The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-30
AN HOUR WITH THE PHONoGRAPH.
Edison's Great Invention is Tested in Salt
Lake City.

BY invitation Of George w. Holt. o
Omaha, Mr.. Bywater, master mechanic
and Mn. Cope, general passenger agent, o
the Utah Central Railway company. witt
a friend, attended ''seance" at the Wake
house last Friday night at which the phon
ograph was the medium The instrumen,
that Mr.. Holt has is the first ever brought
to Salt Lake city, and its wonderful powers
were ably demonstrated By the skill of the
gentleman. The first experiment was an
| address of introduction to the photograph,
given by Mr.. Holt in about the following
manner: ''Phony, old boy, wish to intro
| duce to you Mr.. Bywater, of the Utah Cen
tral shops, Salt Lake city, and l want you
to show him what you can do. He win ap
preclate your many line qualities, and also
what defects remain to be corrected. I OK
pect that you will talk to him as | am now
talking to you. In a little while I expect
to.see electricity controlling the locomotives
on the railways, propelling air ships, haul
ing passengers in vehicles as large as the
cars that now run upon the lines, from
one end Of the continent to the other, etc.
Now, | guess this will be enough to tire
your listeners, so 1 will conclude with a
whistler
Mr.. Holt then whistled, ''Hang up the
Baby's Stocking in to the machine, re
versed the cylinder, gave the connecting
ear-tube to Mr. Bywater, and the speech
and the whistle We're reproduced as
naturally as they were given by Mr. Holt
The voice could be clearly heard by all
who were near the photograph, but not
so distinctly as with the tubes. BY re-
versing the cylinder, the speech could be
reproduced at the will of the operator
Another pVlin1nr introduced
which contained an orchestral performance
given by the Fort Omaha band on June
20. The various instruments could be
distinctly heard and the forte passages
were grand. Solos were given by the diff
fereDt instruments as naturally as they are
heard in the performances of the band it
self. Another cylinder was now intro
duced which gave cornet solo by cele-
brated Omaha musician, and this was fol-
lowed by tenor song by Nat Brigham,
well-known to our theatre goers, through
his excellent performance of Mr. Samp-
son of Omaha" The celebrated singers
voice was easily recognized by those who
had heard him in Salt Lake city The
speeches and the songs and instrumental
performances are recorded on a Waxed
cylinder, the composition of which is only
known to MIR. Edison, and is hardened by
electricity. The impressions made on the
cylinder are too fine to be disccrned by the
naked eye, and are not deeper than the two
thOusandth part of an inch. So long as
these impressions remain on the cylinder,
sound can be reproduced at any time
When necessary to put new matter on the
cylinders, the surface is turned smooth
These cylinders can be sent through the
mails, and any sounds that have been
written on them can be reproduced on any
photograph, at any distance from the
original point. MIR. Holt frequently re
ceiyes letters in this way from his wife,
from one thousand to one thous-
and five hundred words. The agency for
the photograph in Utah has been secured
by a Mr.. Post, of Cheyenne, and we
may soon expect TO see the phOnOgraph in
practical use i'll Utah. The machines are
not sold, but are rented to users at about |
forty dollars per annum. The cylinders
are purchased by the users. and will cost |
about twenty-cents each. The power for /
the photograph is supplied in various ways
by clock work, by treddles, and by stored |
electricity. 3 small storage battery used |
by Mr.. Holt lasts about six weeks. The !
will be very useful in CONNER /
cial offices, and will largely supersede stem /
as the typewriter can transcribe .
from it with ease. The sounds are re
)eated at the same speed a. which they are
spoken, but by break, the operator can
suspend the sound at any point, and if nee
sssary can repeat 1t.