The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-05-24
EDIsoE'S NEW PHoNoGRApa.
how 1t Echoes the Music Of a Piano, CO.
net and Other Instrument.


Mr.. Ellison gave au exhibition of
his new photograph Yesterday af-
ternoon at 'the Orange laboratory
TO number OF newspaper men
and Other persons interested in the
Invention. For some weeks the in
ventor has considered the talking
phonograph q practical commercial
success-that is to say, he believes
that lit will become as much of
necessity in the business Office as
tue typewriter or the telephone is
now; that the business man will
dictate all his correspondence to 1t
for his clerk to write out on the
typewriter, and that in the near
future the phonogram, as the wax
impression is called, can be MT by
mail, this doing away altogether
with the writing out Of business
correspondence.
For some weeks all Mr.. Edison's
business correspondence has been
done with the aid Of the phono-
graph. He dictates his letters to
the instrument and 1.-THE resulting
phonograms are turned over to q
clerk WHO IN turn writes the mes
sage cut. with a typewriter as it
comes from the phonograph.
The results being sufficiently sat
istaetofyin this field, Mr.. Edison
turned to the reproduction of music
and it was chiefly to show what had
been done In this direction that
yesterdays was given.
For the purposes Of yesterdays
exhibition and tests, piano had
been placed in a room of the labo-
ratory and violinist, cornet player
and clarionet player had been in
vited from New York. After a
brief tour through the vast lahora-
tory, wherein small army Of as
sistants were kept busy working
out the famous inventors sugges-
tions, Mr. Edison led the way to
the phonograph room, and the ex
periments began, Edison giving a
running lecture upon the nature of
the phonograph for the benefit of
those who did not understand it's
priu ciples.
The phonograpb, such as it is
now, ready to be offered for safe,
consists of an apparatus for record
ing upon the surface of sensitive
wax cylinder, four inches long and
one and halt inches in diameter,
the vibrations of diaphragm set
in motion by the voice of other
sounds, in such shape that similar
vibrations may again be communi-
Gated to a diaphram by passing a
flexible hair spring over the in
dented wax. 1t appearance the
complete phonograph looks like a
sewing machine; it stands on a lit
tie table of its own, with place be-
meath for the electric battery, which
revolves the recording cylinder. In
order to talk into the instrument a
mouth piece is used and one talks
as to the telephone.
For music large funnel five feet
long and two feet wide at the bell
is used. A record of piano music
was first made. The bell of the
funnel was placed at the edge of a
a piano while waltz was played,
and then the company were invited
to listen.
A small sounding" funnel foot
long was adjusted and the piano
music came out with such distinct
ness that persons two or three feet
away from the funnel could hear
the music, and even detect notes
that were not quite true in the piano
The music was such as to give
pleasure to any one, and was
as distinct as q piano heard in
another room near by would be.
The violin was tried but failed tC
come out loud enough. A con-
certed piece, employing piano, vio-
lin, Glarionet and cornet was in
teresting, but the piano rather
drowned out the other instrum ents
For the multiplication Of phono-
grams from one original Mr.. Ed
son makes from the first or origi-
nal phonogram, an electrotype Of
nickel, which is simply pressed
against wax surface and gives an
other perfect phonogram. The use
of phonogram does not seem tC
"wear" it in the least. The same
bit of wax has given out the ''Car
nival of Venice" in the Edison labo-
ratorv at least 500 times and show