The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-11-29
THEDUMB MAY SPEAK
AN INVENTOR CLAIMS HIS DISCOv.
cry WILL PRODUCE SPEECH.

His Idea of Making Church Organ
Talk-His Method of Experiment Was
simple-Chief Benefit viii he Its Utn-
ity To the Dumb.
Now that machines have been made to
repeat articulate speech, as the monograph
and the gramophone, the next wonder
which has been announced as scientific
discovery by an eminent inventor is that
by means OF simple machine the dumb
can be made 10 speak and the organs of
our churches and concert halls deliver ora
tions, songs and operas as If they were In
telligent human beings. 1t Is not q repro
duction Of something which has come from
the mouth Of a human being. 1t is apply
Ing TO "a person part or an organ ana
combining the properties OF the two in
such way that the oragn is governed en-
tirely by the intelligence of man; yet
though he says nothing, from the instru-
ment will come the sound as if he were
speaking, only in volume and tone the
sound being that given by the instrument.
In other words, the miracle of the Bible
will be performed in a simple way by sci
ence, and, Just as the eyes of the blind
have been opened by the oculist's knife in
cutting cataract or the deaf made to hear
by means of the dentaphone, so now there
comes into the use of man an invention
which will supply the wanting sounds and
enable him to converse with articulated
speech, and the huge power of the organ
or the siren on the shore can be converted
into songs that will fill city or choirs
that cost but little, yet render the most at
tractive music for opera or church.
Mr.. Berlincr's first conception of the
| idea of making an instrument produce
| speech of itself instead of reproducing that
| of persons was due to the fact, 80 he AYERS,
| that the mode of vocalization in the hui
man body can be almost entirely counter
! feitcd by mechanism, and that it occurred
| to him that il would be "a useful thing to
| apply the principles of human vocaliza-
ton SO that the expensive choirs OF
| churches could be obviated by machinery.
| That he has produced by machinery such
| specch-in other words, that he has made
| an organ talk he asserts is true, and
that the experiments, while yet in their
| infancy, show conclusively that the com
| pletion of his apparatus is but matter of
time and study of the human voice.
The method employed by Mr.. Berliner
| in his experiment was extremely simple.
Regarding the organ and body, it will be
remembered that the lungs of person act
as a pair of bellows; that the windpipe i:
the organ through which the air i:
pumped, and that the vocal chords give
the sound pitch, the words being formed
by the movement of the tongue, teeth ant
lips combined. Now, the sound Of tone
as it comes out of an organ pipe Is similal
to that given up by the human windpip'
before the words have been articulated b!
the mouth Hence, Mr.. Berliner reasoned
If this pipe sound of the organ could b.
conveyed to the mouth, just back in tn
throat and articulated properly by TIL
right motions OF the lips, tongue and teeth
the organ could be made to talk.
With bit of rubber tubing, which wa
placed with one end in pair OF below
and the other at the back of the mouth, h
found that by simply giving to the moutl
the motions it would use in uttering Gel
tain words the correct sound was produce
on the volume of air coming out of tn
! tube in the mouth, just as IL would hav
been made by the mouth in speaking wit
air from the windpipe. Though not
sound was uttered by his own mouth
which dumbly went through the pant6
mime motions used in articulations, ther
were words spoken by the vibrations jus
as If they were done in the ordinary way
only, of course, as there was no use OF I'll
vocal chords which give the varying pitci
the sound was all in the same key.
The use in church choirs would be
great feature of the service. Mr.. Berlint
suggests that for choir there ought to
four men, each one articulating from
different tube. representing diiferei
: pitches or different voices. such as bas
tenor, soprano and contralto. Thus all Il
, varying shades of music could be cheap
produced at third of the present expens
But the chief benefit to humanity WI
be the use to which the dumb can put tn
new invention The dumb are able
, move the lips in the motions used
: speaking, though they cannot utter
sound Now, if the sound be brought In
the back of the mouth, forced out al
properly articulated by the teeth, lips al
tongue of the dumb person, the resu
} will be speech With a simple and che;
apparatus this effect can be obtained.
course IL will require time for such pc
son to learn the correct motions to give
the mouth in order to produce the rig
} words but that will come readily with &
practice, just as one learns the typewrit
or to ride the bicycle. - Philadelph
4 Times.