The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-02-16
WONDERFUL INVENTION.

Conspicuous among the interesting
exhibits at the Electrical Show to be
held in the First Regiment Armory,
Broad and Callowhill streets, Phila-
delphia, from February 14th to 26th,
will be the dictograph, an invention
that has been adopted by the United
States Secret Service and by large
banks and other institutions, where
espionage upon visitors is regarded
as of advantage to those in charge.
The instrument was shown to King
Edward last year and its varied uses
demonstrated for him and Queen
Alexandria in buckingham Palace.
X. NJ. Turner, the inventor, recently
went abroad for the purpose of Civ
ing King Victor Emanuel a similar
demonstrations at the Quirinal, at
the latter's special invitation.
The instrument magnifes sound
and enables the faintest whisper in
room to be heard with distinctness in
the remote part of any building with
which it is equipped. In this connec-
tion it is now used by one of the best
known fiuanciers of the world in his
Office in Wall street, New York The
diaphragm of the instrument in his
office is concealed in an ink well
which is secretly connected with a
wire that carries the conversation
between the fnancier and his callers
to a distant room where a stenogra-
pher at a receiving station trans
cribes it in her note book, unknown
to the visitor. Thus the financier
has faithful record of everything
said by himself and his caller, re-
specting the great financial deals that
daily engage his attention. In a
similar way the invention is being
employed by Chief Wilkie, of the
Secret Service and by the presidents
of many of the largest banks and
trust companies in the companies and
abroad.
Another unique feature of the in
strument is the opportunity it offers
a business man using it to dispense
with the personal attendance OF
stenographer in his office. Sitting at
his desk or walking leisurely about
his Office, he can dictate his cores
pondence to his stenOgrapher in an
other part of the building This can
be accomplished without talking di-
rectly into the machine or coming
in contact with it in any way, the
speaker often being 20 or 80 feet dis
tant from the instrument.
The inventor has arranged to in
stal it in several of the large hotels
of New York and other cities for the
purpose of paging guests in various
parts of the building He is also
planning to introduce it generally
into the rooms of several hotels in the
Theatre district of New York, so as
to enable the guests to be entertain
ed by music from adjacent play
houses, in which comic operas are be-
ing produced.
Another important application of
the wonderful invention to which it
will be adapted in the spring for
which arrangements are now under
way, will be as an adjunct of the u.
S. Signal Corps in important military
manoeuvres. A dictograph secreted
in a bush or tree alonside of the road
will enable the army using it to de-
termine the approximate size of
marching force by fixing the time it
takes to pass a given point. When
placed at the fork of road it will
also help in determining the direc-
ton of the enemy's movement.
In this connection it will prove in
valuable, military experts believe, in
time of war Inventor Turner says
that if Napoleon could have had the
invention as an auxiliary of his army
the disaster at Waterloo would have
been averted and Blucher's delay in
joining him discounted in advance.
AS soon as he returns from his
visit to King Victor Emanuel, Mr..
Turner intends to take up the ques-
tion of installing the instrument in
the Executive Offices at Washington,
so that President Taft, seated at his
desk may hear the debates in the
Senate and House of Representative
and thus keep in touch with every de-
velopment of the legislation in which
he is interested.
He has in mind also a similar in
stallation in several of the state capi-
tolls for the use Of the Executive who
desires to have up to the minute in
formation concerning the activities
of the State Legislatures.
Demonstrators will be on hand
during the exhibition and will show
the manifold commercial and other
uses TO which the invention lends
itself.
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