Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-03-29
A PHONOGRlPH AT WORK.

dueJion OF YoAr speech Can be Made
When NOI Are In Year Grave.
The Philadelphia Times has an article
describing Professor Edison's marvel
Gus phonograph and how it works. We
make the following extract:
The instrument was operated some
times by Mr.. Bentley, but principally by
Mr.. James Adams, the inventors repre-
sentative. Mr.. Adams, highly intelli-
gent Scotchman, with q strongly marked
Scotch accent in his speech, has been for
five years the assistant of Professor
Edison in the latter's electrical and other
experiments. The machine occupied no
more space than would Webster's nm
abridged, and its construction appeared
as simple as that Of housewives coffee
mill. 1t was a fac SiDliLe of one which
Professor Edison is now constructing,
and which is to have a capacity of 4S, 600
words.
Mr.. Adams, before the performance
began, thus explained the instrument:
In this gutta percha mouthpiece is a
very thin diaphragm, made of tin type
metal. The vibrations of the voice jar
the diaphragm, which has in its center,
underneath, fine steel point. Around
this brass cylinder, which, you see, is
closely and finely grooved by spiral, /
wrap sheet OF tinfoil. shove the
mouthpiece up until the steel point
touches the tinfoil, just above the first
groove on the left. Turning the cylin-
der with this crank, l talk into the
mouthpiece. The diaphragm vibrates,
fhn ckoa1 YNaiot 10 ,Nnrfnro -, 7, -,
tinfoil, leaving little holes of different
diameters and resembling the old Morse
Geographic alphabet. The cylinder
moves from left to right until the steel
point has gore over the entire length of
the spiral. Thus we have, as it were,
a stereotyped plate of the voice. From
this plate a matrix in sulphur (the most
desirable substance for the purpose) can
be formed, and years from now there
can be taken from that matrix other
plates capable of the same work which
you will presently see this one perform.
"Now 1 turn the cylinder back to the
starting place in order that the steel
point may go overthe perforations which
it made when 1 talked in the mouth
piece. The steel point, kept down by a
rubber spring underneath the diaphragm
trips from hole to hole, causing the
diaphragm to vibrate as it did when I
was talking into the mouthpiece. This
causing the corresponding opening and
closing of the valves of the diaphragm,
the words, information and accent are re-
produced with perfect accuracy. II
would be impossible for any human
mimic to do it so well. The small end
of this tin funnel is fixed in the mouth
piece to keep the reproduction from scat,
tering. Now listen" Several gentle
men, evidently supposing that they
would not be able to hear without hav.
ing their ears close to the funnel, were
putting their heads near the instrument,
but Mr.. Adams told them that such q
proceeding was unnecessary, as they
could distinguish the sounds well
enough at q distance.
Mr.. Adams, having wrapped a sheet Of
tin foil around the cylinder, spoke intc
the mouthpiece in q voice of ordinary
pitch and time, but with distinct articul
alton, meanwhile slowly and regularly
turning the crank, the following
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To get a bucket Of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Having reset the cylinder and fxet
the funnel in the mouthpiece he turned
the crank and the diaphragm repeated
the rhyme, not only as distinctly as h,
had uttered it, but with so perfect
mimicry of the Scotch accent as to caus,
general outburst of laughter, in which
the genial operator heartily joined.
Causing the steel point to proceed
from the ending of "Jack and Jill" Mr.
Adams again put his mouth to tn
diaphragm and uttered in more varying
tones, which had range from almost
whisper up to screening soprano, tn
following
Halo! Hoop-la Ya-hoo
Nineteen years in the bastile
| scratched my name upon the wall
And that name was Robert Landr-y-y-y,
Pariez vous Francois !? Spreohen sic Deutsch
Turning the crank backward until tn
steel point touched the beginning {
Jack and Gill, he again gave the fol
ward motion. The diaphragm's elocutio
of the rhyme was on this occasion as 200
as before, and the second conglomert
ton of utterance was delivered by th
vibrating metal with all the characte.
1stlcs OF the operators CALCULATIONS an
recitation. For the sake of novelty IL
steel point was now caused to 20 alor
the perforated spiral, while Mr.. Adam
whistled, yelled and shouted all sorts
ridiculous things into the mouth-piec
As result the bit of metal strongly q
fected the risible muscles of the audien,
by something like this -
Jack and Jill vent" Cheese it ~
Up the hill
10 get bucket" o, wipe off your chin ~
OF water.
Jack fell down and " Hello, Young
Broke his crown
Teller, does you're mother know YOU
out?"
Aud jill" Ya-hoo 4! Two bottled myself E,
son ~
Came tumbling after
Halo! hoopla !-"Shut up v-ya-hoo!
go bag your head Nineteen years
the Bastile
"Tm a"-Scratched my name" Jolly Iris
man Upon the wall
And that" From Dublin town | came" -
Name was-"Ha, ha, ha l"-Rob
Landry-v-y.
Parlee vous Francois? 600 hire a hall"
Sprechen sic Deutsch ?-"Go, give us rest
The effect of this was too ludicro
for description, and for a time all han
were uncontrollably merry. Havi
put on and caused the steel point
perforate new sheet of tin foil, aga
speaking "Jack and Jill " into the
strument, Mr.. Adams made the poi
travel backward, and the diaphraq
reproduced the recitation, ,beginni
with the last word, CATER" and endi
with the first word, "Jack." In Il
way the operator amused his audier
for an hour. He became hoarse, but
instrument did not.