The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-11-17
BEATS THE rELEpHoNE,

The Scientific dmertcdn of Nov. 9TH con.
tains an announcement and illustrated descrip
ton of what may be called the most wonder
full invention of the age. 1t is called the "phon-
ograph," and its object is TO 50 take down the
tones of the human voice that they can be re-
produced years after the speakers death. Thus
the speech OF q great orator can not only be
literally reproduced word for word and sylla-
bic by syllable, but every word and syllable
can be reproduced in exactly the tones and IN
Elections of the voice in which ii was uttered
Il day or Il hundred years after its utterance!
The most wonderful part about the instrument
is its extreme simplicity 1t is purely mech
anical, involving no electricity, but simple
affair of vibrating plates, thrown into vibration
BIZ the human voice 1t is difficult TO describe
/ it without the diagrams, but the following, by
close attention, will bring out the idea:
! Imagine speaking tube, provided with Il
mouthpiece and al the other end of il II metal.
| he diaphragm which responds powerfully to
| the vibrations of the VOICE. In the center OF
the diaphragm is secured chisel shaped
point Beneath this point is Il cylinder or
drum, rcvolved by clockwork and serves 10
carry forward continuous tillet of paper, hay.
ing throughout its length and exactly in the
center Il raised N-shaped boss, such as would
be made by passing lillet Of paper through a
Morse register with the lever constantly de
pressed. The chiscl point attached to the dia
phragm rests upon the sharp edge of the raised
boss If now the paper be drawn rapidly
along, all the movements ofthe diaphragm will
be recorded by the lndentaton of the chise
Ipoint into the delicate boSs-it, having no sup
port underneath, is very easily indented; to &c
, this, little or no power is required to operate
: the chisel The tones Of small amplitude will
be recorded by slight ndcntations, and thosC
of full amplitude by deep ones, This file
of paper thus receives a record Of the vocal Vi
. bratiOns or air waves from the movement o.
the diaphragm; and if it can be made to con
,, tribute the same motion TO second diaphragm
we shall not only see that we have a record OF
the words, but shall have them re-spoken anC
} if that second diaphragm be that Of the trans
mitter of speaking telephone, we shall have
the still more marvellous performance Of hav
ing them respoken and transmitted by wire a
' the same time to Il distant point
4 The Scientific -lRericdn adds, "The inven
Ition is crude yet, but the principle has becl
t found, and notifications and improvement
+ are only matter of time. SO also are its pos
y sibilites other than those already noted. vii
| lctter-writing be thing of the past? VIII.
. not, if by simply talking into mouthpiec'
! our speech is recorded on paper, and our col
G respondent can by the same paper hear Il
! speak? Are we to have new kind of books
| There is no reason why the orations of on
c modern Ciceros should not be recorded an'
l. detachably bound so that we can run the in
dented slips through the machine, and in tn
/ quiet of our own apartments listen again, ant
j as often as We WILL to the eloquent words
Music may be crystallzed as well. Imagin
an opera or an oratorio sung by the creates
/. living vocalists, thus recorded, and capable o
-. being repeated as we desire"