PHONOGRAMS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1743, 18 January 1888, Page 3

PHONOGRAMS

It is stated by New York correspondents of the daily papers that Mr Edison haa succeeded In making his phonograph a " practicable and commercial apparatus" Phonograms will be sold ln the shape of small cylinders, l£ln In diameter, and from lin to 4.n m length. One-inch'phono-grama will contain 200 words, sufficient for an ordinary business letter, aud will oost fifteen cents a dcz an. Fall^alts. phonograms, 4ln m length, will contain 800 to 1009 words, according to the rate of spend of tho speaker, acd will cost about 36 cents a dcs.n. There is no manipulation of app»r*tae neoessary, I> will oooupy about the room neoessary for a type-writer, the cell* go-in m a closet or under a table. The motor wlil be boxed over., and nothing but a revolving ovjinder and mouth pose will be la view On. touob of a little switch sets ths machine In motion. Then the mouthpiece Is adjusted to the cylinder, and talking may begin. The same prooast is to ba gone through wheu the maohine is to ba read. It will ba seen that the ooat of phonograms ia a great deal more than that of letter paper ; but provision is made for tbe use of the same ! phonogram twelve times lf the messages It oontains are not worth keeping. A little knife Is attached to the maohl&e. which takes a shaving off tbe surface of tbe phonogram the seven-thousandth part of an inch thick, and givea a fresh sorfaoe. This process may be repeated twelve times. Boxes for sending phonogram? by post will be ready, with lustrum nts aod will resemble the old-fashioned woodtamed pUI-bc xes. It would appear, from the mention of "cells," that the phonograph Is to be driven by an electro-motor.