The Portland daily press., 1896-04-16
EDlsoN's CHEAPENED PHoNoeRAPH.
1t Will be on the Market Shortly and Eve
rybody Can Afford One.
(From the New York Times

candesoent lamp, the utilization of cleo
tricity for power, traction, heating and
electrolysis, through it all his affection
has remained strong for his wonderful
little phonograph, with which, as if in
noble revenge for his deafness, he has
made such oonquests in the vague realms
of sound.
Yet he has tasted bitterness on account
of the successive sad experiences with
the monograph. Not only has his origi-
nality been contested by those who were
using his methods. but his profits and
royalties have been sucked up in indus
trial exploitation and panic.
Mr.. Edison now believes he sees the
end of bitterness. The receiver appoint
ed for the North American Photograph
company, which controlled Edison's in
venUions, has now sold everything to the
National Phonograph Company of
Orange, N. j., which will hereafter
handle the sales, and thus the inventor
will be able to control his apparatus and
to ender it available to the public in O
cheap and handy form.
Mr.. Edison gave the details of his
new idea yesterday to representative of
the New York Times. He had been pa
| tiently testing about 100 chemicals as to
their qualities of fuorescencc under the
Roentgen rays and sat down for rest.
| cit is true" he said, THAT new de-
parture is being made with the phono-
graph, and this is my first announcement
of any kind Oh the subject I do not
wish to talk about the past. I do not
care to think of it, bu t now see an op-
portunity to carry out my old ideas as to
the monograph. which is dearer to me
than almost anything else I ever tried
to do. 1t is a fundamental theory of
mine that you can do most good and
make most money when your invention
appeals to the public at large. What good
would my incandescent' lamp have been
if only few millionaires could have en-
joyed it? Today there are 8, 600, 900 lamps
burning, and thu number doubles well
nigh every year.
sit is the same way with the railroads
The everyday passengers earn the divi-
dends. not the Pullman Car tourists
Now have always wanted to get close
afford it, the man who has "a fine ear for
elocution, but is limited by poverty in
his patronage of the theater. Besides,
look at the educational work possible
with machine which puts in the most
modest household the very accents and
ewski played by himself; the oratory of
Depew, the elooution Of Irving or
Coquelin. Why, l can sit by the hour
myself, with tube to my ear and Listen
to those things, and l would not be hui
man If l didn't want everybody to share
my pleasure with me-"
ii "What is your new photograph like.
Mr. Edison?'' asked the reporter.
Mr.. Edison looked up sharply, ran his
hand through his iron-gray hair, which
was already standing out at right angles
to his head thought moment, and said:
well, don't see why you shouldn't
see it,"
He glanced around the laboratory. All
his assistants were busy. Fred OFT was
whiting slabs out of a huge block of
green fuorite. John OFT was in corner,
making final adjustments on some gear.
In the laIlp room otnermen were busy
making tubes for ray ex eriments. Then
Mr.. Edison himself hunted up one of the
new machines and set it down before
the reporter.
"There you are - said Edison, with a
glance of diffident pride. "You see, it is
, run by clook-work and a spring. I can
put that on the market for 35 or 40 dol
lars 1t is intended for reproducing rec
Ords of any kind. Another form ia made
) for recording and a little extra expense
fits it for both purposes. Thus, you see,
you can hear the best music in the world.
and the finest defamation for less than
{ the price of your wash bill.
1T is wound up BY this crank in 10
seconds 1t runs for u minutes. Two
of tho ordinary racord cv1in6arS can he
run through in that time, and all the
present records OF song, music and reci-
tation are available. Do you know what
that means? You can hear Beecher or
Won Moltke or old Kaiser Wilhelm or
0 Cardinal Manning or Gen. Sherman on
that little bit of machinery. You can
y listen to Booth or Jean de Reszke OF
o Calve or Bernhardt."
The new phonograph is about the size
q Of small hand sewing machine, and can
be carried around in it's case as easily as
3 hand camera. The spring motor is
strong but light. and the running parts
b are carefully finished. The ordinary
Il wax cylinder is used, and the most
marked change is the entire disappear
Is ance of the scratchy noise that is often
heard in the old apparatus
The music, of whatever kind, is smooth
and soft, and even where shrlll lnstru-
ments are employed in making the rec
= ord, the reproduction actually gains by
Q the purity of tone that it imparts. The
. shading is clear, and the overtones come
y out with distinctness, giving color to
y every tone.
t MI. Edison said that there are now
available several thousand record cyl.
inders, which include the best music and
8 elocution the world has ever known, any
9 one of which could be Slipped on in an
q instant. Another point in favor Of the
a new phonograph is that the repetitions
may run into the hundreds before the
wax valleys OF corrugations on the cylin-
ders are damaged.
"If you will find what I predicted
years ago." continued Mr.. Edison, you
: will see promised complete novels and
D operas on the phonograph. am keeping
, my word. I can now give you the opera
8 of Norma, music and words, on five
Z cylinders. But that is luxury, you
may say. Well, it is not a luxury to save
your eyes and give you frst-class eloou-
! %@a@%@HA