The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-10
MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS.
Remarkable Experiments with Mr. Edi-
~ sons monograph.
~ From the New York SUM-

- From the New York SUM-
In the early part of November last
the Sun printed description of a new
invention by Mr.. Thomas A. Edison,
called the speaking phonograph. Mr..
Edison has since made an improvement,
and has now succeeded in making an
instrument that will record and repro
duce any words or sounds pronounced
or made within the proper distance of
the mouthpieee of the apparatus. This
apparatus is. exceedingly simple. 1t
consists CT a cylinder four inches in dia-
meter and ten inches long upon shaft.
A spiral groove, like the thread of a
screw, is cut in the surface of the cylin-
der from end to end, and-the same kind
l4of a screw is cut in the shaft carrying it.
Over this cylinder is secured sheet of
paper or tinfoil. Immediately opposite
the cylinder, on an upright arm, is q
speaking-tube, one end of which is
closed by diaphragm. In the centre
I Of. the diaphragm is small point, like
that of pin, arranged so as to be ex-
actly opposite the grooves upon the
cylinder. When the cylinder is set in
motion it rotates, and at the same
time moves endwise. If while
rotating person utters sentence in
front of the tube the movement of the
diaphragm causes the point upon it to
indent the tinfoil, so that for every
movement of the diaphragm the point
indents the foil If the movement is
great deep indenture will be made,
and if small a shallow one is made,
and thus every movement of the dia-
phragm is recorded by indentations in
the foil. To reproduce the sounds all
that is necessary is to turn the cylinder
back to its original position and start
again; the point upon the diaphragm
riding in and out of the indentations
sets it in motion and thus reproduces
all the original movements.
Mr.. Edison had his improved ma
chine on private exhibition in the West
ern Union Telegraph Office on Monday,
and President Orion and number of
other gentlemen connected with the
company tested its extraordinary pow
ers of repeating spoken words. On
one occasion three gentlemen spoke in
succession-the first in English, the
second in Spanish, and the third in Hun
SdTldu -tIlu Gue uIdCnluo Itp6dleQ Tile
words so as to he heard distinctly by
a dozen persons standing around the
apparatus "Old Uncle Ned" and a
verse of Spanish love song were next
sung, and reproduced by the instrument
TO the satisfaction of all
Mr.. Edison says the machine is de-
signed for practical use by business men
and lawyers, etc. He is now making
new machine which will have a plate
sufficiently large to receive 500 spoken
words. Thus man may dictate half
dozen letters before leaving his office,
and his clerks may write them out in his
absence. If he should wish to say more,
he can remove the first plate and put in
a second, and so on up to any number
he may require.
So accurately are the words repeated
by the machine that a gentleman who
was present at the exhibition yesterday
would not believe that the sounds were
made by it. He insisted that it was
ventriloquial performance, and would
not be convinced that it was not until
Mr.. Edison retired into another room
while the instrument was worked by
some one else.