Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1874-08-06
TERMS ron TIE nAILT HERALD.
4 Marvellous Di>COvcry-A Piano or
Violin Play eai One IhOW>nMd Miles
Away.

From the New York Times.
About two months ago Mr. Elisha Gray OF
Chicago. Il gentleman we'll known in the
electric telegraph world as a maker and in
vcntOr of some of the most valuable inStru-
mcnts now in use. conceived an idea which
would be an extraordinary development OF
,clegraphic science if he could only succeed
III practically demonstrating it. Short as
has been the lapse of time since he first be-
gan his experiments. lie has succeeded al
most beyond his own anticipationS in perfect
ing an instrument that will convey sound by
electricity over an unbrokcn current of extra
ordinary lcngth-that is. without the aid Of
automatic rcpcaters. In the ordinary trans
mission of messages over the telegraph wires
to points at long distances, a message is gen.
orally repeated by notwithstanding instru-
ments about every 500 miles. in order to re-
new the current of electricity. Mr.. Gray
has already transmitted sounds which are
distinctly audible at the receiving point over
an unbrOkcn circuit of !, 400 miles. This is.
more properly speaking, discovery-not an
invention. The invention merely consists III
adapting certain appliances to the discovery
for the purposes OF ITS pracucai nl"s'ra''",'
1t is one of the greatest discoveries made
since the early days of Morse. Such noted
electricians as Mr. George Prescott say this
discovery Of Mr.. Gray only goes to prove,
what all electricians lave long agreed upon,
that we know little at present of the possibii-
tiles of the future of electric science. Mr..
Chandler says he regards it as the first step
towards the doing away with manipulating
instruments altogether, and that he believes
that in time the operators will transmit the
sound of their own voice over the wires, and
talk with one another instead of telegraphing.
The writer has seen this novel instrument at
mclodeon or piano key board. transmitted
through an unbrokcn current Of 2,40O miles,
and reproduced on violin attached to the
receiving end of the wire. Mr.. Gray played
'lIai Columbia, ''I'hc Star Spanglcd Ban
ncr. ''God Save the Queen. Yankee
Doodle" and other wcll-knOwn airs, and
they were Enthusiastically repeated, note for
note, on the violin which lay on table near
Il; hand. Even an accidental false note was
Immediately detected on the violin. MIR.
Gray exhibited many other experiments with
tin cans, small paperdrums, etc. which were
attached TO the receiving end Of the wire i'll
place OF the violin. The paper drum gave
To the musical sounds just that peculiar buZ-
zing twang which is produced by boys plac-
ing piece of thin paper over hair comb
and then blowing on it. Where this will all
lead to or where it will all end is one of the
most extraordinary problems of the day. The
apparatus by which this extraordinary feat
by Mr. Gray the Telephone, or an instrument
designed for the purpose of transmitting
sound to a distance. 1t consists Of three
general parts first, the transmitting instrtl-
ment: second, the conducting wire running TO
"A distant point: and third, the apparatus for
receiving the sound ut that distant point.
The transmitting apparatus consists OF key
board having a number of electromagnetic
corresponding with the number OF keys on
the board, to which are attached vibrating
tongues or reeds, tuned to 4 musical scale.
Any one Of these tongues can bc separately
sci in motion by depressing the key CORES
ponding TO it. Thus the tune may be played
by manipulating the keys III the same way as
those of All ordinary piano or melodeon.
The music, produced entirely by electricity,
of these notes is so distinctly audible III the
next room that, in spite Of much talking,
there is no difficulty in determining what tune
the manipulation is playing. To this trans
mttinS instrument the conducting wire is at
tachcd. the other end being attached to the
receiving apparatus, which may be anything
that is sonOrOus SO long as it is i'll some de-
gree Il conductor of electricity. violin
with q thin strip Of metal stretched between
the strings III a point where the bridge of the
instrument is ordinarily placed will, on re-
cciying he sound transmitted through the
conducting wire from the piano, give out a
tone very similar III quality to that of an Or
dinary violin. If then the metallic strip is
. electrically connected with Il wire, say, 500
or 1000 miles long, which has its distant end
properly connected with the transmitting in
strument, any one at the receiving end can
distinctly hear, without the aid Of electro
ntacnN f1n N,,vNn s,sV SovN 10 n
played 800 or 1000 miles away from him, if
he properly manipulate the receiving arpara-
tus. The length Of the wire connecting the
transmitting with the receiving apparatus
may bc one mile or 10000 miles, provided
that the insulation is sufficiently good to pre.