The Anaconda standard., 1899-03-10
VOICE GREATLY MACNIFIED,
bfiton InVents n Valuable Improvement
in the Telrphune.

in the Telephone.
From the London Mail
PROVISIONAL protection has just been
| granted for an invention that is said to
| carry the voice loudly and clearly for
miles 1t is claimed by the inventor
that the fitting of his apparatus in the
| mousse or commons. and connecting it
TO Hyde park would allow of thousands
| Oh people nearing in clear tones every
| word spoken in tn" parliamentary
chamber. This discovery of the power
to magnify all sounds. both vocal and
instrumental, has been made by Hor-
ace L. Short. consulting mechanical
| engineer of New Maiden. Surrey. The
inventor has had varied and world
| VIDE experience, although only young
| man. Educated at the Risley grammar
| school, Derby, he was afterward en-
| ployed at the Stanton Iron works in the
Midlands at Crompt"n & COS, cleo
| tricians, and ultimately at the Chatham
| dock yard. He resigned this last posi-
ton to go to Mexico as chief engineer
of the Compagnie Minerale de Panuco.
| 1t was there that he brought his eX-
| perlments, with what is really a phono-
graphic voice trumpet of great dis
tance-covering capacity, to the pitch
| OF what he regards as practical sue
| cess.
| Daily Mail representative yester-
day saw the instrument working in
doors and had an interview with Mr..
Snort. who took the apparat tus to
pieces in his presence. The simplicity
Of the device is, perhaps. the most i'm
| portant part of the invention. With
| out divulging any details, which it is
| necessary to keep secret until the pat
ents. now applied for in different parts
Of the world have been granted, it may
| be Stated that the apparatus consists
| of phonograph with special cylinders
and bearing funnel-shaped mouth
piece. Most people have heard with
tubes in their ears the records of the
phonograph. The new instrument gives
forth the musical and vocal sounds in
such volume as to be almost deafenng
in an ordinary sized room. and, as Mr.
Short showed, he could increase this
volume at will.
My instrument" he said, will work
distinctly and with satisfaction over
two miles and this I have actually
proved. 1t is only six months since
| returned to England, but the expert
ments made in that time convince me
that the voice can be conveyed over
treble that distance with ease. My
first idea of its use was for ship cap
tains when in a heavy fog a sea or for
ships passing each other at night at a
distance when their lights only We're
visible. Now, however. l realize that
ltltpIlJlltS eau Dt Hldut hN lllt new
cound- magniter to amplify a speakers
voice so that it will fill the largest hall.
This will allow Of a political speaker
or professional vocalist entertaining
three or four audiences eeated in halls
wide apart at one and the same time.
In time of war the admiral in COM
mand will by means Of my invention
be able to issue his own orders by word
of mouth to the different ships of his
squadron. Light houses may speak to
ships in dangerous positions and the
vessels themselves communicate in the
same way with the coast by all Of this
invention. Orderlies will no longer risk
their lives, except where absolute Sc
crecy is required, in carrying orders
| under fire from a commanding general
to the battalions of his army.
Just as the power Of the eye has
| been increased so that the distance be-
teWeen the heavens and the earth has
been considerably dPcreasd, so has this
discovery intensified the space over
which the human voice, and sound gen
orally, will travel"