Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-03-29
THE MOEDER OF THE AGE.

&C., &C., &c.
Prof. Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park
N. j., is the inventor of the automatic
telegraph, quadruplex and sextuplex de
spatches, the carbon telephone, the stock
indicator, the electric pen, the airaphone,
the marvellous speaking photograph, and
score or more Of similar machines. He
graph, by which dispatches may be tele-
graphed without magnetism. Scientific
men regard it az his greatest discovery,
and predict that it will some day prove of
i'm mense value. On Saturday week a re-
porter of the n. Y. "Sun'' visited his la
boratory, and writes the following descrip-
tion of his last and greatest invention, the
speaking phonograph:
Prof. Edison was seated at table near
the centre of the room. He looked like
anything but professor, and reminded
me OF a boy apprentice to an iron moulder.
His hands were grimy with SCOT and oil;
his straight, dark hair stood nine ways for
Sunday; his face was entirely beardless,
but sadly needed shaving; his black clothes
were seedy, his shirt dirty and collarless,
and his shoes ridged with red Jersey mud;
but the fire of genius shone in his keen
gray eyes, and the clean cut noStrilS and
broad forehead indicated strong mental
activity. He seems to be always looking
for something of great value, and to be
just on the point of finding it. Unfortu-
nately he is quite deaf, but this infirmity
seems to increase his affability and playful
bOyiShness. A man Of common sense
would feel at home with him III minute;
but mob or prig would be sadly out Of
place. Though but 81 years old, the oc
casional CLEAN of silvery hair tells the
story of his application.
The Professor was manipulating a ma
chine upon the table before him. He had
something resembling a gutta-p ercha
mouthpiece of a speaking-tub showed
against a cylinder wrapped in tinfOil,
which is turned with crank. The small
end of a tin funnel was clapped over the
mouthpiece, and strange ventriLoquial
sounds were issuing from it. He shook
hands, and pointing to the instrument
said: '1This is my speaking monograph.
Did you ever see it and hear it talk?''
The reply was negative. Thereupon,
he picked up the gutta percha mouthpiece,
saying, "This mouthpiece is simply an ar
Ciicial diaphragm. Turn it over,'' suiting
the action to the word, land you see this
Ulllu ulSk VI DOUd1 ctU buO UOOCOul. w
ever you speak in the mouthpiece the vi
brations of your voice jar this disk, which,
as you see, has in its centre fine steel
point. Now for the other part of the ma
chine! Here is a brass cylinder grooved
something like the spiral part of screw.
| only much finer. / wrap d sheet of tinfoil
around the cylinder, and shove the mouth
piece up to it so that the tiny steel point
| touches the tinfoil above one Of
the grooves. I then turn the cylinder with
crank, and talk into the mouthpiece.
| The vibrations arouse the disk, and he
steel point pricks the tinfoil, leaving per-
forations resembling the old Morse tele-
| graphic alphabet. They are really stereos-
copic views of the voice, recording all that
| is said with time and imtonations. 1t is
matrix of the words and voice. and can
be used until worn out. Now lei us reset
the cylinder, so that the steel point may
run over the holes or alphabet made when
we talked in the mouthpiece. The thin,
| metal disk rises and and as the steel point
trips from perforati0n to perforatiOn, open
| ing the valves of the diaphragm, the words.
| intonation, and accent are reproduced
exactly as spoken. For instance before
you came up, was talking to the instru-
ment, and here is the matrix or Stereos-
copic view, if you please, of what | said y
| putting HIS uuSoI Ou Uuo tullVl WiliCil SJfll
remained on the cylinder. NOW | reset
the instrument, sliding the cylinder to
the right. Here the steel point starts at
the same spot as when talked through the
mouthpiece, hut it's action is now con-
trolled by the perforated alphabet. Il re-
peats What l said. | use this sort of an ear
| tlumpet to bring out the sound, so that
you can hear it more distinctly. Listen. :"
He placed the small end of the funnel
over the mouthpiece showed the mouth-
piece against the cylinder, AID turned the
crank. The following words chased each
other out of the funnel:
| Mary had little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
| And everywhere that Mary Went
| The lamb was sure TO go-tO gO-tO go
Cockadoodle doo-ah!
Tuck-a-tuck-a-tuck
| Tuck-ah. tuck-ah!
The cylinder Was again set back, and
the crank turned very slow. The effect
was ludicrous, for the Professor had orig
inally pronounced the words with great
gravity and dignity, and the drawing way
| in which the instrument repeated them
would have made a horse laugh. The
cylinder was then turned very fast, and
the words flew out Of the funnel so fast
that they struck the ear in a confused ma S.
But most extraordinary effect was pro-
,luced wnen the Professor turned the CYL
inder back ward. 1t said:
| GOto sure was lamb the,
| Went Mary that everywhere and,
| Snow as white was fleece its,
l. Lamb little had Mary.
All this will profound gravity, as it the
fate of the world depended upon the accent
and pronunciation. MI. Edison then
tore off the tinfoil and wrapped a fresh
sheet around the cylinder. One of old
Mother Goose's rhymes was murmuled i'll
to the mouthpiece, and its alphabet prick.
ed out by the action of the st ell point
The cylinder was then reset, and the crank
turned, with the following result:
Rub dub dub,
| Three men in a tub,
And who do you think WAS there?
The butcher, the baker,
| The candleStick maker,
| They all jumped out of a rotten potato.
The instrument is so simple in its con-
struction, and its workings SO easily un-
derStOOd, that one wonders why it was
never before discovered. There is no cleo.
tricity about it. 1t can be carried around
under mans arm, and it's machinery is
not fftieth part as intricate as that of a
sewing machine. 1t records all sounds
and noises. The Professor blew in it al
intervals, and the matrix recorded the
sound and returned it. He whistled az
air from the ssGrande Duchesse,' ano
back it came clear as a fife. and in perfect
time. He rang small bell in the funnel
The vibrations were recorded, and, on re-
setting the cylinder, the tintinnab ulatory
sounds poured out soft and mellow. Mr.
Edison coughed, sneezed, and laughed at
the mouthpiece, and the matrixes return
ed the noises true as die But, most re-
markable, the instrument sent back the
voices of two men at the same time. To
illustrate, The Professor in a deep bass
voice, recited in the mouthpiece the first
verse Of ''Bingen on the Rhine" A mat
rix was obtained, the machine reset, the
funnel placed in position, and the. crank
turned. The words came out as though
some tragedian was eDdeavOrlng to affect
| ,ud;onoa tn tnare