The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-04-04
Some Late Inventions.

here and there in the newspapers of the
graphaphone, or perfected photograph,
but few people, perhaps, have any clear
idea of what it really is or what is
likely to be accomplished by it. Talk
ing recently with a pushing man from
Chicago who has been studying the
graphaphone, | got good idea of the
invention. The Chicago man showed
me a graphaphone roller, with the
waXen surface upon it, and on the sur
face a certain selection that Levy, the
cornetist, had played upon it some
weeks ago. The roller was about six
inches in length and an inch and half
in diameter. The body appeared to be
made of pasteboard or some other light
substance and upon this the wax was
placed, being of light purple color
and quite thin. In operation this roller
or hollow cylinder is placed within the
graphaphone and made to revolve very
rapidly, while the impressions from
fine needle-point circle it in a very
close spiral. So close are the lines of
the spiral tracery that the entire six
inches of the cylinder contain all the
sounds of enough words to make about
two columns of newspaper type. A
man could talk a two-column speech
into his graphaphone and use up only
a single roller But another roller at
the same time receives duplicate i'm
preston, so that he could keep a copy
of his speech with which to confound
the editor or careless proof-reader. If
he only talked third of column he
would cut off from the roll, an inch of
its length and mail that, saving the
balance for another occasion. On re-
ceiving the cylinder the party to whom
it was addressed would clap it into his
own graphaphone, touch the spring
which sets its motor in motion, place
the caps over his ears and listen to the
voice of his friend or correspondent as
long as the message lasted. None of
the graphaphones have been put on
sale as yet, but about two hundred have
been made by the company owning the
patents that have been taken out on
the cylinders, and the Chicago man says
that within six months they will be
almost as common as the typewriter.
The cost of the machines are to be about
SIS each. The company also contem-
plates a device by which they can at
tach the graphaphone to the telephone
and thus receive and record your tele-
phone messages when the man you
want to hello with is out of his office.
The calling of the absent mans num-
Der would set his graphaphone in mo-
ton and it would continue to buzz as
long as you talked. Then when the
man returned he would start his grapha-
phone and get the communication. You
will be able to make the graphaphone
repeat as many times as you wish, and
they say it never wears out or is
troubled with bronchitis or a bad breath.
This same man from Chicago also
brought Intelligence of marvellous
new perfecting printing-press that is
in operation in model form in Wash
ington. 1t is the invention of a man
named Porter, if l remember rightly
and its greatest wonder, considering
the work it does, lies in the fact that il
has only twenty-seven parts. The Hoe
perfecting press is made up of between
two hundred and three hundred parts
This new press is said to amaze every
engineer and mechanical person who
looks upon it. Its principles are Sc
strange and its motion so unique tina
experts in presses declare it an impos
sibility even while they are seeing i
do its work. Imagine a printing-pres'
in which the stereotyped plates are
placed not upon cylinder as in Other
presses, but upon four fiat sides o
what corresponds to the cylinder, anC
you have some idea of its peculiarities
In spite of its four sharp corners ant
the great speed with which it is run
there is absolutely no jar or jolting
but the press moves as smoothly as
good sewing-machine The little mode
that is running in Washington is turn
ing out perfected miniature papers o
eight pages, folded, with speed tina
astonishes newspaper men, and tn
owners say there is no possible conhic
with anybody's patent.
Professor Elisha Gray has just com
pleted at his laboratory in Highlan
Park, near Chicago, an invention whicl
is called as wonderful as the telephon
by the out West reporters. ''By my in
vention," the professor is quoted as say
ing, "you can sit down in your office i
Chicago, take pencil in your hand
write message to me, and as you
pencil moves a pencil here in m
laboratory moves simultaneously an
forms the same letters and words i
the same way. What you write i
Chicago is instantly reproduced here i
fac simiie You may write in an
language, use code or cipher; no maj
ter, fac similie is produced here
If you wish to draw a picture it is tn
same; the picture is reproduced here
The artist of your newspaper can, b
this device, telegraph his pictures of
railway wreck or other occurrences jus
as a reporter telegraphs his description
in words. The two pencils NOV
spontaneously, and there is no reaso
why circuit of five hundred miles ca
not be worked as easily as one of tie
miles. The telautograph will supplar
the telephone for many purposes, for
will have marked advantages over /
1t will be noiseless, less affected by il
duction and no Observation-Disclosures ca