Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-11-07
EDIsoN's PHoNocRApH.

ROY fAs Wizard OF Menlo Park Han
pe"eu TO Invent the Instrument,
nave never seen in print true
account OF how Thomas A. Edison first
conceived the idea Of the photograph"
remarked an electrician who was at
one time in the "Wizard'sr employ.
"lhe monograph is the wonder OF the
world, and one of the few inventions
winch 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
a rule concede that Edison did really
invent the monograph 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
lame, he devoted months to perfecting
the telephone, and undoubtedly did
more than any other inventor to make
1t practical by introducing the carbon
plate into The transmitter. While ex-
perimenting on diaphragms for the
telephone Edison had constructed a
number Of small sheepskin drumheads
to test their value as diaphragms COM
pared with metal and other sub
stances.
ITO some OF these sheepskin dia-
phragms he had attached q small
metal 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 ex-
pectations and he discarded them and.
as usual with appliances he decides to
be useless, they were thrown aside to
be removed with other rubbish.
''His assistants soon discovered that
by holding the sheepskin diaphragms
In front of their mouths and emitting
a cultural sound between the lips a
peculiar noise approaching music could
be produced. 1t was something SINH.
lar to the alleged music produced by
covering comb with thin paper and
humming tune on it. In passing one
OF the men engaged in playing on Q
diaphragm one day Edison playfully
attempted to stop the noise by touch
ing the projecting metal pin with his
finger, and NO sooner had he done SC
than he gave one Of his peculiar starts
Ell! What's thatp said he. which Sc
astonished the performer that hi
dropped the diaphragm. DO tina
again, said the Wizard and it wa,
repeated, and again his finger touched
the pin. to his evident delight. II,
went about for some time asking on,
after another OF his assistants to hum
or sing against the diaphragm, ant
finally he got them to talking agains
it, he all the time touching the PHI
lightly with his finger
"I have it, said he. finally, and h,
retired to his den and commenced
drawing diagrams for new machinery
which his assistants speedily made
and few days later the first phone
graph was put together. 1t was
crude affair, the pin making an impress
sion on wax, and it talked imperfectly
but it did we'll enough to show Edison
that he was on the right track, and h
rapidly improved ituntil now it is yer.
nearly perfection. A hundred me-
might have felt the vibration OF tina
pin attached to the piece Of sheep-skin
but 1t took an Edison to instantly real
ize that the vibrations might be mad
to indent soft substance and be sus
ceptible OF reproducing the exac
sounds of the human voice that cause
the different vibrations. The phone
graph was regarded as a toy at first
but it sold for 100000 recently
N. Y. World.