Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-09-19
DOLLS Thai TALK.
How They Are Made at Inventor Edison's
Factory.

Every llttlc Rlrl lnat IeuuS says lno
N. Y. World will be interested to know
how talking-dolls are made in Mr.. Edi-
sons big factory.
In big room where there are
dozen great steam hammers some of
them weighing five tons. the tin is
taken in long sheets. When the sheets
come from under the hammers they
are stamped and cut into the proper
shapes. Next they go into the solder
ing-room. where they are put together.
A little door in the back of each body
is swung on hinges and opens and
shuts. Through this aperture the
phonegraph is set in place so that it
can be taken out again when it hap
pens to get out of order, which is not
very often.
In other rooms the brass cylinders
are stamped out and the steel pinions
and needles, diaphragms and frame
works are fashioned and polished by
machinery.
In still another room, which is divid-
ed into small apartments. there are six
big machines that look like the COM
mon Photographs. Inside of these on
a steel rod are strung fifty Little doll
cylinders. At each of the machines
sits a young woman, and next to the in
ventor whose genius devised the doll
and the agents who sell it. there is no
one about the factory whose work is
more important than hers. She furn-
ishes the doll with its voice.
There is big funnel shaped like
letter V before her and as the cylinder
begins to revolve she shouts into the
hole a verse from Mother Goose" She
must know exactly how loud to pitch
her voice and precisely how long to
make her lines. A little clicking noise
tells her when tho first cylinder has re-
ceiyed its message and then she begins
on the second one aud so on until the
entire row is ended.
This is not easy work. The girls
voice must be clear and strong. and
she must know how TO pronounce her
words clearly and correctly. In lit
tie while she becomes tired, and then
another trained girl takes her place.
There are eighteen of these girls in the
factory and only six can work at
time. The other twelve relieve them
when they are tired.
After the cylinders on which these
verses have been cut by means of the
little indentations | have told you about
have been taken out of the recording
machine they are given To n skilful
machnist, who puts the little phono-
graph together, and then they are fitted
INFO the dolls.
Now comes the inspection. The in
spector tries each doll by itself aud
those that are faulty are rejected. Per-
haps the girls voice was little husky
and the doll talks as though it had
bad cold or maybe the girl pitched her
voice too high and the doll squeaks out
its lines as no well-mannered dolly ever
does in rawing-room.
The defective dolls are sent back and
new cylinders are put into them. All
in all. about twenty men and girls do
some piece of work OH each doll before
it goes into the packing.room and is
put into box to be shipped to the
store-room in this city.
AT first it was a knotty problem how
the dolls could be packed safely. The
superintendent tried many experiments
before he hit upon the proper kind of
packing. After he had found what he
thought he wanted he threw the box
with the doll inside from the roof to
the ground. He found that the jar had
broken the doll but the photograph
was unharmed. Then he knew that
the packing was perfect.
The dolls are made in three STYLES;
blonde. with blue eyes, blonde with
brown hair. and brunette with brown
eyes. The cylinders are made in
twelve styles. similar in shape. but
each having a separate verse recorded
on its surface. Most of these verses
are taken from Mother Goose" aud
the dolls are called blue eyes, yellow
hair. Little Boy Blue. " or blue eyes,
brown hair Mary Had Little Lamb. q"
dolls. rs the case may. So far each
doll has only one cylinder which goes
with il, but some time in the future
there will be places in all large cities
where new cylinders. can be put in, and
when a little girl get tired of hearing
her dolly say the same words over and
over again she can send it out and have
new verse put in.
The wonderful capabilities of the
talking doll are infinite. Not only can
spoken words be repeated, but songs rs
well. Patti. for instance, could sing
into n recording machine and doll
would repeat her beautiful tones almost
the same as they were originally sung.
Mr.. Riley, or some other writer oil
nursery jfngles. can be utilized and the
dolls would repeat the poets own voice
as well as his words. And when il
comes to animals and birds. there is nc
end to the variety. Little photographic
lions with real roars and bona tide
grove, and miniature tigers with ma.
turai voices. would make toy men.
agere that would make Mr.. Barnum
turn green with envy.
To Mothers-in-Iaw.
Here is sonic tupd advice for moth