Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-13
SEEING BY WIRE,
Edison is Perfecting a Most
Curious Invention
CALLED THE EINTOGRAPH.
One May See Patti While He Hears
Her in the Photograph.
-a-,m nDnDT EMC IN Rr FnrnuIrnU
CALLED THE KINTOGRAPH.
GREAT PROBLEMS In ELECTRICITY

rsPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH.
NEW YORK, April 12.-Edison is about
to astonish the world with a new invention
more wonderful than the photograph.
found him yesterday at his laboratory in
Orange, the same unpretentious, enthusiastic
man he was 20 years ago. He calls his
latest invention the kintograph. When il
is completed, and Edison is perfectly con-
vinced that its perfection is now merely a
question of detail and experiment, it will be
possible not only to hear the voice of a
person coming from the phonograph,
but to see the persons face just as
it was at the time the words were
spoken, with every change of expression,
the movement of the lips, the eyes, etc. If
it is a reproduction of scene upon the
stage, the picture will be seen, the actors
moving about and making the proper
gestures as they speak. In the case
of the head of a person talking to
you from the phonograph it will be life
size if necessary. The mechanism by which
this is accomplished is extremely simple,
and the thing has been made possible by the
discovery of the instantaneous process of
photography. by which animals in motion
or a cannon ball flying through the air have
been photographed.
Suppose that Edison wishes to reproduce
the face OF a man as he says, How do you
do?" through the phonogIaph. Ii the time
required Tor saying "How do you do" is
two seconds, an apparatus is arranged by
which no less than 20 photographs can be
taken at equal intervals during those two
seconds. Now, if these 20 photographs,
which cover the whole space of time, at
intervals of tenth OF a second each, are
placed upon a wheel, side by side along the
rim, and this wheel is made to revolve in
front of a small looking glass, the result in
the looking glass is mans face as he says
"How do you do?"
PRINCIPLE OF THE KINToGRAPH.
The principle is the same as in the chill
dreu's TOYS, in which a number of pictures,
each slightly different, are revolved In 'front.'
of the mirror, the result being an animal or
person in apparent motion. To make mo-
tions of the face or of the persons in the
picture exactly coincide with the talk of
the phonograph is of course merely ques-
tion of nice adjustment.
Among the curiosties at the laboratory
saw large sheet ten feet square, upon
which, by means of magic lantern, expert
ments were carried out every night in pic
turing a man making q speech. First the
man makes his speech, the phonograph tax
ing down his words, and the photograph
making the pictures of him at intervals of
one-tenth of a second. Then the result is
thrown upon this sheet by means OF a magic
lantern, and the man, li.e-size, repeats in
the picture his performance. The results
are already so wonderful that I do not see
y. he 1hat L.
ing OF the invention is merely matter of
detail.
PERFECTING THE PHoNoGRAPH.
To come back to the photograph for few
words, since this wonder was given to the
public for practical use, less than year
ago, nearly ., 900 have been put into Offices
in this city and neighborhood, and while
there has been certain amount of trouble
in using them, partly owing to the deiicacy
of the apparatus, there has been steady ad-
vance in their favor, and recent improve
ments have further simplifed matters.
Within the last six weeks Mr. Edison has
succeeded in doing away with all necessity
OF fine adjustment, and the machine is ready
for work almost without touching; anyone
who can manipulate a typewriter or tele-
phone can manage photograph.
In the machine of year ago it was neces-
down talk and another for giving it out;
now there is but one. Water motors are now
also used in many offices in place of cleo
tricity for running the apparatus. at a great
saving ofmoney. The power needed is so small
that the cost for water to run photograph
six hours q day is not estimated at more
than S3 year.
EXTRACTING IRON ORE.
Within the last two years Edison has been
very busy with his process for extracting
iron from ore which is not rich enough to
pay for working by the ordinary smelling
process. This low grade ore, containing
about % per cent of iron, is to be found in
many places in Jersey and in Pennsylvania,
in immense quantities. and could be bought
for almost nothing. Edison devised a sys-
tenn for separating the iron by magnetism,
and finds that there is large profit in the
operation.
The company which he organized for the
working of his idea at first tried to get iron
from sea sand, the black sand from all along
the Long Island coast, but the deposits Of
such SAND were not large enough in any one
place TO pay for the erection, of extensive
works. So attention was turned to mines
that were known to contain vast quantities
OF such ore requiring simply 10 be crushed
aud then separated. Edison found at Ogden
in New Jersey, some so miles from New
York, on the shore of Lake Hopatcong, a
deposit of such ore sufficient to supply all
the blast furnaces of the United States for
the next so years.
DON'T TRUST TO PATENTS.
He has always been afraid of patents al
though he told me yesterday that he had
taken out more than 600af them in the last
80 years. His Patented inventions have,
however, been so persistently infringed
upon, putting him to vast expense for iiti-
cation, that he tries, if possible, to do with
out patents, and his present course is to buy
up all the deDosits cf this kind of ore in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania before taking
out patents upon the process. People can
infringe as much as they want to if he has
all the ore that can be used, and. as he saws.
there is enough of 1t to last half a century.
With one of the problems upon which the |
great inventor has been busy for several |
years, Edison confesses that he has as vet
made no progress worth speaking about, and
naturally that is one of the things which he
has most at heart 1 mean the proposed ap-
paratus for generating an electric current
direct from heat Scientists contend that
heat, light, electricity and power are all the
same thing under different lorms. At pres
eut, in order 10 get electricity out of heat, it
is necessary to transform the heat first into
power.
A ROUNDABOUT PROCESS.
The coal is burned under the boiler, Civ
ing heat, the boiler gives US power with
which to run the dynamo, and the dynamo
trans orms power into electricity. For the
last ten years inventors have been working |
at some process for developing an electric |
current directly from heat. Edison has de-
vised an apparatus which when placed upon |
the kitchen stove will give out little cur |
rent of electricity, but not enough for any |
serviceable purpose. He says himself that