The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

12 THE PHONOSCOPE October, 1898 THE PHONOSCOPE Copyrighted 1396 published monthly by THE PHONOSCOPE PUBLISHING CO. 4 EAST 14th STREET , NEW YORK, U. S. A. RUSSELL HUNTING, Editor. FRAN'K L. CAPPS. Consulting Mechanical Engineer. EMIL IMANDT, Manager of Publication Office. SUBSCRIPTION : United States and Canada .... Si.oo per year Foreign Countries 1.50 " Single Copies 10c. each Back numbers can be obtained at regular rates. ADVERTISING RATES FURNISHED ON APPLICATION All communications must be addressed to The Phonoscope Publishing Co., 4 East 14th Street, New York City, to insure prompt attention. THE PHONOSCOPE is the only journal in the world published in the interest of Talking Machines, Picture Projecting and Animating Devices, and Scientific and Amusement Inventions appertaining to Sound aud Sight. Correspondents in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam. Madrid, Alexandria and Constantinople, Australia, South America, Central America, Canada and 10S cities in the United States. The Publishers solicit contributions from the readers or Thf Phonoscope, and suggest that any notes, news or items appertaining to sound aud sight would be acceptable. Present and Future The talking-machine trade is and ever has been a peculiar one. The fact that sound can be reproduced exactly as made is truly wonderful. As wonderful as it ma} seem in the abstract, the problem of reducing the broad scientific principle to the very practical concrete is now in its first stages of development. Up to the present time no model has been put upon the market on which Mr. Edison of the National Phonograph Company, or Mr. McDonald of the American Graphophone Company, would stake their reputations as the finest machine possible of development under the present patent rights. The state of the art is embryonic. The machines now used will work, after a fashion, but ten years from now these machines of to-day will probably be in the same category with the horse car, velocipede and smooth bore cannon. Others embodying improvements yet undreamed of will supplant them. Great strides are being made in the line of new ideas. The Polyphone is perhaps the newest of all devices for the practical improvement, yet the polyphone is exceedingly simple in its mechanism. It has two vibrating diaphragms or speakers. As each speaker is complete in itself and as the reproducing sapphire of each speaker travels in the same groove, on the cylinder, reproducing the same matter simultaneously, it is necessarily and as a matter of fact a double reproduction which, mechanically considered, must be twice as loud as a single one; when considered from the standpoint of physics, however, the well-known law is operative, and the sound emanating from the one horn, is aided, intensified and amplified bv the sound emanating from the other horn which result is in fact the mulitiplication of the original sound waves. It is time to revolutionize the trade; for the public, although the} have purchased freely of the machines at their disposal, have come to a realizing sense of the fact that no talking-machine isasgOod as it really ought to be or as good as it really will be when the present experimental stages are past. The demand for the present machines is no longer great. It is time for new ones and new ones are in process of construction. * * # Graphophone to Teach Chinese Not the least wonderful of all the surprising things heard of during this age of discovery seems to be the latest use to which the Graphophone has been practically put. The Chinese language, which contains 44,444 characters, is a phonetic language. Studied by character (technically by its alphabet) Chinese is exceedingly difficult, but when studied by its phonetics the complicated tongue spoken by hundreds of millions of people is simple indeed. The articulated words, phonetically spoken, are recorded on the sensitive surface of a Graphophone cylinder to be reproduced at will. Rev. John E. Gardner, the interpreter of Chinese at the Custom House at San Francisco, planned the novel method of studying the Chinese language. He speaks the Chinese words and the explanations necessary into the machine. The records thus made are sent across the continent to Rev. Mr. Poole of Philadelphia who is also an expert in the use of the ancient tongue. Mr. Poole instructs his class according to the directions received from the Talking-machine and the experimental system is complete. In addition to the aforesaid it maybe of interest to many to know that a large New York firm has one of its many factories located in North Carolina where colored help is exclusively employed and where it is impossible to retain a competent stenographer. Between the home office and this factory no letters ever pass. Communications and orders are put upon wax cylinders and the cylinders bodily shipped from factor} to office or vice versa. This plan has been in actual operation for over a year with satisfactory results. * * The Phonoscope It will be noticed that this issue of The Phonoscope contains a number of new features. Past editions were taken for what they were worth. But their value, great as it is, is no indication of the value of future editions. It is proposed to put The Phonoscope during the coming year into the position it should occupy as the recognized journal of the talking-machine trade. "We have no control over the contents of past issues. They are printed and cannot be changed. But of coming editions we have full control. Definite arrangements have been completed for the enlargement of the scope of this magazine. The trade really requires one journal devoted to its interests. Such is the mission of The Phonoscope and its mission will be fulfilled. Several new features have been inaugurated in this number. They will be recognized at once by old subscribers aud fully appreciated. New subscribers will soon learn that The Phonoscope is a valuable periodical. Advertisers will appreciate the fact that this edition will go to 12,000 persons who now use and hope in the future to use these wonderful goods. Subscribers will appreciate the concise information contained. The advertisers and subscribers are the ones we shall strive to please. No more free copies will be handed to Tom, Dick and Harry "for