The Speaking Phonograph

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 203, 31 May 1878, Page 7

The Speaking Phonograph

The writer visited Menlo Park, N.Y., "to chat with Professor Thos. A. Edison. After describing the establishment, the machinery, etc., he continues : — Professor Edison was seated at a table near the centre of the room. He looked like anything but a professor, Bnd reminded me ofa boj'-apprentice to an iron-moulder. His hands were grimy with soot and oil; his straight dark ■ hair stood nine ways for Sunday ; his face was entirely beardless, but sadly needed shaving ; his black clothes were seedy, his shirt dirty and collarless, and his shoes ridged with red Jersey mud ; but the fire of genius shone in his keen •grey eyes, and the clean cut nostrils and broad forehead indicated strong mental activity. He seemed to be -always looking- for something of great value, and to be just on the point of "finding it. Unfortunately he is deaf, but this infirmity seems to increase his affability and playful boyishness. A man •of common sense would feel at home with him in a minute ; but a snob or prig would be sadly out ofplace. Though but 31 years old, the occasional gleams ■of a silvery hair tell the story of his application. -The professor -was manipulating a machine upon the table before him. He had something resembling a guttapercha mouth-piece, or speaking-tube, -shoved against a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil, which he turned with a crank. The small end of a tin funnel was clapped over the mouthpiece, and .strange ventriloquial sounds were issuing from it. He shook hands, and pointing to the instrument said : " This is my speaking phonograph. Did you ■ever see it and hear it talk ?" The reply was a negative. Thereupon, he picked up the gutta-percha mouthpiece, saying : "This mouthpiece is simply an artificial diaphragm. Turn it over," suiting the action to the word, " and you see this thin disk of metal at the bottom. Whenever you speak ifi the mouthpiece the vibrations of your voice jar this disk, which, as you see, has in its centre a fine steel point. Now for the other part of the machine. Here is a brass cylinder grooved something like the spirit part of a screw, only much "finer. I wrap a sheet of tinfoil around the cylinder, and shove the mouthpiece up to it so that t-'ie tiny steel point touches the tinfoil ahove one of the grooves. I then turn the cylinder with a crank, and talk into the mouthpiece. The vibrations arouse the disk, and tbe steel point pricks the tinfoil, leaving perforations resembling the old Morse telegraphic alphabet. They are really stereoscopic views of the voice, recording all that is said, with time and intonations. It is a matrix of the words and voice, and can be used until worn out. Now let us re-set the cylinder, so that the steel point may Tun over the holes or alphabet made when he talked in the mouthpiece. The thin metal disk rises, and as the steel point trips from perforation to perforation, opening- the valves of the diaphragm, the words, intonations, and accent are reproduced exactly as spoken. For instance, before you came up I was talking to the instrument, and here is the matrix, or sterescopic view if you please, of what I said," putting his fiDger on the tinfoil, which still remained on the cylinder. " Now I re-set the instrument," sliding the cylinder to the Tight. " Here the steel point starts at the same spot as when I talked through tbe mouthpiece, but its action is now •controlled by the perforated alphabet. It repeats what I 'said. I use this sort of an ear trumpet to bring out the sound, so that you can hear it more distinctly. Listen !" He placed the small end of the funnel over the mouthpiece, shoved the mouthpiece against the cylinder, and turned the crank. The following words chased each other out of the funnel : — Mary had a little lamb, . lte fleece -was white as snow, And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb -was sure to go — to go — to go — 000_.00b.00h — ah 1 Cockadoodle doo— ah ! Tuck — a— tuck — a- - tuck Tuck — ah! tuck — ah! • The cylinder was again set back, and the crank turned very slow. The effect was ludicrous, for the professor had originally pronounced the words with great gravity and dignity, and the drawling way in which the instrument Tepeated them would have made a horse laugh. The cylinder was then turned "very fast, and the words flew out of the funnel so fast that they struck the ear in a confused mass. But a most extraordinary effect was produced when the professor turned the cylinder backward. It said : — Go to sure was lamb the, "Went Mary that everywhere and Snow as white was fleece its, Lamb little a had Mary. All this with profound gravity, as if the fate of the world depended upon the accent qnd pronunciation. Mr Edison then tore off the tinfoil and wrapped a fresh sheet around the cylinder. One of old Mother Goose's rhymes was murmured into the mouthpiece, and its alphabet pricked out by the action of the steel point. The cylinder was then "reset, and the crank turned with the following result : — Hub a dub dub ; Three men in a tub. And what do you think was there ? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick maker, They all jumped out of a rotten potato.

