New-York tribune., 1908-11-29
BUSINESS PHONOGRAPH
Ne.c Motor Makes 1t Tsdbte Hfth
l4nu Current.

II easily. because. + you are business man and
have letters dictate to stenographers OF Narla
bic intelligence you sra sure 70 take adVan'aee ol
voice writing some day and wonder why you didn
do lens before,
Tie term voice writing is a hy-p7oduct Of the
great Edisca factories at Orange, y. j.. and the
mechanical devices which form the voice writing
system" are an7cng the principal products OF that
beehive Industry, inspired by that goth century
wizard Thomas A Edison. Il is many years since
Edison took cut his first patent on the phono-
eraph The first company TO Manufacture tnc ma
chine was organized In 1878 bGt ii was net Until
1905 that the perfected commercial nacnine was
nu+ On the market Yet, while that machine was
cor,rre-e IN so far as doing the wcrk was coa-
cerned il still fsII short in the point Of motive
power; ii could be operated only where certain
kind Of electric c,ren could he obtained to run It's
motor and thus greatly limited in use.
Now the Edison people announce that ne"
motor has been invented that will respond to any
current and that the voice writing system" can
be applied to the business Of the world The new
invention IL known the universal electric no'oI'
which with the assistance Of the variable Re
sistance device, be run by direct or alternating
currents of whatever character.
a visit u the Edison factories at Orange was re-
qured get the details and 4 practical demon
stration Of the voice writing system There an
old Edison man was met who fairly lives and
breathes the atmosphere OF voice writing. He Is
Nelson {. Durand. sales manager Of the Edison
Business Phorograph Company. organized to make
and sell the machines, and who is equalled as
taIke- only by the machine itself Under his guild
all the niceties of the recording machine
which takes your dictation; the reproducing ma
chine which -epeats your words the operator
Of the typewriter and the shaving machine, which
cleans off the cylinder on which previous dc
ta.ions have been recorded preparing it for further
use explained YOU
"As these several devices operated by eiec-
tricity,' he says. by reason cf universal
motor and variable resistance confidently ex-
pect to very greatly extend its field Of use
fulness Let me make this plain. To begin
with there is no ether Office appliance that de-
pends SO much fer effectiveness Upon the uni
form and relative motion of its operating parts
as the business phonoeraph When this motion
must be supplied by the electric current conven-
iently at hand in business mans Office. the prob
lem Of Uniform motion arises. There are many
different kinds Of electric current, each of which
Will run a motor, but ordinarily a special motor
has been required for each Kind of current.
Now, il wouldn't be practical to make a motor
for every kind of current. for there too many
different kinds, and, also, the man who this week
is using direct current n his office. may change
It next week for an alternating current Of which
there are several different phases, all requiring
different Here is example. related to
me to-day by one OF our Philadelphia statesmen
He tried, not long ago, to sell one of cur old
machines equipped With direct current motor to
a manufacturing concern in this city. The plant
itself The Office was lighted by an alternating
current supplied by the general lighting plant
Until five O'Clock il the afternoon a current TO
run the phonograph could be obtained from the
factory, but the factory shut down at that hour,
and the phonograph could not be run by the other
current, We lost the sale.
You can see. then. tnat the real problem was
to build motor that would with any
rent That is why universal motor is of such
vast importance. We consider it o. the great
est steps forward in the development Of the bust
ness phonograph that has been recently made.
Now, we place the Edison business phono-
graph in any office, attach 1t the electric light
fixture. ascertain the character of the current,
and adjust the variable resistance conform to
it, and the machine will run.
But there were ether problems Just as hard as
the motor problem before We brought the bus1-
Eess phonograph to its present perfection. Our
cd cylinders would take hut fraction over
five minutes dictaticn. about SEQ words We
wanted to increase its capacity. Mr.. Edison dis
covered that he could cut 200 threads to an inch
on cylinder, and we decided that $50 to the inch
would be enough but when we came to do #
there were a score Of other matters to be ad-
justed. Now cylinders VIII take eight min
utes dictation, about 12ao words CT ten average
letters
Every little thing connected with the several
hlachlhes used in the voice writing system has
gone through the same experimental stages. There
- ne stf1t thg ana stopping device perfected in
the heNible metallic foot-trip; the combined record
ing and reproducing mechanism. which enables
the dictator instantly 20 hear what he has lust
dictated: the receiving horn, which we have found
to he better than the old speaking tube for die
tatng. and even the cover of the machine which
conpes the operator switch off the current that
runs the motor before the machine can he pron-
erly enclosed"
The Edison man went to show how the CYL
inders Were shaved of after the letters dictated 70
them had been written. The little electric shaver
did this in about minute leaving a clean
smooth surface ready for more dfctatIon Each
cylinder will stand 10 shavngs As the question Of
the practcebi'ity of the voice writing system is
OF great interest 10 the business man. the Edison
representative explained il at length
We make the claim that the business phono-
graph is the greatest time-sayer ever devised for
office use said ne. 1T saves the time of one
person in debating and cuts the cost Of turning
out letter at least one-ha 1t also increases the
usefulness OF the stencgrapher . no ceases to be
q fair stenosrap pher and becomes n coed operator
Suppose that you adopt the voice writing system
When you open your mail in the morning YOU. put
a cylinder on your business phonograph. switch
the current and Begin dictation: you talk into
the horn Of the machine just as you would talk
20 the stenographer, but you don't have to stop
20 spell the word she cant spell; you don't have
10 wait for her catch up to you when YOU talk
too fast: in fact there none OF those little in
terruptions that annoy you and impeI you to tell
her TO go TO night school and learn TO spell you
sometimes do
Quite true you reply but. suppose some one
interrupts and / forget what said last; sup
pose ! want TO change statement | have Just
made sive special Instructions regarding
the letter just dicta ted; maybe I want to cancei
all l have said. What / do then with this
voice writing system"
All it's right here that the Edison system has
you beat to a frazzle' every proposition. On
the business photograph is indicator and scale
that is similar that on a typewriter. T. tou,