the fun of it. ' ' The Phonoscope circulation will be controlled by another method — the method of subscription. No one unless he be an advertiser or subscriber will hereafter obtain a copy. To that end and in order that an enlarged substantial bona-fide subscription list may be secured it has been deemed wise by the publishers to make an offer of such magnitude that it cannot be overlooked. To the person who will send us the largest number of subscriptions at Si each, before March 1st, we will give a gold-plated talking-machine with complete outfit; or if the winner prefers he can have goods of this class such as he may choose of any of the present companies to the value of Sioo. This offer is open to all. The name of the successful canvasser with the names of the subscribers furnished will be printed in full in the March Phonoscope. * * * With or Without Tube The concert hall ordinance which was enacted by the Connecticut legislature over a year ago prohibits the maintenance of a musical instrument in any place where liquor is sold unless special authority be obtained. One man in Bridgeport uses a Phonograph to circumvent the statute. Now the authorities claim that the Phonograph is a musical instrument under the law. Counsel for defendant argued that while a Phonograph with a horn attached so as to be heard by many may be a musical instrument under the law a Phonograph with tube attachments would not come under the same law. An interesting fight is on pending the decision. # * *. The Continental Phonograph Company Commodore Cheever, one of the organizers of the Various sub companies recently under control of the late Nonh American Phonograph Company, and Col. L. E. Evans, one of the prime movers in the organization of the New England Phonograph Company, have returned to the field in which they did such valuable pioneer work and have recently formed the Continental Phonograph and Record Company. Co). Evans has outlined to us the principles upon which this company intend to do business. We predict a. brilliant future for the new organization. ©ur Corresponbents Portland, Oregon, October nth 189S. Editor of The Phonoscope. Dear Sir: — The business in Portland is "looking up" a little. "While my business is not as good as last year at this time, yet it is better than for some time past. Grousbeck is still doing good business with talking-machines and stereopticons in Third Street. He was at the state fair at Salem nine days and did very well. The Portland Exposition opened the 22nd of September and is on for. a month. Mrs. Jas. Cullen has the "exclusive" concession for phonographs and is doing a good business. She also has six ' 'nickle-in-the-slot' ' picture boxes. Mr. D. Lampman is running a projectoscope and other picture machines at the fair. He is giving illustrated songs; Lampman has also sprung a new one here, "the battle of Manila." This is very realistic; you see Dewey's fleet demolish Moutijo's Spanish fleet, after which — as "Artemus Ward" used to say — "you get red fire then the curtain falls" On Sunday the 2nd of October, Mr. Lampman's down-town place caught fire and was completely burned up. He was giving war pictures with the projectoscope at the old Cyclorama building, 49 3rd Street, and the party who was running the machine, dropped a cigarette into the film and there was an explosion; quite a large audience was present at the time and were gotten out with great difficulty, several being burned badly. Mr. Lampman is refitting the place and will open again on Saturday next. Mr. E. J. Rollins of this city has constructed a new machine which he calls the "phono-opticon" and has been working it at the state fair, also here in Portland. Mr. Rollins' machine consists of a talking-machine in connection with fourteen pictures of the Spanish war placed in a cabinet. In some of my former letters to your magazine I have said that the phonograph had come to stay. I am still firmly convinced that such is the fact. The latest songs and instrumental gems are always to be heard on the phonograph first. For instance, I have been playing ten selections from Sousa's "Bride Elect" for the last seven months, only three of which are published up-todate. There are not more than ten musicians in this city that ever heard anything from the "Bride Elect" except the one march which carries the name of the opera. There are not six musicians in this town that yet know that Sousa ever wrote an opera named "The Bride Elect." Now Sousa has written "The Charlatan" and I will soon have a dozen selections from it and I will go on trying to educate the people. If the phonograph is anything in this world it is an educator, at least that is what I am working it for, and I mean to "whoop it up" for all time. Just a fewT minutes since I played songs and bands and quartettes to a couple of actors — Mr. Hal DeForest, and Mr. Monohan, of the "Heart of Chicago" company, (who are at "Cordoravs" this week, ) that they had never heard before. Listen to me — the phonograph is in it and she is going to stay in it if the men who run it only know their business. Mr. Edison threw a "high card" when he made the phonograph. In the matter of machinery the phonograph is the most marvelous of all the ages, from Aristotle to Edison, no other thing in mechanics comes any nearer to it than is the earth to the sun, which is the centre of our system. John Monroe. Russell Hunting has just issued his telegraphic code to the trade. Many large companies including the Columbia, the National Edison, Mr. Bettini and Mr. Prescott have had special editions of this code printed for their private use. After use by them for two months it has been decided to issue a consolidated edition of five thousand copies for the general trade. All the leading firms making or dealing in Talking-Machines or supplies have placed advertisements in the code. This volume of over three hundred pages is the recognized telegraphic code and is at the same time the encyclopedia of the business. It cost Si, 192.00 to issue it and it also involved much labor during the eight months of its compilation. It includes a complete and classified list of each and every separate part of all talking-machines and accessories yet invented. Mr. Hunting has a few unsold copies which may be secured by addressing him in care of The Phonoscope.