The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-10-16
woNpreruL EDISON.


The reporter asked Mr.. Edison if it
was true that he had invented a machine
i,v the aid Of which man in New York
would be able 20 see everything that his
wife was doing in Paris.
Il don't know. said 8Ir r. son. laugh
ing. that that would l,e : sea. beneiit TO
humanity. The women certainly would
protest. But. speaking seriously, am
4 at work on an invention which viii ell
low a man in Wall street not only TO
Telephone toa friend in the Central park.
but 10 see that friend while he is chat
ting telephonically with him This in
vention would he useful and practical,
and see no reason why it should not
soon become a reality, and one Of the
first things that / shall do when ] get
back TO America will be TO set up this
contrirance between my laboratory and
nv telephone workshops. Moreover,
have already obtained satisfactory re-
suits in reproducing images at that dis
tance, which is only about 1000 feet 1t
would be ridiculous to dream of seeing
any one between New York and Paris
The round form Of the earth, if there
were no other difficulty in the way. would
make the thing impossible
Speaking Of the pbonograph, the re-
porter asked If it had reached its highest
degree Of perfection.
Almost. / think said Mr.. Edison.
in the last instruments runsed out of
my workshops You must know that
the ordinary photograph employed in
commerce does not begin 10 compare
with the latest machines that use in my
private experiments. With the latter
can obtain sound powerful enough TO
reproduce phrases of a speech that can
be heard perfectly by large audience.
Nv last ameiiorations were with the as
pirate sounds, which are the weak point
Of the graphophone. For seven months
/ worked from eighteen to twenty hours
a day upon the single sound specia. !
would say to the instrument 'specia,'
and it would always say 'pecia,' and
couldn't make it say anything else. It
was enough to make me crazy. But
stuck to it untl l succeeded, and now
YOU can read thousand words of a
newspaper at the rate of 100 words a
minute. and the instrument viii repeat
them to you without an omission You
can imagine the difficulty Of the task
that / accomplished when tell you that
the impressions made upon the cylinder
are not more than one millionth part OF
an inch in depth. and ere completely in
visible even with the aid Of a micro
scope"
Reporter-And what new discoveries
will be made in electricity?
Mr.. Edison-Ah, that would be diff
cult to say. We may some day come
upon one Of the great secrets of nature.
am always on the look out for some
thing which viii help me to solve the
problem Of navigating the air. have
worked hard upon this subject. but am
very much discouraged We may find
something new before that comes. but
that viii come.
Mr.. Edison further said that the great
development of electricity viii come
when we find n more economical method
OF producing it During his trip across
the ocean he remained for hours on deck
looking at the waves. and he says that it
made him wild when he saw so much
force going to waste. But one Of these
DAYS" he continued, 1--WE will chain all
that-the falls Of Niagara as well as the
Withstand that will be the millennium
Of electricity. Courier des Etats- Unis.