Fergus County argus., 1889-10-03
THE PHON0GRAPH.
How Mr.. Edison Came to Invent the Talking
Machine.
New York World.1

! have never seen IN print true
account of how Thomas A. Edison
first conceived the idea of the phono-
graph. remarked an electrician who
was at one time in the Wizards"
employ to n World reporter "'rhe
phonosraph is the wonder OF the
world, and one of the few inventions
which envious rivals have not charged
Edison with having stolen. In fact,
even his bitterest rivals for fame, all
of whom appear to harbor the idea
that it is their duty to detract from
his reputation for genius and honesty,
as n rule concele that Edison did
really invent the phonograph.' 1t is
an interesting story how he came to
invent it, Many years ago, when
Edison was still at Menlo Park and
working night and day for fame, he
devoted months to perfecting The tele-
phone. and undoubtedly did more
than any other inventor to make it
practical 10y introducing the carbon
plate into the transmltter. While ex-
perinlenting on diaphragms for the
telephone, Edison had constructed n
number of small sheepskin drumheads,
to test their value rs diaphragms as
compared Wit metal and other sub
stances.
"To some Oi these sheepskin dia-
phragns he had attached Il small
mel al needle, which was intended to
project toward the magnet and assist
IN conveying the vibrations caused by
the human voice. The sheepskin dia-
phragms did not fulfill Edison's expec-
tations and he dscardsd them and. as
usual with appliances he decides to be
Useless, they were thrown aside to be
removed with other rubbish.
His assistan soon discovered
that by holding the sheepskin dia-
phragns in front of their mouths and
emitting "a cultural sound between the
lips "a peculiar noise approaching
music could be produced. IL was some
thing similar To he alleged music pro-
duced 10y covering - comb with thin
paper and humming n tune on it. In
passing one Of the men engaged in
playing on II diaphragm one day, Edi-
son playtIlly attempted to stop the
noise by touching the projecting met
pm with his finger, and no sooner had
he done so than he gave one Of his
peculiar starts. 'Eh What's that p
said lac. which 80 astOnished tine per-
former that hedropped he diaphragm.
'bo that again. SAID the Wizard, and
il was repeated. and again his finger
touched lie pin To his evident delight.
lie went about for some time asking
one after another of his assistants to
hum or sing against the diaphragm,
and finally he got them TO talking
against it. lac all the time touching he
pin lightly with his finger
~ have il, said he. finally. and he
ret ircd to his den and commenced
drawing diagrams for new machinery,
which his assistants speedily made,
and few days later the first phono-
graph was put together. 1t was n crude
affair, the pin making an impression
on the wax and it talked lmperfectly,
but it did well enough to show Edison
that he was on the right track, and he
rapidly improved it until now it is
very nearly perfection. 4 hundred
that pin attached TO the piece of sheep
skin. but 1t took an Edison to in
-tantly realize that the vibrations
might be made to indent soft sub
stance and he susceptible OF reproduc-
ing the exact sounds OF the human
voice that caused the different vibra-
tions. The pnonograph was regarded
as IA toy at first, but II sold for IA mil
hon dollars recently