The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-10-26
The Microphone.

The wonders that lie concealed in the micro
phone are being gradually developed, as improve
ments, suggested By experiment, are made. The
application of carbon points and blocks for the
reception and increase of sound seems to be the
greatest advance for these purposes that has So
far been accomplished. The fact is established
that this instrument is not q mere scientific toy;
and We may reasonably anticipate that the time
is near nj hand when the microphone will be re-
garded as great 4 social and commercial necessity
as the electric telegraph now Is. Scientists, in
various quarters, are applying their minds to
perfecting this instrument, but We are inclined
to think Edison viii be the first to succeed in
developing all its powers. as be was the first to
introduce the telephone (the forerunner of the
microphone) to the knowledge of the scientific
world.
Amongst other gentlemen who are engaged in
the work Of making improvements upon this in
strument, q Mr.. Weddings, of New Zealand, has
accomplished the best results, so far as we have
observed. The carbon spoken of is said to be of
metallic origin, and, what is rather curious, is
obtained from the ordinary carbon deposits which
arc to be found in gas retorts. The following is
a short description of the apparatus used by Mr..
Weddings with some of the results accomplished
by it. He had completed two instruments, pre-
viously, but the third described below is the
one upon which be places the greatest reliance,
and perhaps the 50 primary reason why be is par
ticularly interested in its success, is that he has
departed from the recognised types, and has fol-
lowed the bent of his own ideas. After all, there
was absolutely no reason why the design of Pro-
fessor Hughes Should not be improved upon. In
this instrument, which is peculiarly sensitive,
there is a plate of brass, with screw, and two
uprights, but the spindle is a slender one of steel,
with needle points, and it supports a slight bar
of brass. Upon one end of this bar is a wedge
shaped piece of carbon, half an inch long, which
hangs over a square block of carbon tive-eighths
square and three-eighths thick. This block has
its brass plate and screw as in other cases. AT
the opposite end of the bar supporting the wedge
shaped piece IS a weight which can be moved on
a screw backward and forward, so as to form a
balance weight, and thereby the connection be-
tween the wedge and block of carbon can be
rendered as slight as may be wished. The whole
of this apparatus, which can be covered by the
hand, is mounted upon a sounding box of wood.
1t will be remembered that in the microphone
previously described, the interrupting medium
was a piece of vegetable carbon inpregnated with
quicksilver in a finely divided state. The carbon
which Mr.. Weddings uses, however, being of
metallic origin, and having its own particles
we'll defined, does not require such impregnation.
1t has been obtained from the ordinary carbon
deposits which are to be found in gas retorts.
In some preliminary experiments the power of
the micrOphone as sOund-magniier was demon
strated in a most startling manner. Drawing
the tip of Il finger over the table on which the
microphOne stood, sounded to the listeners at the
telephones connected Herewith something like
rushing water. When the edge of a piece of
paper was drawn across the sounding-box of the
microphone, the noiso it made could only DC
compared to that which would be produced by a
large and coarse saw, passing through dry wood.
The ticking of a watch, again, was magnifed
into the sound of an American clock, and the
tapping Of a fnger-nail, was like q series of
dull, heavy blows. Good as were the results OBJ
tanned, it is but justice to Mr.. Weddings TO say
that the trial was simply an i~nitiatory one, and
that he will be much disappointed if he does not
accomplish very much more than this. Used as
a conversational medium in connection with the
telephone. the sound is so much magnifed that
it is only necessary for the transmitter to speak
when he is within a few yards of the microphone,
and in a comparatively low tone of voice for him
to be heard at a distance of, say, so miles"