The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-03-28
HOW THE PHoSoaRAPH WORKS.

HOW THE PHONOGRAPH WORKS.
! A representative of the Gruphic yes
/ terday interviewed Edison's marvellous
new invention-the Photographic
the telephone headquarters, Tribune
Building. 1t belongs to the same fami-
| ly of Implements as the telephone,
though its construction and operation
are Of course altogether different.
In charge of the room were C. A.
Cheever and Mr.. Applebaugh-Mr.
Edison being at his New Jersey labora-
tory. Gen. William F. Smith, Police
Commissioner; Mr.. Merritt, Surveyor
of the Port, and Mr.. Conant, of Har-
per S Weekly, came in during the exhi-
bition, and exhibited frank astonish-
ment at the wonderful invention.
The instrument is small, not half as
large as a sewing-machine, and it is as
simple as grindstone. Any artisan
in iron can easily make one. There is
no electricity, magnetism or other force
about it, except the gentle force used
to turn the crank which causes the
cylinder to revolve under the needle.
A thin diaphragm, made of ferrotype
(such as asdaguerreotypes are sometimes
taken -on), is inserted into small
mouthpiece. Under it, projecting down
ward, the point of cambria needle
is arranged, SO that it will pierce what
ever it touches, when moved by the
vibrations of the diaphragm. The
largest part of the machine is brass
cylinder about eight inches long and
three inches in diameter, fixed to an
iron shaft two feet long, which is
turned by the crank before alluded
to. The surface of this cylin-
der is now finely grooved with a
spiral thread running through the en-
tire length, the threads lying close to-
gether, fifteen to the inch. Around
this, when talking is to be done, a
sheet of tin foil is closely wrapped, and
on this soft and impressionable tablet
the voice makes its record. The mouth
piece is SO adjusted that, when the
crank is turned, the point of needle
follows the spiral, pressing the foil
down into the groove and making on it
line of sharp but scarcely visible in
dentations, which are supposed to be
an accurate photograph of sound
waves. The cylinder makes about one
revolution to a word; that is, the
needle imprints these minute dots on
the foil clear around the cylinder, dur
ing the quick utterance of an ordinary
word of consonants and vowels. These
indentations are found to be of different
distances apart, and scientific analysis
will probably reveal rhythmical ar
rangement corresponding to the diff
ference between the sounds them
selves.
When our representative entered the
room, Mr.. Applebaugh was singing in
loud, clear voice into the mouthpiece,
while he quickly turned the crank. He
sang:
There was an old darkey an his name was Uncle
He died long, go! long go;
There was no wool on tine top of his head
Hem! hem! What cold i've got! This is a wet
dsagreeable day!
Then he lifted up the needle, turned
the crank back to the place of begin
ming, turned the crank again, the needle
traversed the former groove, and out of
the mouthpiece came, in distinct,
piping voice, but with very distinct ar
ticulation:
There was an old darkey and his name was Uncle
He died long go! long go!
There was no vol On the top of his head
Hem! Hem! What a c5ld I've got! This is a
wet. disagreeable day!
The performance was greeted with
applause. The first utterance had been
repeated accurately. The infections,
modulations, timbre of voice, pauses
between the words to take breath all
had been exactly reproduced.
Then Mr.. Applebaugh barked into
the mouthpiece, sang, sneezed, coughed,
mewed, cackled, whinnied, and the
sounds came back unmistakably, when
ever the needle was replaced on the
spiral dots. Sometimes the same thing
was repeated three or four times, to
show that the number of repetitions
was endless, and the operator took from
the cabinet sheet of last weeks talk,
adjusted it, and we heard come from
the mouthpiece:
"Hello! You Ephraim! Come right
in off m dat wet grass; you ketch you
def coldr'
And then, in thin, childish voice:
"Yis, nanny! Use comm. YAH
yah! Cook-a-doodle dot'
At this point Mr.. Cheever took the
instrument and shouted into the mouth
piece:
:. Bow-wow-wow! Mary had little
lamb, its fleece was white as snow! To
be, or not to be; that is the question!
Break, break, break, break on the cold
gray stones, o sea! 1 would that my
tongue could utter the thoughts that
arise in me. Cuttercuttercutter! Cat
tahcut! Bell Telephone Company, No.
80 Tribune Building, beware of Western
Union infringementsf'
He lifted the mouthpiece and needle
and turned back the crank till the nee
die was over the point of beginning on
the foil spiral, and then (after little
conversation and the admission of an
other spectator) he let the needle fall
into the series of dots, and from the
| mouthpiece came, more accurately than
any human mimic could repeat it after
the practice of lifetime, the same
words, calculations, bow-wows and in
functions, rendered extremely comical
by the mock-tragic manner in which
| they had been delivered.
"How are you, Graphic -only illus
trated daily in the worldp"
Mr.. Cheever shouted into the MOUTH
piece, and, turning back the cylinder,
the mouthpiece shouted in metallic
falsetto, but with good articulation:
"How are you, Graphic -ouly illus
trated daily in the world?"