Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-28
ELECTRICAL MUSIC.
Tunes Can Be Played Upon the Ordin-
ary Arc Lamps.

A curious discovery. which results
from much electrical research and ex-
pertinent at the Central Technical col
lege of the city and guilds of London in
stitute. is reported by w. Duddel. Mr.
Duddell recently explained the discov-
cry scientifically at the Institution of
Electrical Engineers in lecture on.
Rapid Variations in the Current
Through the Direct Current Arc" In
more homely language Professor Ayr
ton gave interesting details recently:
The arc, of course. is the blaze Of
light which exists between two sticks Of
carbon placed end on and between which
the electric current flows.
TO illustrate the flame music dis
covery l must remark that two differ
ent kinds of carbon are employed in
the arch lamps used for lighting the
streets, railway stations, public halls,
etc. In the one kind tn ecarbon stick is
made hollow and is filled with pow
derry material, while in tn other kind
tn carbon is homogeneous. The former
type of carbon is called 'cored,' the lat
ter solid
Nov, the cored carbon arc Mr.. Dud-
dell mas shown to possess no musical
soul. 1t is deaf to all persuasions
"hSl cos l1IC oOllu CdIUOil arc, lie mas,
is like the mouthpiece of flute, ready
to emit any note. The note of the flute
depends, of course, on the length of the
pipe, as determined by the position of
the fingers and the raising of the keys.
whereas the note given out by the solid
carbon arc depends on the nature of a
bypass or 'shunt,' that is put across the
carbons.
MIR. Duddell having evolved these
facts, arranged keyboard of two oc-
taves, so that he could play tunes.
I'm demonstrating this before the
scientific body referred to- continued
the professor, che arranged four arcs
III series to increase the loudness of the
sound and by carrying the self-induc-
ton and capacity in the 'shunt' circuit
he played the national anthem upon the
electric light.
Now, this Keyboard he explained, -
| may be placed at distance from the
arc light, just as the current itself sup.
| piled to an arc lamp is in most cases
| generated by a machine at a consider
! able distance.
| Hence" said the scientist, 1--WE have
| this great possibility. namely that the
! ordinary arc lamps at present used in
lighting a hall can be played on not
1Cerelv Dy a performer who is in the hal
itself, but who may be outside some
where else. Consequently, an audienc;
who are paying no more attention to the
arc lamps hung up above them thai
they would to gasoler may be sud
denly astonished to hear atune coming
from the space around tEeih. '5i'' ~. ~
| IT do not wish to give the impression
of course, that out of the arc lights thu
glory produced by Joachim or Pad
| e,ewski, but what can be done is tt
produce and play tunes on electric light.
while the player is invisible-and this al
| no great expense.
! why, for halls, winter gardens-al
| buildings, in short that are places O
| public resort-the possibilities of elec
trio music in the air are very sugges
| tive"
Mr.. Duddell has also shown that tn.
electric light arc can be used as a tele
| phone receiver. He has already used i
for the receiving of telephone current
from a transmitter spoken into in an
other part of the building.-Londol
| Mail.