Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-04-14
HE MADE FIRST pHoNoeRAPH.
John kreusi, ,Who Was Buried on Feb
IS, Was One Of Edison's Best As
sistants.

nj. q man who made the first phono-
-. \Wasburied at Schenectady on
I'll Or He was one Of the little band
~ - tho worked with Thomas A.
Ta,nn y. Menlo Park and through
,vhnsa s,n, and faithful assistance
"Ae aa..a,a,, ID the, many inventions
~s,e usv.,o - vdisd ngthe name Of the
winch ga, ,, wa . la those days that
WlNa'o .'s.a ta he, On ieabsorbed in the
Edls s, us~ Of an IDEA, work at #
. uats'o o,,, rest or sleep cor two or three
avs and nights and K e ~ two IL
d. KIT him busy at the So me 'l.ne. ne
abo ! cali in an organ grin aer from .ne
woui, TO keep his meri az wahe VI re,
streets some other such q, WEE an
SUI ~ ~, strain was finally o. o,,,,, t,,a
MIe' IN, ,n nd take all hands q. %n,ons
ua, ~, A Nhing excursion. the
10y w. .;ra,e IS Of the men aboh .oh,
. .nv a about that time was j ~
x',,as; tho man who made the ht
nhonorranh. The IL ea had come TO- MY
rdison as an inspira% ton a rev aags]
$3.50 while he was \ experimenting
whit telephone disk. ne AlSh
not. Enclosed. and there was d sIah
pointed pin on the back of IT. as
Edison spoke against the ia ce oi ..ne
disk, it's vibrations drove the -VLu INV
his finger. 20
IF the disk has power enough 10
prick my finger" thought the VIA ru'
ut has power enough to make II
ord which can be reproduced
A few days later he called kruesi u
him, and, putting into his hands
rough sketch of The phonosrapn' ca
r,ained what the thing was to do ana
II
chine, the roll covered with tintoll To
take the record.
Kr,esi made the machine and
brought it to Mr.. Edison. Edison set
1t going and spoke into 1T:
Mary had little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to CO.
Then he started It to repeat his
words. expecting at the best but a
horse murmur in answer. He was al
most awed when he heard his words
actually repeated in clear tones by the
little machine That machine is now
in the Patent Museum at South Ken
singtOn.
Mr.. Kruesi remained with Mr.. Edi-
son and became one Of his partners In
the DEVELOPMENT of an electric light,
and in 1886, when the Edison machine
works were removed to Schenectady,
he went there as assistant general
manager under Mr.. Samuel Insall. In
1892 when the General Electric Com
pany was formed and the whole plant
of he great combination was CONSOLE
dated. Mr.. Kruesi became general man
ager of the works. 1t was under his
supervision that the Schenectady
works. the largest and most complete
of their kind in the world. were de-
signed and built. At the time of his
death Mr.. Kruesi was the chief me-
chanical engineer Of the General Elec-
trio Company. OF the original Edison
band of workers only three were abb
sent from hte funeral. These were T
c. Martin. editor Of the Electrical En-
gineer: Luther Stieringer, and f. II
Johnson. all Of whom were unavoidably
detained elsewhere.
Mr.. Kruesi was a natipe of SwitZer'
land. and was born in 1S43. He came
to this country in 1870 and went tt
work for the Singer Sewing Machine
Company at Elizabethport. In June
1872. while Edison was making Colo
and Stock exchange telegraph instru
ments in a Newark shop, Kruesi JOINED
him and was one of the first of hi
workmen to be transferred from com
mercial to experimental work when Ed
ison got money enough to open shol
for the Development of his ideas II
1876. That shop was in Greene stree,
Newark. > --