The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-08-19

been anticipated by Aelnlholtz,
who had not only analyzed vowel
sounds into their constituent n1ii-.
sical elements, but had actually
produced vowel sounds by a syn
theticaI process, by combining n1H-
steal tones Of the required pltehes
and relative intensitles. He had:
produced these musical tones by
! means of tuning forks which we're
kept in vibration by an electrical
current, and had controlled the rel
ative intensities by resonators ap-s
Piled to the forks. :
..At this time knew nothing
whatever about electricity and
found myself quite unable to M
derstand, from Mr.. Ellis explana-
/ ton, how tuning forks could be-
made to yibrate by an electracaI:
current. e q
Heln1holtz' work had not then
been translated into French or
English and I was unable to read
| it in the original German
therefore took up the study OF cleo
tricity, and began to experiment
with electrical apparatus in the
hope that I might ultimately be
able to construct Helmholtz VOW
ell apparatus and repeat his exper-
iments.
When at last, after my arrival IN
America. succeeded in vibrating
tuning-fef,,sss, and tuned plates and
reeds by electrical means, made q
number of electrical Inventions
based upon the utilization Of n1tI-
sical notes as telegrapfie signals;
and these led gradually to the sn-s
/ yention Of the telephone itself
DIR. Bells First Invention.
| .T have often been asked Wheth-
er Z can recall the nature Of ny
| first invention and how I came 10.
make It. So far as j can rec0llecr
! it came about in. this way sss
When was quite a little fellow
| it so happened that my father had
! a pupil of about my own age with.
| whom I used TO play. He was the
son, of Mr.. Herdman, who owned
large -four mills near Edinburgh,
| and. of course, I went over to the
! mills pretty often to play with him
! there. We rouped about and got
/ into all sorts of mischief, until at
last one day Mr.. Herdman called
us into his Office for a very Sc
/ rious talk. -
why can't you boys do some
thing useful he said instead OF
always getting into mischief 2
.I mildly asked him to tell us:
some useful thing to do, and he re-
piled by putting his arm into F.
bag and pulling out a handful OF
! wheat. He showed as that the
grains were covered with husks.
/ and said: .If you could only take
the husks Off that wheat you'd
/ be doing someth hing useful ms
/; deed.
That made rather an in,pres-
son upon my mind, and I began:
| to think. why couldn't we take
the husks of by brushing the
iseeds with a naiibrnsh!! {
eve tried the experiment and
! found It successful. although it inS
volved a good deal OF hard work
from the two mischief makers We
nersevered, however, and soon had
Il nice little sample OF cleaneds
! wheat to show 70 NJ. Herdman. &
then remembered that during oslr
explorations at the mills we had.
came across a large vat or tnk
With paddle-wheel arrangement
/ in it that whirled round and royu1
j in a casing Of quite rough mater
ial. brushes or fine wire nettlng,
/, or something Of that sort. If we
could only put the wheat into that
machine, 4 thought, the whirling
OF the paddle should cause the
seeds to rub against the rough
surface Of the casing, and thus
brush OFF the husks.
| ct was a proud day for as
when we boys marched into ME-.
Herdman's Office, presented him
/ with our sample of cleaned wheat,
i and suggested padding wheat IN
! the dried-out vat. - !. - s..
/ !" why, said Mr.. Herdnaan:
i that's quite good idea. and he
Immediately ordered the expers-;
ment to be made. It was success
! full and the process. understand
.or a substantially similar one, has
been carried on at the mills eyer