The Newtown bee., 1908-11-13

ures there are studios in the Borough of The Bronx, and the Bronx Geological
 Park is largely utilized as a stage set
 ting. the company having long list of
 models drawn from the theatrical
 world. These pictures are tested in a
 tiny darkened room in the Orange fac
 tory, the operator paying minute at-
 tention to every detail of the pictures
 as they pass before him on the screen
 and removing from the film every
 blemish or defect. The pictures are
 constantly improving and the old time
 ilickering, once such strain on the
 eyes of the spectator. has been largely,
 although not entirely done away with.
 But, as a matter of fact. all of these
 things are incidental at Orange. The
 overwhelming product is that of phon-
 ographs, product probably five times
 as great as that of all the other arti.
 cles combined. It is interesting, too.
 to note that, while MT Edison himself
 possibly does not look upon the pho.
 nograph as the greatest of his inven-
 tions. which embrace telegraph i'm
 provements. engines, incandescent
 lamps and innumerable electrical ap-
 pliances, he has really devoted more
 of his time to it than any other, and
 that, while he has disposed of his in-
 terest in almost all the other Edison companies, he retains financial, per sonal and daily interest in the manu- facture and ceaseless improvement of the machine that is the most widely known and most popular of his nearly one thousand inventions. His labora- tory adjoins the photograph works, and his beautiful home at Lewellyn Park, nestling amld the trees on the Orange Mountains, is visible from the fac tory's upper windows.
 To be shown through eleven i've story buildings and five chemical lab: oratories that have marked the growth of the genius of one man is to get an astounding comprehension of the mear- ing of real industrial activity; and it may incidentally be noted that thor oughly to inspect these buildings re- quires walk of something like four teen miles. MT Edison once said tn at his success as an inventor had been the result of "2 per cent of inspiration:and 98 per cent of precipitation" As he takes that fourteen mile walk he is im- pressed with the fact that these thousands of men, women, boys and
 girls engaged in the making of in- struments that bring pleasure to mil . lions of people, and making them in vast, sunlit rooms, whose windows look out upon beautiful mountains and one of the most picturesque of American towns. have little persplration to con
 tend with, while the machinery every where in evidence seems as if pos sessed of a human brain. The most minute of parts, everything connected with the photograph. even to the smallest screw, is made in the factory by modern machinery that to a layman seems to do it's work by magic.
 Yet this does not mean that the workmen are not skilled. For exam pie, an exact number of vibrations are necessary to produce a certain tone. If that number varies and the tone in the most minute degree is not correct it will be evident that a mechanic of rare skill will be required to remedy the defect. Again, in the making of reproducing and recording points, which are sapphires, twelve distinct operations are gone through during the transformation of the rough stone into the finished point, each opera tion being done under powerful mi croscope. The sapDhires are ground by the use of diamond dust, and the utmost skill is required in the work.
 The "business phonograph" is the la test Edison development in this par ticular field, and it has already become an aid to the prompt, accurate and easy transaction of office business. It is in brief, the photograph known to lovers of music, but adapted to the writing of letters and every form of dictaticn. The cylinders for this form of machine are, of course, blank, and are longer than those used in the pure ly amusement machine. Hence they are made by a different process. They are moulded in plain brass cylinders, and the composition is poured in by hand. When they are taken out they are allowed to stand for two weeks before they are touched. The bore is reamed, the ends are trimmed ana the cylinder is shaved by machine so ad- justed as to take an exact amount off each blank. If the slightest flaw is found in any blank it is remoulded. q
 The first company to sell an Edison photograph was organized in 1878, bu t to-day perfected commercial machine has been in use only three years. It is now known over all the civilized world wonderful saver of time and money and a big improvement upon the old time method of dictating to a stenographer. he "voice writing" machine has reproducer by which any words may be repeated in case the dic- rator has been interrupted, an indi- | cator showing the length. of dictated letters and an index of corrections or instructions to the transcriber. With it one may dictate at leisure or with the utmost rapidity. The machine never grows weary or impatient, nor is it capable of making mistake. More than that, the busy man of affairs, |. while he cannot have his stenographer at his home after office hour, may have his business phonograph here, and dic- tate to it there at any hour of the night, and, in case of detention at home, can send the cylinders to the office.
 The diversified uses of the phono- graph are exemplified at the present