Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-07-16
A NEW PHoNoGRAPH PERFECTED.
An Intrument To Be Used During Court
Trials.

Some electricians in this city have been
at work for several months to perfect a
monograph which can be used with such
accuracy as to be an aid in reporting with
precision the proceedings of courts and
public assemblies. 1t is said that a state
of perfection has already been attained
which will warrant the introduction of
this instrument in courts of justice.
When the monograph is perfected it will
be a great help to stenographic reporters
in one way and a great rival and hind
rance in another way. One of the ma
chimes can be taken into court, for in
stance, and all of the proceedings will be
recorded by it. AT the close of the day
it can be taken to a room and gagged to
talk at any rate of speed-at thirty words
a minute, which can be written out by an
ordinary long-hand writer. If it is de-
sired to get the proceedings transcribed
as fast as they occur new cylinders are
put in the photograph as fast as the pro-
ceedings are written out. For instance,
the long-hand writers can put in a cyl
inder and let it remain ten minutes, then
take it out and put in another, and trans
fer the cylinder which has the proceed
ings upon it to another instrument, and
it is made to repeat the proceedings with
accuracy, and, at the expiration of its
term, is replaced in the photograph and
the other cylinder taken from it, and
SO on.
One of the great difficulties the scien-
lists have encountered is in securing the
distinction of tone and voice. Hereto
fore the photograph has not been sutfi-
GENTLY distinct in the pitch of the voice to
make one voice distinguish itself from
another if they are similar in volume
and tone. 1t is believed, however, that
the instrument will be perfected within
a short time so that anyone who has
heard a number of voices in a room can
readily distinguish them from the sounds
the monograph will give out. 1t is the
distinguishing of one voice from another
that gives the anne of the speakers.
For instance, if the photograph is used
to record the proceedings of a legislature
it will not, of course, have the names of
the persons participating in debate, and
the persons translating from the record
of the photograph will have to place the
speakers by the toneu of the voice.
1t is said that some of the official re-
porters intend trying the photograph
within a short time and determining how
it will work in public debates. In event
it fails they will have the proceedings by
the usual methods and no risk will be
run. When the photograph is perfected
the stenographers intended to use it in
their work as a safeguard. BY its assist
ance they will be enabled to have every
thing that is said in the room, and a
number of persons speaking at n time
and the rapidity of their speech will be
no inconvenience, as the monograph
will catch everything that is said. 1t
will be of more use as an amanuensis
than anything else, enabling one to die
tate any amount of correspondence to
the machine and leaving it so that any
one can transcribe it, because the ma
chine can be set to report the dictation
at any rate of speed. -Washington Cor.
Minneapolis Tribune.