The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-11-07
A New Telephone Wonder.

wondrous very much blunted during
the past year or two by the rapid in
PRODUCTION of telephones and agra
phones, microphones, Photographs
and the like, so that if the announce
ment were to be made that Pro-
fessor Somebody had devised a
plan by which person could make
= trip between Philadelphia and
Liverpool in twenty-four hours the pub
lie would only be surprised, not aston
i,hed. 1t certainly seems marvellous
enough to say that there has been dis
covered way in which persons may
sit in their own homes and listen to
sermons, concerts or lectures going on
in churches or halls miles distant, and
but a brief time ago such a statement
would have been regarded with incre-
dulity; to-day it simply evokes the re-
mark, :" l thought they'd get up some
thing like that
A device which makes such trans
mission feasible has been introduced
by Mr.. Henry Bentley, the well-known
Philadelphia electrician, who first
brought into notice the celebrated Edi-
son telephone. To an Inquirer report
er Mr.. Bentley kindly exhibited and
explained his invention yesterday, one
of the instruments being in practical
operation in his office. Standing near
a small continuance, which is not large
enough to attract casual notice, one
hears the hum of conversation. the
strain of a grand organ. and then a
voice easily distinguishable as that of a
favorite singer, followed by the perform
nance of an orchestra and then by ap-
plause, all quite audible, but with a
distant sort of effect, and he need
scarcely be told, if he has ever been
there, that he is listening to what is
going on in the Permanent Exhibition,
though standing in an Office at Third
and Chestnut streets.
"The distinguishing feature of the
invention" said Mr.. Bentley, g lis that
which enables me to use the Leclanche
or the carbon battery on the carbon
phone"
Reporter-Do you secure an increase
of power by your device?
Mr.. Bentley-Oh, yes. Great as the
power of the telephone now is, this in
vention increases it so per cent. over
what can be obtained by the use of any
other battery.
Mr.. Bentley explained that hereto
fore it was found impossible to utilize
the Leclanche or carbon batteries, as
they were exhausted quickly when in
use. His invention consists of a simple
but ingenious mechanical arrangement
by which the battery is automatically
opened and closed on the inductive coil
when the instrument is used. Many of
the new instruments are now being
made, and arrangements are in prog
ress to test their power. Transmitters
will be probably placed in front of a
lecturer at the Academy of Music dur
ing some of the Star Course entertain
ments, and wires carried to German
town, Chestnut Hill, FRANKFORT, Cam
den and other distant points. at which,
Mr.. Bentley has no doubt, the speaker
will be plainly heard by those stationed
there, without the audience at the
Academy being aware Of any change
in the manner of the lecturer. He
thinks, with the telephone thus per-
fected, its usefulness will cause its in
PRODUCTION to be very extensive.
Mr.. Bentley said that it would be
practicable to place transmitter in
front of clergyman, and to SO locate
it in the pulpit that the apparatus
would be scarcely, if at all, visible to
the congregation, and that the sermon
preached from that pulpit could be dis
tinctly heard in as many different
houses miles distant as wires were run
to and from il. In this way confirmed
invalids could enjoy pleasure never
before placed within the reach of that
class. cit was through a desire to
crafty an invalid" said Mr.. Bentley,
HThat one of the most wonderful feats
ever accomplished in telegraphy was
recently performed. Prof Henry,
shortly before his death, expressed a
great desire to hear the telephone
..Prof. Barker, of the University,
took down couple of telephones which
selected, and they were set up in
Prof. Henry's room, in the Smithsonian
Institute. The wires were run over
the switchboards in the Western Union
Offices at Washington, Baltimore and
Philadelphia, and, Notwithstanding the
multiplicity of telegraph wires between
those points (the connection for the
telephones having to be run with the
cables under the Bush, Gunpowder and
Susquehanna Rivers), held CONVERSE
ton for half an hour with the late Prof.
Henry, he being in his room and [
think confined to his bed at the time in
the Smithsonian Institute, and l here
ut Third and Chestnut streets. "~=PhiL-
tzdelphia Inquirer. -.
.-Therp isn't, says q mis0gynast,
a,ncb difpFehce between . grssssw,,iidow