The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1885-09-10
A TIRELESs INVENTOR.


Prot Bell. it might be thought. after
having given to the world the tels-
phone, would be content with his
scientific conquests. but he Is stin 40
lively at work upon problems Of sound
and electricity in way that promises
an invention of far greater Importance,
scientifically and practically. than the
telephone itself. His laboratory Is An
oId-tashioned two-story house on Con-
necticut avenue, near N street, In the
neighborhoOd of the British Legation,
Stanley Mathews house. and the resi-
dence of Mrs. John Davis. He also
has private and secret laboratory
over in Georgetown, where at present
he has a most skillful workman en-
gagged upon the forthcoming instru-
ment- What it Is is known only to
Prot. Bell and the man who is working
at the idea The great inventor has
said to his friends that if he succeeds
his new idea viii yield him greater re-
turns than the telephone has. Il is
suspected, however, by those who have
given some attention TO the course of
Prof Bells thought upon the subject,
that it is the photophone, or the use of
electricity to reproduce over the wires
the image OF the person speaking before
the instrument
Prof. Bell is 8 man of prodigious
mental energy, and he is constantly
developing new ideas and new appli-
cations Of electrical force for the pro-
duction OF useful machines. He throws
them off as easily and carelessiy SIS you
can fancy. For instance, he made not
long ago an instrument called the au-
diometer. Perhaps not dozen of them
have been made 1t consists of mag
other. These cylinders will indicate
by measurement how much sound IL ia
possible for q deaf person to hear and
if they can hear at all. Although it is
an important instrument Prof. Bell
allows any one who wants to get one
OF his matchmaker, and himself asks no
return for il. Prof Bell has also de-
vised an instrument which might be
called the submarine telephone, by
which can be ascertained from the
echo from stone dropped upon the
bottom of the bay or river in which
the craft may be floating just what
depth is at that point.
Prot. Bell is gradually growing out of
all business pursuits and devoting him
self to the Improvement of the deaf.
He is constantly giving more and more
time to his little school on Sixteenth
street, whore he has perhaps q score of
pupils, most all Of them wholly deaf,
to whom he is teaching the art Of sight
language. He Is training these little
children so that they can distinguish
from the lips and face of the person
speaking what they say. and teaching
them to initiate the proper arrange
ment OF the lips. teeth, and tongue SO
that they may articulate sounds. 4
gentleman calling upon Prof. Bell the
other evening tells me that while he
was there one of his workmen came in
for instructions. The man sat there
for four hours, while Prof. Bell applied
himself uninterruptedly to other mat
tiers which he had in hand. At the end
of that time he wheeled about in
his chair and began to talk to the
workman. 81 never heard man talk
so in my life. Every sentence had the
compact result of hard thinking
and carried to the mind of the
listener a complete scientific idea. In
half an hour he had indicated to the
man new and great invention, and
the workman said If we had known this
two months ago We might have saved
two months labor. It demonstrated
to me the wonderful versatility OF the
man who, in his far-advanced studies
on the subject of sound and hearing,
could pass to utterly diverse subjects
instantly and with perfect mastery of
each" 1t Is understood also that Prof.
Bell is at work upon the problem of re-
solving heat at once into electricity, a
result, If it can be obtained, that will
greatly simplify and cheaper all uses
of electricity.-- Washington Cor. Pits
burg Commercial Gazette.