The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-06-20
The Simple Wonders of the PbOnO.
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Of late years; no invention has beef
looked upon as truly wonderful which
did Hot ID s0me nay utilize electricity:
No heT wotk c5uld Be, Tfoisht with Ejat
the aid Of this subtle huid i; bit With il
all things could be done. The phono;
graph is certainly an exception to this
rule. In its simple mechanism no wires
are coiled; behind its unique makeup
no galvanic battery Is masked. 1t con.
tents itself with playing battledbof and
shuttlecock with the simplest acoustic
waves of the air, and moves only with
vibrations of sound. The supposition,
therefore, that there is aught of mystery
or conjury about the talking machine
is altogether at error. A careful perusal
of Edison's own description of this in
vention, and a most interesting and in-
structive conversation with Col. George
W. Rains, at his laboratory in the Medi-
cal College, enable Chronicle and Con-
sttt,ltionalist reporter to enlighten our
readers this morning upoh a very i'm
portant subject. Colonel Rains, as Usual,
was ready to give the public his views
upon scientific matters, and we only wish
that our photograph had been present
to take down his most interesting re-
marks:
The construction of the machine is
simplicity itself. Around the groyed
cylinder is fitted smooth sheet of tin
foil, upon which a spring presses the
sharp point of the needle, making the
grove in the tin-foil about half the depth
of the thread in the cylinder. This,
then, is the normal plane ofthe needles
point. Now, sound is nothing but air in
motion, and when, by speaking over the
diaphragm, the disk is made to vibrate,
the drumhead strikes the needle, which
punctures the foil and springs back into
its normal plane, until another sound is
made; and so on to the, completion of
the sentence. Of course, the cylinder is
turning, and presents new surface to
each indentation. Obviously, then, two
important properties of the machine are
here utilized. First, that the Vibrating
plate is capable of receiving complex
motion which correctly represents the
peculiar property of each and all the null
tifarious vocal and other sound waves.
Second, that such complex movements
can be transmitted from this plate by
means of single embossing point at
tached thereto, to effect a record upon
plastic material by indentations, with
such fidelity as to give these indentations
the same varied and complex form.
This done and we have caught the sound
and photographed it upon sheets of
paper, giving, as has been frequently as
serted, stereoscopic views of the voice.
With moderate degree of intensity,
therefore, every shade of sound, variety
of intonation, peculiarly of brogue, and
distinctness of enunciation can be caught
by the vibrating plate and punctured
upon the sliding sheets below 1.-THE
trembling pathoS of a prayer, the murmer
of sigh, the wall of despair, the wild
shout of delight or the ringing quavers
of the voice, as they ride the swift oc-
taves of song. Having once caught the
sound it is the simplest and yet the most
wonderful process to
GEL IL bACh.
Charge q jar with electricity and it
holds the subtle fluid within its fold un.
til some touch of foreign substance brings
it back again; arm the clouds with the
lightning's bolt and it bears within its
dusky bosom the fiery darts until some
conductor invites it from the thunder's
home; hard within its knarled sinews
steals the oak the sunlight's rays, decays
and is buried in the ground, but retains
the heat to give it out in the form of coal
upon the hearth; or in the diamonds
shape to surrender the light pent up; but
can the self-same sound, as spoken by
the human voice, in all compass, depth
and sweetness, be extracted from this
crude instrument? Most undeniably 80.
For actual experiment shows that this
embossing point, upon being passed over
the record thus made, follows it with
such fidelity as to re-transmit 10 the disk
the same variety of movement, and thus
effects restoration or reproduction of
the vocal or other sound waves, without
the loss of any property essential to pro-
ducing upon the ear the same sensations
as if coming direct from the original
source. For example, the sounds of the
letter "a" vibrate the plate and cause a
certain puncture to be made. Reverse
the instrument now and let the needle
fall into that same puncture, will it not,
upon recoiling, vibrate the disk in a cor
responding manner to the original yibra-
ton. and will not like sound of the let
ter "a" be produced? 1t will, and the
phonograph itself is but striking dem
onstration of this theory, which is both
plausible and practically correct. Such,
then, is the Phonogrtaph, and nothing
could be simpler. An examination OF
the sheets of tin-foil, upon which the
punctures are made, reveals a series of
indentations somewhat similar to Morse's
telegraphic alphabet upon ribbon roll,
but microscopic examination shows that
they are indentatioas of complex char
acter; the sound of "a" in "bat," for in
stance, producing three indentations-a
deep one for the primary sound, light
puncture, followed by slightly deeper
one for the secondary sounds. So it
seems that the needle on the return trip
makes variety of hops, skips and jumps
in order to reproduce the sound which it
fixed upon the tin-foil sheets.
BY the aid of electro magnets, the vi.
bration of metallic plates will be increased
and the sound, which is now feeble and
metallic in tone, will be greatly intensi-
fed. Having satisfied himself as to his
ability to magnify sound, Mr.. Edison is
now perfecting the quality of that sound,
so that the human voice will be exactly
duplicated in tone and infexion.
ITS USE AND INFLUENCE.
Upon the use which the phonograph
may be put to, speculation is rife and
imagination simply rampant. Col. Rains
says that its value is inestimable, and is
universally recognized as such by mod
ern scientists. He suggested that ere
long the Professors at the Medical Col
lege might deliver their lectures in the
private laboratories, simply addressing
their instruments, and by placing the in
struments in the College lecture halls,
order Mr.. Rich, the Janitor, to call in