AT WORD OF COMMAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 678, 1 June 1929, Page 11 (Supplement)

AT WORD OF COMMAND

TRAIN THAT OBEYS ORDERS CONTROLLED BY VOICE A toy electric train that will stop, go’, or even back up upon receiving verbal orders, has been realised in a voice-controlled train developed by the General Electric Company of New York. “Casey Jones,” the toy electric locomotive, starts forward, reverses or stops at the instant it is given the command, and, provided the orders are properly worded, it never makes a mistake. Orders are issued through the ordinary telephone transmitter, and the action of the train is dependent upon the voice impulses. The command ‘go ahead, Casey,” carried through a radio detector to a special selector which determines the polarity in the track. Upon this polarity depends the direction in which the locomotive moves. Three or more syllables operate the relay and the selector to provide forward movement. A two-syllable order such as “Back up” sends the engine forward; and one syllable, as “Stop,” breaks the circuit and causes “Casey” |to stop. By removing the transmitter from the mouth, the opertor may carry on considerable chatter without affecting the operation of the train. ' The transmitter is particularly sensitive to sibilants. By blowing into the transmitter the operator is able to check the engine at any point. If the toy locomotive with an electric headlight is made to pass a lightsensitive photoelectric tube, each round trip of the locomotive is recorded on a counter that is similar to the one in use in the Hudson Tube, New York, for counting automobile traffic. The apparatus used in the voicecontrolled train has many possible practical applications in addition to ; its fascinating possibilities as a toy. By the use of this development the householder may command the furnace to open, using a telephone at his bedside. Elevators may be vocally controlled, provided the correct formui lae of one, two or three syllables are 1 used.