The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

6 THE PHONOSCOPE May, 1897 IRecent Inventions The cuts herewith illustrate a new patented coincontrolling device and return mechanism for automatic phonographs and other similar automatic coin slot machines, invented by C. A. Gundaker, Jr. A. Point where chute is opened and coins or blanks ejected when machine is running. B. Balanced Lever. The upper arm closes a trap door across interior of chute when coin is in station C, thereby ejecting all subsequent coins deposited through an opening, A, directly opposite, and until coin in station C is released. D. Point where all slugs or ordinary spurious coin, as well as toothpicks, matches, strips of metal and small coins wrapped with tinfoil, etc., pass through and drop to bottom of cabinet. Advantages of this device : I. Circuit is closed through the coin. This does away with small contact points. II. Chute cannot be chocked. All coins are ejected while machine is running. III. All slugs or ordinary spurious coins ejected before reaching lower mechanism through space D. IV. It can be readily adjusted and adapted to operate on coins of any denomination. V. It has a Positive return mechanism. VI. It does not require an expert attendant, and can be attached to any form of machine by a novice. TEbe phonograph tn Church Philadelphia, Pa. — Occupying a prominent position on the pulpit platform at the East Baptist Church, Hanover Street, near Girard Avenue, one evening last month, was a phonograph. The big bell-shaped funnel of the instrument was between Rev. C. H. Woolston, the pastor of the church, and Rev. J. P. Snyder, the assistant pastor, participated with them in the service of the occasion. Announcement had been duly made that "a phonograph sermon" was to be presented. The result was a congregation that could scarcely be accommodated, even with standing room while manj turned away in despair of seats. Innovation though it was, the manner in which the phonograph was used proved to be decidedly impressive. At times there was a perceptible tendency to applaud, but the forceful manner in which the preacher deduced lessons from his subject invested with an influence that perfectly preserved its dignity. The phonograph first participated in the service in connection with the scripture lesson. Mr. Woolston simply said : "The lesson will be read by the phonograph." Then came out of the big brass funnel distinctly, and loud enough for everyone to hear the words of the twenty -third Psalm; "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, etc." The congregation were so quiet that not a word of the Psalm was lost, and when the tones of the phonograph were silent there was an unmistakable buzz of surprise and approval throughout the church. The instrument was also used for a reproduction of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and the Psalms, but it was in the sermon that it attained its greatest prominence. Some of the congregation had understood that the sermon was to have been preached by the phonograph, but the fact was that the phonograph was practically the text of Mr. Woolston's sermon and was frequently called upon by way of illustration. The scriptural text chosen, however, was Luke, xix, 40; "If these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out." This declaration on the part of Jesus Christ was cited by Mr. Woolston as a devine declaration of the possibility of stones, under certain conditions, being possessed of voices, and he thereupon built an apparently plausible theory that if this utterance of Christ's was to be accepted as a prophecy then surely its fulfillment was to be found in the voices of the artificial stone cylinders on which phonographic records are made. He then asserted that the phonograph as well as every other good thing was perfectly adapted ' 'for harnessing to the chariot of God and for being made to do His Service." The preacher told the story of the invention of the phonograph and gave several illustrations of its workings, always using records of sacred music by choirs, vocal soloists or solo coretists, and pointed out a number of lessons that were plainly deducible. He said it was a monument to the marvelous resources of the human miud, an illustration of unchangeableness, an invariable friend and a neverfailing truth-teller. "No record made on a phonograph cylinder can ever be changed. The record is there just as it is made and can be reproduced at any time, just as the record of men's lives are made on the book of God and will be unrolled to us on the Day of Judgment. Therefore, the phonograph comes to us to-night and says: ' Be careful what you say and do. If you make a slip it cannot be rectified. You have your chance to do things rightly. If you make mistakes the record stands against you."' Other lessons drawn from the phonograph were that it enables us to hear ourselves as others hear us, and that it always repeats what is told it exactly as it is told. Mr. Woolston said that if some people he knew could hear themselves sing or talk as others hear them the} would talk less, and "they certainly would never sing again until they got their resurrection voice. " He also said there was great need for the people of Kensington to learn the lesson about repeating things just as they hear them, not that they meant to be untruthful, but because they are careless in conversation. "The phonograph." he said, "never tells lies." At the conclusion of the sermon Mr. Woolston announced that he intended to make use of the phonograph in disseminating the gospel by means of records of spiritual songs being placed in phonographic cabinets, at clubs and in the homes of the rich who never go to church. He declared that an experiment of this kind had already been tried at a big club on Broad Street, with the result that a remarkable interest had been aroused by old time hymns which men had not heard for years. New Brunswick, N. J.— The Rev. C. A.Jenkins, pastor of the Livingston Avenue Baptist Church, in his sermon last month denounced sensational methods in the pulpit and criticised the use of such devices as the phonograph. He mentioned no names, but it was understood that he referred to the Rev. S. D. Sammis, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, in the village of South River. Mr. Sammis contends that the Rev. Mr. Jenkins has taken too much upon himself in speaking for the Baptist denomination. The remarks to which the Rev. Mr. Sammis especially objects are these: "The man who depends upon such methods to hold his congregation is not worthy of his high calling, and if the phonograph is to be used to sing hymns and pronounce the benediction, why not fill the cylinder with sermons and dispense with the preacher entirely?" Mr. Sammis said: "I fail to see the difference between a phonograph and an organ or other mechanical device used in church sen-ices. I have used the phonograph to deliver productions of famous choirs. My little church could not afford to have great choirs at its services. Instead we get the records of those choirs at no cost whatever. Choirs are apt to include quarrelsome persons. In the phonograph we have a choir which can't quarrel, a decided benefit, I think. I expect to be criticized, but I Jo not see why I should be. I see no reason why the phonograph should not have a place in church work as well as the magic lantern. " I am not courting notoriety, but I want to impress spiritual truths upon my people, and if oldfashioned methods will not attract them I consider it my sacred duty to use up-to-date methods. As soon as people get accustomed to the phonograph in the pulpit it will cause no more sensation than does the organ our fathers condemned, or electric lights or cushions." Dayton, O. — A remarkable feature of the celebration of the semi-centennial of the founding of the First United Brethren Church, of this city, was a reproduction, by the phonograph, at the exercises of a congratulatory address and sermon bv Rev. E. S. Chapman, a former pastor of the church. He had charge of the congregation for ten years prior to his removal in 1S87 to California. In the desire to hear the voice and utterances of their former pastor on the jubilee occasion, it was arranged that he should deliver the address before the phonograph in his California home. This was done and the phonographic record expressed to this city. The church was thronged and the audience delighted at the familiar tones and impassioned speech of their former minister, which were repeated with exactness and distinctiveness by the phonograph.