The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-04-11
A PHONOGRAPH At WORK.

A PHONOGRAPH At WORK.
nIaLiaE IA Plate frem Which "a Perfect Pro-
/ ductisu OF Year speech Gao BE Made
Nhrn Nsu Are i1 Noar Grave
The Philadelphia ITUIss has an article
describing Professor Edison's marvel
ous phonograph and how Il works. We
make the following extract:
The instrument was operated some
times by Mr.. Bentley, but principally 10y
Mr.. James Adams, the inventors repre-
sentative. Mr.. Adams, highly iutclli'
gent Scntchman, with strongly marked
Scotch accent in his speech, has been for
five wears the assistant Of Professor
Ellison In the mtter's electrical aud other
experiments. The machine occupied no
more space than would "a Webstcr's un-
abridged, and its construction appeared
as simple as that Of housewives coffee
mill Ii was u Iac siHsts If one which
I Professor Edison is now constructing,
and which is 10 have a capacity OF 4S,OOu
| words.
Mr.. Adams, before the performance
began thus explained the instrument;
p" In this gutta pcrcha mouthplece Is a
very thin diaphragm, made Of tin typo
metal. The vibrations Of the voice jar
the diaphragm, which has IN It's center,
underneath, tne steel point. Around
this brass cylinder, which, you see, Is
closely and finely grooVed 10y spiral, |
wrap sheet Of unfoiL | shove the
mouthpiece up until the steel point
touches the tinfoil, Just above the first
groove on the left Turning the cylln
I der with this crank, l talk into the
mouthpiece. The diaphragm viurates,
causing the steel point 90 perfurate the
I tiufoll, leaving little holes OF different
. diametsrs and resembling the old Morse
[ telegraphic alphabet. The cylinder
moves from left 30 right until the steel
/ point has gone over the entire length Of
the spiral. Thus We have. as Il were.
a stereOtypei plate Uf the yoloe. From
4 this plate a matrix in sulphur lthe most
desirable substance for the purposel can
be formed. and wears from now there
can be taken from thht matriI other
plates capable Of the same work which
YOU will presently soc this one perform.
Now l turn the cylinder back to the
starting place III order that the steel
point may 70 uyrrthe pcrfurAtions which
Il made when | talked in the mouth
piece. The steel point. kept down by a
rubber spring underneath the diaphragm
trips from hole 10 hole, causing the
diaphragm 10 yihrato AS il did when l
WAS talking into the mOuthpiccc This
causing the corresponding opening and
closing Of the valves uf the diaphragm,
the words, iutouatiou and accent are re-
produced with perfect accuracy. 1t
would be impossible for any human
mimic 90 DO Il So well. The small end
81 this tin funnel is fixed in the mouth
piece 10 keep the reproduction from scat
tcring. Now listen. Several gentle
men, evidently supposing that they
would not be able b. hear without hAv-
ing their ears close 10 the funnel, were
putting their heals near the instrument,
but Mr. Adams told them that such a
proceeding was unnecessary, As they
could distinguish tho sounds well
enough al distance
Mr.. Adams, having wrapped n sheet 81
tin foil around the cylinder, spoke into
the mouthpieee ia voice ~ ordinary
pitch aud time, but with distinct art3cul.
alton, meanwhile slowly and regularly
turning the crank, the following
Jack and jill sent up the hill
To set bucket OF water
JAck fell doau and broke his crown
And jill cAme tumhAng after.
Having reset the cylinder and fixed
the funnel in the muuthpiecc he turned
the crank and the diaphragm repeated
the rhyme, not only aA distinctly as hc
had uttered il. but with 20 perfect
mimicry OF the Scotch accent ns to cause
a general outburst Of laughter, IN which
the genial operator heartily Iolned.
Causing the steel point 90 proceed
from the ending OF Jack and Jill, Mr..
Adams again put his mouth 70 the
diaphragm and uttered in moro varying
tones. which had a range from almost a
whisper up 90 n screeching soprano, the
following
HALO Hoop-lA Ya-hoo
Nineteen wears tn the bAslilc
scratched my name upon tho wall
And that name was Robert LAndr-y-y-y,
PArlcz vuus FrAnrAis sprcchon sio Deuisch
Turning the crank backward until the
steel point tolchci the beginning Of
A" Jack and Gill, he again gave the for
ward motion. The dinphngm's elocution
of the rhyme was ON tins occasion ns good
as before, and the scCond cnnglomcra-
ton uf utterancc WAS delivered by the
vibrating metal with all the character
istics Of the operators CALCULATIONS and
recitation. For tho sake Of novelty the
steel point was now caused 10 60 along
the perforated spiral, while Mr.. Adams
whistled, yelled and shoutcd all sorts Of
ridiculous things into the mouth-piece.
As u result the bit Of metal strongly af-
fected the risible muscles of the audience
by something like this -
Jack aud Jill went Cheese II i''--
Up the hill
To get a bucko,-"O o. wipo OF your chin go
or water.
Jack foll down and " Hello, young
Broke his crown
Fellor, does you're mother know You're
And jill" Ya-hoo I've bottled myself Edi-
son '--
Came tumbline after.
Halo hoopla !-"Snut up .''--ya-hoo
90 bag your head !'-Ninctcon years in
the Bastilo.
" I'm A"-scraiahed my name-"A jolly Irish
man Upon the wall
Name wAs-"HA, Ia, ha l' Robert
LAndry-y-y.
Parloo vous Fraucais? 80" Go hire a hall g.
sprcchon sic Deutsch Go. give us rest =
The effect of this was too ludicrous
for description, and for \ time all hands
were uucontrollably merry. Having
put on and caused the steel point to
perforate new sheet Of tin foil, again
speaking Jack and Jill into the in
strument, Mr.. Adams made the point
travel backward, and the diaphragm
reproduced the recitation, beginning
with the last word "aftcr," and ending
with the first word, "Jnck. In this
way the operator amuscd his audience
for an hour. He became hoarsc, but the
/ instrument did not.
/ There is no electricity about the
speaking phonogTaph, and, like so many
other great inventions, It's construction
is SO simple and It's operation so easily
understood that person seeing 1t would
probably ask himself, "Now, why didn't
Z II l. n 4l,nA