hear and judge correctly of the quality of their performance. Another use which the phonograph is put is to send messages to relatives far away who want to hear the sound of the voice. Our host predicted that it will soon be practicable for persons traveling to step into a room at a hotel, record a long missive in a few minutes conversation and dispatch the cylinder, perhaps half way around the world.