A NEW PHONOGRAPH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 346, 18 March 1911, Page 7

A NEW PHONOGRAPH.

The methods for recording sound have readied a higher stage of perfection than those employed for its production. The chief difficulty encountered in the present system of reproducing conversation, and especially music, from phonographic and similar records, is caused by the friction of the needle resting upon the surface of the rapidly revolving disc or cylinder. This introduces a more or less noticeable buzzing or rumbling sound, which interfered materially with the clearness of musi-. cal notes or spoken words. Numerous attempts have been made tc overcome this unpleasant, accompaniment. In none, of the devicehitherto brought forward has complete success been attained, since all involved the factor of friction as the fundnmental means of transmission. In a recent number of the "Deutsche MusiUwcrk-Industrie," a German inventor describes a newly patented instrument, in which friction is completely avoided. It combines the lea :ling elements of the phonograph and the siren. The novel and essential feature is the substitution of a current of compressed air for the needle or stylus of Edison's invention. In a siren, openings of various si'es allow the production of all musical notes with any desired degree of intensity or length. In the new instrument, perforations in the tlis'j of a siren are replaced by tangential incisions cjn. the surface of a large record cylinder. A second perfectly smooth cylinder rests close upon the surface of the first cylinder and revolves in unison with it as the two cylinders are set in movement. A constantly varying succession of minute openings between their surfaces is presented, due to the incisions on the record cvlinder. When a powerful blast of compressed air is directed upon the line of contact between the two cylinders, at such an angle as to be an exact tangent to the surfaces of both, sounds are evoked identically as in the ease of an ordinary siren. It is possible to communicate signals and even words which can be readily heard miles away. It is already evident that, a field of usefulness is open to this new invention as an adjunct to the equipment of sea-gome: vessels. Its availability for musical purposes has not yet been tested sufficiently to determine whether it can successfully vie with the gramophone, phonograph, etc., or even replace them. The cylinders thus far employed are about ten times as large as ordinary phonographic cylinders, and this fact renders the instrument necessarily clumsy. The lequirement of a current of compressed air may also militate against, a wide-spread domestic us r \ although such a cui rent can be supplied by a comparatively inexpensive attachment to a water tap where the watei supply is under considerable pressure.