Evening journal., 1910-07-18
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Time That Dana Doubted
EdiSOn'S Good Faith
(By +. J. Edwards.)

BY thcyear 1878 Thomas A. Edison
by his invention Of the stock ticker.
the quadruplex system in telegraphy
and a microphone and carbon trans
mitter in telephony, had become fam
Gus as a nineteenth century wizard
That year Charles A. Dana. editor of
the New York Sun, was told that Edi-
son had invented an instrument of
some sort that talked, and in due,
cOurseshe despatched the late Amos
J. Cummings. afterward a member OF
the House OF Representatives, and my
self TO Menlo Park, n. j., where Edi-
son had his laboratories, for the pur-
pose of inspecting and witnessing
demonstration of the alleged invention
as Mr. Dana called it.
We found Edison in the best of
spirits and standing before his newest
product. He turned the crank and to
our intense astonishment there came
from the bowels of the apparatus Edi-
sons own voice. Then he invited Mr..
Cummings to speak into the machine.
and an hour or so later both of us
were more astOnished than before, If
that were possible, to hear the ma
chine reproduce so perfectly that no
one who knew the voice could have
mistaken It, word for word just what
Mr. Cummings had spoken into It.
After that we we're entertained by the
machine reproducing a song which
our host told US had been sung into
the machine by one of his assistants.
| He thinks he can sing" added Mr.
Edison, drily. his irresistible tendency
to make a joke getting the better Of
him. And a little later, after he had
explained the mechanism and the phil
osophy Of the new invention, and its
probable uses, he solemnly declared .
"Why, this machine will knock report
ers out of business That is the only
regret | have about it,
Filled with amazement and enthusi-
asm. we returned TO The Sun office
and reported to Mr.. Dana.
Tom Edison has got the thing
sure declared Mr.. Cummings. His
machine will capture any human voice
aud then reproduce it just as distinct
ly as though the person were talking
to you"
Mr.. Dana looked incredulous
That's impossible he protested, de-
cidedly There must be some trick
about Il, some magic. There's a man
up at Niblo's Garden now who has a
thing he calls talking machine, and
we all know there's some trick about
it, It's the same with Edison's.'
"Well, there is magic enough in it,
Mr. Cummings replied and II does
the trick. too; but there's no trickery
about Il. Why, ! talked into 1t, and an
hour later there Il was saying exactly
what | had said and saying it i'm my
own tone of voice. Edwards here said
he could recognize my voice with his
eyes shut and that it was my voice
coming out OF the machine
MIR. Dana still looked uncOnvinced
How does he do it?' he asked.
WELL" replied Cummings, hes got
little thing somewhat like his mi
crophone transmitter OF the telephone
and when you talk against it it vi
hrates upon a tin foil cylinder, which
reproduces the vibrations. And those
vibrations, when the cylinder is put
into the machine and set going, repro
duce the human voice
Mr. Dana looked long and curiously
at Mr.. Cummings, as though he were
trying to determine in his own mind
whether or not his two reporters had
ben imposed upon. Cummings grew
impatient There isn't any doubt
about II. MT, Dana. ne exclaimed
with some heat Tom Edison has got
a machine that will catch the human
voice and reproduce il perfectly"
We'll" said Mr.. Dana, speaking
slowly and thoughtfully, 'if-you-are
-go-ahead. II Will make-a
wonderful-story."
1T will, indeed" cried Cummings
ITS the story of the most wonderful
invention ever made. And the man
that's made it's a wizard
The story of the phonograph. or
talking machine, as It appeared next
day in The Sun made a full page and
was the sensation Of the day Upon
reading e. Mr. Dana was convinced
that Edison had really invented what
he said he had; and ever after he re-
garded the phonograph as the most
mystic and wierd Of all inventions.
Copyright. 1910. by r. J. Edwards
All rights reservedl
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell OF
"The Invention That Edison Thought
Wonld Beat the PhOnOgraph CONNER
cislly."