This instrument is so simple in its construction, and its workings so easily understood, that one wonders why il was never before discovered. There is no electricity about it. It can be carried around under a man's arm, and its machinery is not a fiftieth part as intricate as that of a sewing machine. It records all sounds and noises. The Professor blew in at intervals, and the matrix recorded the sound and returned it. He whistled an . air from the " Grande Duchesse," and back it came clare as a file, and in perfect time. He rang a small bell in the funnel. The vibrations were recorded, and, on resetting tbe cylinder, the tiritimiabulatory sounds poured out soft and mellow. Mr Edison coughed, sneezed, and laughed at the mouthpiece, and the matrixes returned the noises true as a die. But most remarkable, the instrument sent back the voices of two men at the same time. To illustrate : Tho Professor, in deep bass voice, recited in t the mouthpiece the first verses of " Bingen on the Rhine." A matrix was obtained, the machine reset, the funnel placed in position, and the crank turned. The words came out as though some tragedian was endeavouring to affect an audience to tears. While the affecting words were pouring out, the Professor shouted into the funnel several petulant exclamations. At the close of the verse, the cylinder and its matrix were reset, and the recitation again came out of the funnel, interruptions and all, as follows : — A soldier of tlie legion lay dying in Algiers. "Oh shut up ! "" '' Oh bag your head ! " There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of "Oh give us a rest!" woman's tears '* Dry up ! " But a comrade stood beside him while his lifeblood ebbed " Oh what are yoa giving us ! " '' Oh cheese ifc ! " away. And bent with pitying glances to hear what ho might "■ Oh you can't recite poetry ! " " Let up ! " say. The dying soldier faltered, as he took that comrade's " Police ! Police ! " " Polics ! " hand, And he said, " I never more shall see my own, my native "Oh put him out ! " " Oil cork yourself ! " land." It is impossible to describe the ludicrousness of the effect. The Professor himself laughed like a boy. The possibilities and capabilities of this remarkable instrument are wonderful. Dolls and toy dogs can be made to recite nursery ballads, and wax figures of notabilities can use the voice and language of their originals. A prominent showman has already taken steps towards the formation of a museum of wax figures similar to Madame Tussaud's in London. All the figures are to speak. Matrixes of the voice and words of a gentleman whose imitations of Edwin Forrest are astonishing* are to be secured and placed in the breast of a wax statue of the great tragedian. The voice and outward appearance of Mr Forrest are to be perfectly copied. " Why," says Mr Edison. '• Adelina Patti can sing her sweetest arias, and by this instrument we can catch and reproduce them exactly as sung. The matrixes can be copied the same as sterescopic views, and -millions sold to those owning; the machine. A man can sit down in bis parlour at night, start his phonograph, and enjoy Patti's singingall the evening if he choses. Tho same with Levy's cornet playing. A matrix of his solos can be produced, and a million copies taken, and Levy's solos i and Patti's arias can be given ten thousand years from now as perfectly and as accurately as when these artists were ! alive. If the last benediction of Pope Pius had been taken by the phonograph, the matrix could have been duplicated, i and every true Roman Catholic on the face of the earth might have heard the -benediction in the Pope's own voice and •accentuation. There was a fortune in it. The matrixes could have been sold at five dollars apiece." " Poor churches in the country," conI tinued the professor, " might have these i machines rigged up over their pulpits, j and by using the proper matrixes, could I have Dr Chapin, Dr Bellows, Beecher, or any other great theological light ex- [ pound to them in their own voices every 1 Sunday. Thus the poor churches would save money, and get rid of the poor preachers. Nor is this all. A man in Europe has invented a machine by which be takes an instantaneous photograph. Let us suppose that he photographs Dr Chapin every second, and we take down his sermon on the matrix ;of the phonograph. The pictures and gestures of the orator, as well as his voice, could be be exactly reproduced and the eyes and ears of the audience charmed by the voice and manner of the speaker. " Whole dramas and operas," continued Mr Edison, his eyes sparkling with excitement, " can be produced in private parlours. The instrument can be used in a thousand ways. Say I" hire a good elocutionist to read * David Copperfield ' or any other work ; his words are taken down by machine, and thousands of matrixes of David Copperfield produced. A man can place them in the machine, and lie in bed, while the novel is read to him by the instrument with the finest grade of feeling and accent. He can make it read' slow or fast, can stop it when he pleases, and go back and begin again at auy chapter he may choose. I could fix a machine in a wall, and the resonations of any conversation in a room could be recorded. Political secrets and the machinations of Wull street pools might be brought to ..light, and the account charged to the devil. Kind parents

