The New York herald., 1878-09-20
"STOP THAT NOISE"

WHAT PROFESSOR EDISON HAS DONE TO ANA-
LyzE THE SOUNDS PRODUCED pY THE ME-
rnopoLIr.N ELEVATED RAILwAy-FURrHEH
EXPERIMENTS YESTERDAY.
The labor OF Professor Edison behalf of the No
tropoiitan Elevated hallway Company to determine
the various causes OF the noises produced oy 'no
trains in Sixth avenue has been very consderaoie anu
Professor Edison himself thinks that no basno' only
anay the noise, which he declares composite, out
has ascertaincd the exact cause OF each portion Of u.
New, therefore, IL is expected that tho reduction OF
the tho residents along the route VIII be
u comparatively simple thing. The Professor says
that the company will be able to reduce the noise
more Shan aiiy por cent One OF his suggestions TO
the company has already been ANTICIPATED by the
taking up OF the rails on ono track for short dis
tauce, In the neighborhood Of Twcnty-thrd street,
ana rclaying thom over cushicns made OF lead rub
Der and leather
Yesterday, however, tho services OF the "wizard
OF Menlo Park were required for different service,
though OF not dissinilar character As previously
stated, the Grand Jury In session, has been pc
ttoncd to indcs the Metropolitan Company for Gre
atiug a nuisance, the noise being the nuisance CON-
planed OF Professor Edison has, therefore, been
called upon expert TO testify pciore the Grand
Jury the subject. II was for the purpose OF pre-.
paring himself to speak exactly that no yesterday
sent out Mr. Charles Bachelor his principal assist
ant armed with phonautograph, TO take record OF
tie noises produced by different railroad trains on
different roads.
Speaking on the subject TO HERALD reporter Mr..
Foster, OF the Metropolitan Company, said that the
pubic had little idea Of tho efforts the company had
made aud was making to overcome tho noiso. He
,houghtt would be impossible tor the rand Jury to
lind bill OF indictment against thom unless 1t could
be that they had not taken proper precautions
against noise. He claimed that new problem was
presented w the working OF tho now railroad. aud
that the public should not be 80 unreasonable as 70
expect that tho could be overcome at encc.
great deal money had beeh spent and great pains
had taken in Studying to overcome tho trouble,
but tho company wns not satisfied that ~ had hit
upon the best plan yet IL was certain that tho
nose could bo reduced. and equally cor,ain that It
would be, hut the company was not willing 10 go 10
tue expense OF altering It's whole road on any plan
until II was known to be tho best one.
NOVEL PROPOSED.
Iu tho moan time hundreds OF inventors werc pre-
senting plans, each being confident that hts was tho
best. Ouo man, German, insisted that the sole
cause OF the noise the violent and sudden dts
placement OF the air, and wanted sort oil PROV but
seave the air as ship cieavss tho water This was to
be modelled like The bow Of asnp only that tho xecl
should be on top. SO that as much noso as possible
should be thrown upward into the air. This gentle
man. Mr.. Foster said, becoming convinced, ater
about twenty visits 10 inc companys ONCE that he
Seou saying that ms duty TO tho public compel
10 expose, through The medium Of the press, tho
sonaoie plan which would surely do away with tho
noise.
Another man md insisted that all that was needed
lay rails 0! asphalt Asphalt was the greatest
thing going and by making httle troughs which
placing stoe rails win those roughs, tho wheels
would be pund to move over them without any NOISE
He could not be made to see that tho aspaat would At
once give way. Another man wanted The traics 20
through long boxes tunnels out OF which pipes
could placed to conduct the noise into the up-
Hunareas OF sucn absurdities had been patiently
listened TO, and tpe company had gone on
experimenting AS 10 the indictment. Mr.. Foster
thought il could easily DO by the experiments
begun yesterday that the Metropolitan trans MAZE nc
more noise other railroad trains, II much aud
that the roar Of lrafc on Brooaway lar greater
than that ON SIKH avenue.
YESTERDAYS BxPYRIMKxrS
In beginning there experiments Mr. Batcheor, TO.
gether with assistant, wont nrst 10 tne hAcxen.
sack drawbridgs with view 10 getting record OF
the fast trains passing over II In this he
was upsuccessiuI, tor reasons. First, the draw
open neary all the morning, save At br,ei inter-
vs.s o. ana ss ssS o Alter .Ss xreeua
iony he wax compelled 70 take hrs station upon tho
vibrations caused by the passing trains were found 10
be OF twofod nature Inc vibrations OF the air lhat
constituted inc noisc. were all right, and lar
they went satisfactory, though the trains ran
TOO slowly for the expesim:nters parpese. rfolss-
the square OF the increase Of speed, train gong
twice last another making Tour times as much
noise.
Tho other vibrations, however, were inconvenicnt
bciug sharp violent oscillations o The s,nbers OF tho
bridge tscL that thero presonted to Tho view
OF inc reporter (who prudcn,iy stood aiar OH the
strange spectacle OF pnonautograph and two men
jos,lsd up and down an exceeaingy lively way aDd
In uch aiter me manner Of corn in hopper. sitting
on tho timbcrs some difficulty themselves the
TO xcep the Instrument safe at all hszards
ana, az The only available ballast piled portion Of
thc clothing, hastily stripped oil Tor ths purpose
on the phonautograph. The weight OF sho garments
proved insufficient 10 oopnnc the errstic movements
the instrument and Mr. Bachelor preently nvis,ed
hts leg upon and took his records In dneu, and,
Z. must be confessed, somewhat unsr.celai aimude
The result see unsatisfactory, Tor when Mr. Batch
cor had gaxed for time In silence through u
large google At hs tiny, wsvy scs, the reporter ven
turcd 10 ask him wnas he had secured 81 tbink l'll
try m to- morrow IRON boat ne said, at length, and
packed up his Instrument and tIted for Now York
NOTES OK SIXTH AvYSuE.
Under MIR. Fosters guidance the party soon
In seventy nrsI regiment nrmory listening NJ the
windows at tho corner OF Sixth avenue aud Thirty.
sixth street. Here there bctter opportunity Of
watching the experiment First, sheot Of glazed
white pppcr was glued smoothly on the cylinder
cylinder which was Kept rapidly revolving 90 .hat
the paper should not burn. BY this means coating
of iampback was obtained Then the delicate needle
attached to the diaphragm was adjusted so that us
point just touched tho paper This needle was halt
inch length OF nno bristic hardly larger than hair,
fixed on framework OF STRAW at
tschsd to the diaphragm. big paper
tunnel was placed IN front OF the diaphragm,
anSns" na s.%'d =. ss e n sh
curves ana angles, appeared ON tho lamp black and
was graveiy inspected through the google by Mr.
Bachelor, VINO prasently cxprassed his satisfaction
and proceeded TO take moro records which proved
equally satisfactory.
noise. but whom he asked question abeot It was in-
formed that each rccord had 70 Dc studied carefully
under MICROSCOPE before any opinion could be given
The party thon proceeded to take the record Of
OF tho trains on tho Hucson River road, near
Fort Washington, which occupied the rest OF the day.
Mr. Bntcheior is to consnue the experiments to-oay,
and Edison expected TO DO abio to testify before
the Grand Jury within tow days.