Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-31
THE NEW PHONOCRAPH.
A View of Its Operations When In Full
Blast I'm the Newspaper Office.


graph, few of which are now on the
market, is going to work revolution
in newspaper offices. The editor or
reporter will talk what he has to say
right into the photograph. The metal
strip which receives the remarks, which
Mr.. Edison calls the phonogram, but
which probably should more properly
be called the gilder-fuke, is then re-
moved and sent to the composing
room, where it will be inserted in the
compositor's photograph. He will press
a lever with his foot, and the machine
will casually mention ten words, and
then relapse into deep thought, till he
sets them and repeats the perform
ance. If he doesn't catch the remarks
he kicks another lever and the ma
chine repeats.
All this has a very interesting ap-
pearance at distance, but it does not
seem as if the composing-room will be
altogether free from trouble, even
when there is an able photograph
wearing a swallow-tail coat and opera
front vest, sitting up on every case,
debating scholarly editorial and graph
ic descriptive matter. 1t will make
the compOsing-room partake some
thing of the nature of an anarchists
meeting to have half dozen phono-
graphs in an elocutionary voice talk
ing off editorials, while twice as many
are rolling out editorial matter,
and another gang are making very
earnest remarks about the markets,
and still another lot are roaring out
the advertisements. When one of the
editorial machines begins to get deep
ly in earnest and puts one hand under
its coat-tails, swells out it's breast and
talk very loud about "a Crying Need
of the Hour" it will only help to con-
fuse matters. So also will the Gov
eminent chemist in the baking powder
advertisement, and the reduction sale
dry goods announcements; when these
monographs begin to paw the case,
and howl and occasionally shoot out an
electrotype cut of new summer suit
or something, and take the compositor
in the ear, and knock him down and
then get mad because he isn't up and
at work, it is going to make exciting
times.
While the unsuspecting photograph
is leaning over and pouring its ten
words in to the compositor's ear he
will forget, and make his well-known
and heated remarks about the lean
ness of the type or unsatisfactory
character of his "take," or he will
make overtures to another compositor
looking toward the loan of some to-
bacco, and the photograph will take
nd oil
on 1.-The Progress of ChE.eh Work, :"
and he will set it this way and subse-
ouently the earnest. glowing swear
word of the proof-reader will be noted
as IL floats out from another room.
Then one of those excitable nervous
men will be working on a case with a
quick, impulsive photograph, and the
foot lever will break, or something,
and the photograph will 60 right on
talking, and he will try to set as fast
as it can talk. The casual spectator
will observe tall, round-shouldered
man, with no suspenders on, humping
down over the case and making des-
perate and lightning-like grabs after
letters out of two boxes at once. The
air will be filled with type flying in all
directions, and above the roar of the
photograph, ,galioping along on ca
BILE dispatch full of Russian Generals
names will be heard the red, molten
remarks of an excitable, nervous COM
position. The type in the air will grow
thicker. pieces OF the partitions be-
tween the boxes will join the cloud,
the nervous man will double over still
more and clutch whole handfulls of
''e;s" and three-em spaces and hurl
them up to the ceiling, scrape down
the upper-case. tearing away the
boxes, all the time yelling stopper
'er!' to which the machine will only
reply with a hoarse, hollow laugh, till
at last lie will seize it, and tear 1t from
its place, and beat the floor with the
helpless mechanism till it becomes
shapeless mass, and hasn't word to
say, and till the tall, excitable COM
positor has to be be carried away to
the hospital.
Such scenes as these will tend to
disturb the harmony of the composing
room and cause friction.
Again, when the editor is pour
ing his tale into a photograph, per-
haps door will slam, for instance,
and the faithful instrument will record
it; and when it is repeated for the
compositor, if he doesn't happen to
fully understand the thing, he will
stand there all night trying to set that
slam.
This will cause loss of time. and
more friction and profanity, and on
the whole there is going to be more
trouble with the photograph in the
composing room than there is now
with the dark, mysterious, unknowa-
BILE specimens of penmanship at pres
ent turned out by the editor, who
claims that he used to set type with
Horace Greeley. and has been frequent
iy reused out of sound sleep in the
middle of the night to find the elder
Bennett standing by his bedside wait
ing with a perplexed air to ask his ad-