The Lake County star., 1877-11-29

TONES OF THE HUMAN VOICE RE-
\ PRODUCED YEARS AFTER DEATH
The MOsT WONDERFUL INVENTION
OF THE PRESENT AGE.

"
The MOsT WONDERFUL INVENTION
OF THE PRESENT AGE.
The Scientific American contains
the first announcement of what may
be the most wonderful invention of
the day.
Nothing could be more incredible
than the likelihood of once more hear
ing the voice of the dead, yet the in
ventiOn of the new instrument Is said
to render this possible hereafter. 1t is
true that the voices are stilled, but
whoever has spoken or whoever may
speak into the mouth-piece of the
phOnOgraph, and whose words are
recorded by 1t, has the assurance that
his speech may be reproduced audibly
in his own tones long after he himself
has turned to dust. A strip of indent-
ed paper travels through q little ma
chine, the sounds of the latter are mag
nified, and p0sterity centuries hence
hear us rs plainly as If we were pres
ent. Speech has become, as 1t were,
immortal. The Scientific American
says:
The possibilities of the future are
not much more wonderful than those
of the present. The orator in Boston
speaks, the indented strip Of paper is
the tangible result; but this travels
under q second machine, which may
connect with the telephone. Not only
Is the speaker heard now In San Fran
cisco, for example, but by passing the
strip again under the reproducer, he
may be heard tomorrow, or next year,
or next century. His speech in the
first instance Is recorded and transmit
m nd ot IN 70 m m a
repetition is possible.
The new Invention Is purely me-,
chanical-nO electricity is involved.
1t is a simple affair of vibrating plates.
thrown into vibration by the human
voice. 1t Is crude, yet, but the princi-
pie has been found, and notifications
and improvements are only matter
of time. So, also, are its possibilities,
other than those already noted. Will
letter writing be u proceeding of the
past? Why not, If by simply talking
into mouthpiece our speech is record
ell on paper, and our correspondent
can by the same paper hear us speak =?
Are we to have Q new kind of books I?
There Is no reason why the orations
of our modern Ciceros should not be
recorded and detachably bound SO
that we can run the indented slips
through the machine, and in the quiet
of our own apartments listen again,
and rs often as we will, to the eloquent
words. Nor are we restricted to spok-
en- words. Music may be crystallized
as well. Imagine an opera or an ora
tOria, sung by the greatest vocalists,
thus recorded, and capable Of being
repeated as we desire.
A description of the phonOgraph is
contained In the following letter.
To the Editor of the Scientific American:
In your journal of November Sd.
page 273, you made the announcement
that DR.. Rosapelly and Prof. Mary
have succeeded in graphically record
ing the movements of the lips, of the
veil of the palate, and the vibrations
of the larynx, and you prophesy
that this, among other important re-
suits, may lead to the application of
electricity for the purpose of transfer
ring those records to distant points by
wire.
Was this prophecy an intuition
Not only has 1t been filled to the letter,
but still more marvellous results achiev-
ed by Mr.. Thomas A. Edison, the re-
nowned electrician of New Jersey, who
has kindly permitted me TO make pub
|
operdndi. Mr.. Edison, in the course
of u series of extended experiments i'm
the production of his speaking tele-
phone, lately perfected, conceived the
highly bold and original idea of re-
cording the human voice upon strip
of paper, from which at any subsequent
time 1t might be automatically re-de-
livered with all the vocal characteris-
tics of the original speaker accurately
reproduced. A speech delivered into
the mouthpiece of this apparatus may
fifty years hence-long after the ORR
ginal speaker Is .dead-be reproduced
audibly to an audience with sufficient
fidelity to make the voice easily re-
cognizable by those who were familiar
with the original. AS yet the appar
atus Is crude, but Is characterized by
that wonderful simplicity which seems
to be q trait of all great invention or
discovery. .
OF course Mr.. Edison at this stage of
the invention, finds some difficulty In
reproducing the finer articulatiOns, but
he il quite Justified, by the results OBJ
tanned from his first crude efforts, in
his prediction that he will have the
apparatus I'm practical operation with
In o year. He has already applied the
principle Of his speaking telephone,
thereby causing an electro-magnet to
operate the indenting diaphragm, and
will undoubtedly be able to transmit a
speech, made upon the floor of the
Senate, from Washington to New
York, record the same In New York
automatically, and by means of speak
ing telephones re-deliver It In the
editorial ear Of every newspaper In
New York. In view Of the practical
inventions already contributed by Mr..
Edison, is there anyone who Is pre-
pared to gainsay this prediction?
| for one, am satisfied It will be fulfilled,
| and that, too, at an early date.
EDWARD III. JOHNSON.
Electrician