Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-03-08
A MARVELLOUS DISCOVERY.

MARVELLOUS DISCOVERY.
The wonders of the Speaking PhOnO-
graph,
The writer visited Menlo Park, N. j.,
on Saturday to chat with Prof. Thomas
A. Edison. This gentleman is the in
ventor of the automatic telegraph, quad
ruplex and sextuplex dispatches, the
carbon telephone, the stock indicator,
the electric pen, the ariphone, the mar
velous speaking phonograph, and a
score or more of similar machines. He
is also the discoverer of the electro
monograph, by which dispatches may
be telegraphed without magnetism.
Scientific men regard it as his greatest
discovery, and predict that it will some
day prove of immense value.
Mr.. Edison's manufactory is long,
wooden structure, something like an
old-fashioned tabernacle Nine light
ming rods pierce the sky above it. A
dozen telegraph wires are led into it by
sentry-like holes connecting with the
main line along the railroad. The front
doors open directly into the office. The
writer entered. A man sat at table
studying mechanical drawing. An
inquiry for Mr.. Edison drew from him
the words: $50 right upstairs, and
you will find him singing into some in
strument."
The stairs were climbed and the writer
stepped into long room forming the
second story. 1t was an immense labora-
tory, filled with electric instruments.
A thousand jars of chemicals were
ranged against the walls. The western
end of the apartment was occupied by
telephones and other instruments. and
there was small organ in the south
western corner.
Prof. Edison was seated at table
near the center of the room. He looked
like anything but professor and re-
minded me of boy apprenticed to an
iron molder His hands were grimy
with SCOT and oil; his straight, dark
hair stood nine ways for Sunday; his
face was entirely beardless; his black
clothes were seedy, his shirt collarleSS
and his shoes ridged with red Jersey
mud; but the fire of genius shone in his
keen gray eyes, and the clean-cut nos
trils and broad forehead indicated
strong mental activity. Unfortunately
he is quite deaf A man of common
sense would feel at home with him in a
minute; but mob or prig would be
would be sadly out of place. Though
but thirty-one years old, the occasional
CLEAN of silvery hair tells the story
of his application.
The professor was manipulating a
machine upon the table before him. He
had something resembling a gutta-per-
cha mouthpiece of speaking tube
showed against a cylinder wrapped in
tinfoil, which he turned with a crank.
The end of a tin funnel was clapped
over the mouthpiecc, and strange ven
trilOquial sounds were issuing from it.
He shook hands and, pointing to the in
strument, said: This is my speaking
phonograph. Did you ever see it and
hear it talkP"
The reply was a negative. Thereup-
on he picked up the gutta-percha
mouthpiece, saying; This mouthpiece
is simply an artificial diaphragm. Turn
it over" suiting the action to the word,
and you see this thin disk of metal at
the bottom. Whenever you speak in
the mouthpiece the vibrations of your
voice jar this disk, which, as you see,
has in its center a fine steel point. Now
for the other part of the machine. Here
is brass cylinder grooved something
like the spiral part of screw, only
much finer. / wrap a sheet of tinfoil
around the cylinder, and shove the
mouthpiece up to it so that the tiny steel
point touches the tinfoil above one of
the grooves. / then turn the cylinder
with crank and talk into the mouth
piece. The vibrations arouse the disk,
and the steel point pricks the tinfoil,
leaving perforations resembling the old
Morse telegraphic alphabet. They are
really stereoscopic views of the voice,
recording all that is said, with time and
intonations. It's matrix of the words
and voice, and can be used until worn
out. Now let 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 as the steel point trips
from perforation to perforation, open
ing the valves of the diaphragm, the
words, intonation and accent are repro
duced exactly as spoken. For instance,
before you came up, was talking to
the instrument, and here is the matrix
or stereoscopic view, if you please, of
what l said" putting his finger on the
tinfoil which still remained on the cyl
inder. "Now / reset the instrument" I"
sliding the cylinder to the right. "Here
the steel point starts at the same spot
as when talked through the mouth
piece, but its action is now controlled
by the perforated alphabet. 1t repeats
what | said. use this sort of an ear
trumpet 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, and 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
Ooh ooh ooh--ah
CockadOodle doo-ahl
Tuck-a-tuck-a-tue
Tuck-ahl tuck--ah
The cylinder was again set back, and
the crank turned very slow. The effect
was ludicrous, for the professor had
originally pronounced the words with
gCsaI gravity and dignity, and the