The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-04-03
TALK.
SPEAKING rnosoaRAru At WORK


SPEAKING PHoNoGRAPH At WORK
From the Philadelphia Times. March
Were the veracious Munchausen
in attendance at IN exhibition which
was given Yesterday Il the Philadel'
mia Local Telegraph Company's Of
Zee. Third aud Chestnut streets, oil
Prof Thomas A. Edison's marvellous
Invention called the speaking phono-
graph. he might have trIumpnantiy
said Il told you so" with reference
"a At least one of his yarns-tbe sto'
nv Of his Journey by post from st
Petersburg during a winter OF un,
common severity. Finding myself
in a narrow lane be narrstes, Il
bade the position give a sigral
with his horn that other travellers
might not meet us in the narrow
passage. He blew with all his
might. but his endeavors were IN
vain be could not make the horn
sound. which was unaccountable aud
rather unfortunate, for oon after we
found another coach coming the 9th
er vay.n After telling how be got
the vehicle and horses around the
obstructing team, by carrying them
under bis arm, one at q time, owe
the fence. through part Of the held,
and then over the fence again, the
conscientious chronicler continues /:
eve arrived at the inn, where my
postillion and l refreshed ourselves.
He hung the horn on a peg near the
kitchen Gre F; ] sat on the other SIDE.
Suddenly we heard a tereng' fereng'
fenqy fengl We looked around and
now found the reason the position
had not been able to sound bis horn ;
his n were frozen in it, and came
out by thawing, plain enough, and
much TO the credit Of the driver, so
that the honest fellow entertained US
for some time with a successful vari-
etv of tunes, without putting bis
mouth to the horn"
Yesterdays exhibition, 10 say the
least. was equally as remarkable as
zoe one described by Baron Nun
cbausen. II demonstrated to The en-
tire satisfaction Of some of Philadel-
piia's most intelligent citizens who
were present by invitation OF NJ.
Henry II. Bentley, president Of the
Local Telegraph Company, that a
person can, 50 to speak, bottle up
anv quantity of his vocal utter
ance. and. at the end Of an indefinite
period of time cause the bottle" to
reproduce it exactly as it original
ly came from his lips.
WHAT THE THING is.
The instrument was operated
sometimes by Mr.. Bently, but prin-
cipslly by Mr.. Adams, a highly in
t%elligent Scotehman, with q strongly
marked Scotch accent in his speech,
who has been for years the assistant
Of Prof Edison in the l~atter's cleo
trical aud other experiments. The
machine occupied no more space than
would a Webster's Unabridged, and
It's construction appears almost as
simple as that Of a housewives coffee
mill. II is a fac smile Of the one
which Professor Edison is now con-
structing, and which is TO have q ca
pacity of forty-eight thousand words.
Mr.. Adams, before the entertain
ment began, thus explained the in
strument "ln this gutta-percha
mouthpiece is very thin diapragm,
made Of tin-type metal. The vibra-
tons of the voice jar the diaphragm,
which has 10 It's centre, underneath,
a fine steel point. Around this brass
cylinder, which you see, is closely
and finely grooyed by a spiral, /
wrap a sheet Of tin foil. ! shove the
moathpieee up until the steel point
touches the tin foil, just above the
first groove on the lefG. Turning the
cylinder with this crank / talk into
the m~outhpiece. The diaphragm vi.
brates, causing the steel point TO per-
forate the tin foil, leaving little holes
of different diameters and resem-
bling the old Morse telegraphie al
phabet. The cylinder moves from
left 10 right until the steel point has
gone over the entire length of the
spiral. Thus we have, as it were, q
stereotype plate Of the voice. From
this plate a matriK in sulphur (the
most desirable substance for the pur-
pose) can performed, and years
from now there can be taken from
that matriK other plates capable of
the same work which you will pres
entity see this one perform.
COMING OUT OF THE BOTTLE"
Now / turn the cylinder back to
the starting place, in order that the
steel point may go over the perfora-
tons which it made when | talked
into the mouthpieee. The steel point,
kept down ty a rubber spring under
meath the diaphragm, trips from hole
to hole, causing the diaphragm to vi
brste as it did when | was talking
into the moGthpiece. This causing q
corresponding opening aud closing OF
the valves of the diaphragm the
words, information and accent are re-
produced with perfect accuracy. Ii
would be impossible for any human
mimic to do it SO well. The small
end OF this tin funnel is fixed in the
mouthpieee to keep the reproduction
from scattering. Now listen. "
Several gentlemen, evidently
supposing that they would not be
able TO hear without having their
ears close to the tunnel, were putting
their heads near the instrafaent, but
Mr.. Adams told them that such a
proceeding was unnecessary. as they
could distinguish the sounds well
enough at a distance.
Mr.. Adams having wrapped q
sheet OF tn foil around the cylinder,
spoke into the EouthpIece in a voice
Of ordinary pitch and time, but with
distinct articulation, meanwhile slow
ly and regularly farming The crank,
the following:
lack and Jfl went up the hih
ro fetcha bucket Of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And JIM came tumbling AFTER.
Having reset the cylinder, and