could lie in bed and hear all the spooney courtship of their daughters aud lovers. " A man who loved the music of the banjo or the fiddle could buy his matrix and listen to Horace Weston or Molten hauer whenever he liked. He could have the whole of Theodoi*6 i 1 Thomas's orchestra if he wanted it. " To a certain degree," said Mr Edison, " the speaking- phonograph would do away with a phonograph. A man could dictate to the. machine whenever he pleased, turn his machine over to an amanuensis, and let him write it out. A lawyer through the machine might make an argument before a court, even if he had been in his grave a year. An editor or reporter might dictate a column at midnight, and send the machine up to the compositor, who could set the type at the dictation of the machine without a scrap of manuscript. I tellyou there is no limit, to the possibilities of the instrument." At this point in the conversation the professor sat down at his table and hallooed "mad dog!" "mad dog*!" " mad dog !" into the phonograph a half dozen times, and then aroused himself by turning the crank backward. Then he made the instrument tell the old and affecting story of Archibaldas Holden, and lay back and laughed heartily. We asked how soon the phonograph would be thrown on the market. " We expect to offer them for sole within two months," said the professor. " The price of the finest machine will be about lOOdols, but we shall sell inferior ones at a much lower price. The matrixes will be for sale like sheets of music, and can be used upon all machines." One of the remarkable features of the invention is the fact that the diaphragm can be placed in steam whistles and made to talk like a calliope. The captains of ships at sea, miles away from each other, could converse without trouble and correct chronometers. The steam whistles would throw any voice into articulated speech. With a metal diaphragm in the whistle of a locomotive thb engineer could roar out the name of the next statiun in a voice so loud that it could be heard by every passenger on the train and by every man within a distance ot two miles. Placed in a steam fire engine, the chief engineer could talk to every foreman in the department without difficulty, no matter how great the uproar. A machine might be put in the Jersey City railroad depot that would shout "This side for Newark, Elizabeth, Pathway, and New Brunswick ! Train on the left for Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Show your tickets)" " Why," said the professor, " f could put a metal diaphragm in the mouth of the Goddess of Liberty that the Frenchmen are going to put np on Bedlo's Island that would make her talk so loud that she could be heard by every soul on Manhattan Island. I could drop one in a calliope and set it talking so loud that it could be heard miles away. Within two 3*ears you will see it used for advertising purposes. It will be sitting* in the windows of store? on Bi'oadway and other streets si Hiring out, •* Babbitt's best soap,' .' New York Sun, price two cents,' - Brandredth'Pills,' ' Longfellow's Poems,' ' ten cen r s for a shave,' and so on. There is no end to its uses. It will sing songs and j whistle. A man has already made application to use the phonograph iv cabs, so as to record the complaints of pas- j sengers. Tbe Ansonia Clock Company of Connecticut have one in their manufactory this minute, and it. shouts ' twelve o'clock ! ' and ' one o'clock ! ' so loud that it is heard two blocks off. One might be used as an alarm clock. If its owner, wanted to get up at a certain time in the morning, he could set the alarm, and at the appointed hour the machine would scream, 'Halloo, there! five o'clock! what's the matter with you ? Why don't you get up?'" The professor calls the machine applied to steam whistles the airaphone. He is now constructing one to put up in front of his manufactory, and intends to make it talk so that it can he heard for ten miles. He says " Old Bill Allen of Ohio will be nowhere." Several of his speaking phonographs have been sent to England, where they have created 8 profound- sensation. Mr Edison said that he received a cable dispatch on Friday last offering him L3OOO and half the profits for the right to sell the instrument in that country. v How did you discover the principle 1 " asked the waiter. *■' By the merest accident," said the professor, " I was singing to the mouthpiece of a telephone, when tlie vibrations of the voice sent the fine steel, point, into my finger. That sent me to thinking. If [ could record the actions of the point, and send tbe point over the same surface afterward, T saw no reason why the thing would not talk. [ tried the experiment first, on a piece of telegraph paper, and found that the point made an alphabet. I shouted the words "Halloo? halloo?" into the mouth -piece, ran the paper back ever the steel 'point, and heard a faint " halloo ! halloo !" in return. 1 determined to make a machine that would work accurately, and gave my assisiants instructions, telling them what I hart discovered. They laughed at me. I bet fifteen cigars with Adams here,— | (Adams was lying on the table Hsten[ing to the conversation. — Rep.) that

the thing would work the first time without a brake, and won them. I t-et two dollars with the man that made the machine, and won them also. That's. | the whole story. The discovery came ; through the pricking of the finger." Here Mr Edison, in a deep bass tone, shouted in the instrument : — " Nineteen years in the Bastile ! I serateherl a name upon the wall, And the name was "Robert Landry, Parlez vous Frar.cala ? Sihabla Espanol." And the words were repeated, followed by the air of " Old Uncle Ned," which the professor had sung. On being questioned concerning his telephone, the professor said ; " I went to work before Professor Bell. Ehsha Gray turned in at it. and got the first machine. Bell's and mine came out about the same time. The machines different. Bell's is what is called the magneto-telephone, and mine the carbon. Those kerosene lamps that you see smoking yonder are my carbon manufactory. I peel it from the .shades, and press it into my buttons for use in my telephone. Were it not for my deafness, I would have discovered the telephone eight months before. While trying an experiment my deafness led me off on a wrong track, and I was sloshing round on a false scent for months. But f have produced a good instrument. I have whispered into it here at Menlo Park, and been answered in a whisper by Henry Ben tly in the Western Union Office at Philadelphia. — .Baltimore Telegraph.