American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-04-13
MIR. EdiSOn'S Inventions.


son, the inventor of the photograph, is
one of the most remarkable men of the
present century. His improvements i'll
telegraphic apparatus and in the work
ing of the telephone seem almost to
have exhausted the possibility of cleo
tricity. In like manner, the discovery
of the photograph and the application
of its principles in the aerophone, by
which the volume of sound is SO ampli-
fled and intensified as to be made audi
BILE at distance of several miles, seem
to have stretched the laws of sound to
their utmost limit. At present, the
photograph seems to be the most prac-
teal of all his discoveries, since it can
| be easily applied to common uses, and
can be made so cheap and portable that
every family can afford to have one.
Mr.. Edison is already at work to remedy
the metallic tone which the disc gives
off by the use of some sensitive material
which will exactly reproduce the tone
of voice talked into the instrument. One
application of this quality will revolu-
tionize the whole world of literature.
Mr.. Edison says that upon disc of cop
per or tin foil, not over ten inches in
diameter, the entire contents
of ordinary novel can
be recorded, and that these plates
can be sold cheaper than the books.
Now, suppose that a publisher employs
one of the most famous elocutionists of
the age to talk one of Dickens's best
/ rhonnrranh ,,lata
the stereotype process these plates are
reproduced as fast as wanted, and much
cheaper than books can be sold. The
! purchaser buys one of these plates for a
mere song, takes it home of an evening,
puts it in the machine, gets one of his
children to turn the crank, and straight
way Mr.. Murdoch, Mr.. Vandenhoff, or
Mrs. Dainty commences reading the
novel to the delighted family. Again,
the admirers of Mr. Beecher by a similar
process can have that gentleman preach
his own sermons to them in their par
lors with all the graces of his oratory,
and Moody and Sankey can hold re
vival service on a piece If copper five
inches in diameter, without exposing
one to the danger of being squeezed to
death or having his pockets picked.
Kellogg and Cary can MARBLE their
sweetest melodies to US at so much
plate, without the odious and plebeian
necessity of standing in line for
a reserved seat, or of being
harassed by the quarrels of prime dome,
while the prominent singers of the Old
! World, who never come here, can grow
| familiar by the same pleasant process of
| turning crank. OF course we shall
| have to take the music without accom-
paniment, but, as accomplishments are
almost always bad, their absence will be
matter for congratulation. One of the
most delightful applications of the pho
nograph will be its summary squelching
of the chronic bore. Every business
man will keep photograph, into which
the bore will talk his errand, and the
merchant can grind it out at his leisure,
or let it alone as he pleases. The peri
patetic and garrulous book-agent en-
tiers with his customary fiendish smile,
and is at once introduced to the phono-
graph in some retired corner, into whose
unsympathetic ears he pours his con-
ventional harangue. A few trials will
suppress the most inveterate and per-
sistent book-agent that ever travelled,
for which the gratitude of a long suffer
ing world will be due to Mr.. Edison,
gunpowder and strychnine having thus
far failed to have any effect upon
this class of undesirable Inevitable
ties. The photograph will also be a
source of comfort and consolation to
long suffering wives whose husbands
are in the habit of staying out late at
night and returning in the small hours
to wrestle with the key-hole, and event
ually to go to bed with their boots on.
To get even with these wretches, the
poor woman has to sit up and wait their
coming in order to more effectually free
her mind. Having her photograph, she
can speak vigorous lecture into it,
and, fixing the clock-work so that it
will go off at the time she knows he will
return, she can compose herself to sleep,
confident that her representative will
do her work with the necessary vigor
ana emphasis, anu tnaI INC VlctiH Will
have to endure it. He may raise the
window and pitch the monograph into
the street, but the machine will none
the less have its say out, and in this
case will have the immediate neighbors
for listeners. For the curtain lecture
business the monograph will be of great
advantage, as it can be set to go off at
any specified time, like an alarm
clock. A woman specially gifted
in invective and sarcasm, and
having good flow of speech,
could do thriving business by sup
plying plates to those of her sex less
gifted in the science of combing down
recreant spouses and reducing them to
state of pliability and won't do-so-any
more. Many family jars might be
pleasantly adjusted by the monograph.
The husband and wife could scold it
out into their instruments. and leave
them on the bureau for the housemaid
to take out into the backyard, where
they could sputter at each other with
out doing any harm. Right at this
point, however, there is startling pos
sibility. Mr.. Edison's aerophone is on
ly colossal telephone that conveys
sound for 10 miles. The alarming Ca