New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-09-11
Pocket Phone
To Be &c r.ied as
Thief Catcher.
wv. w. Macfarlane Here TO
Show Enrigl1t Means of
Flashing City-Wide Alarna
Almost Instantaneousiy
Philadelphia Testing II
Device Without Iransmitter
Can Be Connected With
Il Wire System i'm Moment

William Wallace Macfarlane, of Elk
ms Park, Pa, is here to demonstrate to
the police his new vest-pocket emerg-
eney telephone, device which scien-
lists say may revolutionize telephone
methods, and, applied to police usage,
eiIl lessen present criminal hazards.
. The Tribune Office last week was the
setting for the first demonstration Mr.,
Macfarlane has made of his invention
in this city. Within few days, how
ever, he expects to have Police Com
missioner Enright 'gisten in' on his
proposal to equip every patrolman on
tthe force with the instrument. Phila.
delphia was the first city to be at,
ztracted by the possibilities of almost
instantaneous communication through
the inventors device, and it is under
stood that an investigation there is
nearing completion.
Mr. Maefarlane regards the virtue OF
his device and public recognition of its
value in a great measure it's own re-
ward. He doesn't claim to be an Edi-
searches the work Of genius.
$ Uses No Transmitter
Taking from his pocket miniature
oval object, which he conveniently
prinped in the palm of his hand, he
offered it for inspection. 1t was a
drumlike object made of composition
similar to that used in regular tele-
phones and measured about six inches
in length by three in width and three
quarters of an inch in thickness. I'm
rolling a flexible cord three feet in
length, he quickly pinched its free ends
to a telephone connecting wire, AS
the instrument lay on the table
gravity device within broke off connec-
tion with tie operator, but the mo-
ment he raised it to his ear connection
was established and call was ODD
tanned.
The remarkable thing next apparent
was that the conversation was con-
Quoted fiuently and unhesitatingly with
the party on the other end of the wire
while the inventor merely held the
instrument against his ear and jaw.
No transmitter or nouthplece was
brought into use. The process OF
hearing and conversing was carried on
as. though one were employing the re-
Gceiver of the ordinary phone.
The inventor then stopped to explain
that the principle of transmission by
means of sound waves against the dia-
bhragrn of the usual telephone is here
replaced by physical vibrations com
municated from the slce of the face
against which the instrument is
placed. At one end a hole, which is
held to the ear, is the receiver, the
fiat surface of the other extremity
being the transmitter.
s.s lss To Show Police Uses
3 How this telephone can be utilized
by the police in almost any locality tt
communicate Immediately with head
quarters or with patrolmen on nearby
beats to block the escape of a fleeing
criminal or bring assistance is what
Mr.. Macfarlane expects to show the
Police Commissioner.
Terminal blocks connectable with {
specially devised key attached to the
phoning device are the only additions
adjunct necessary. These boxes car
be attached throughout the city in any
desired numbers to telephone connec
tions with only q few feet of wire
necessary to, connect with the city teie
phone system, according to Mr.. Mac
farlane. They could be installed, he
said at the rate of from rs cents to s.
each. BY means of signal light:
vicinity patrolman could be quickly
reached. Fifty phone connections
could thus be established for the pres
ent cost of one police signal box, the
inventor asserted, while every police
man on patrol duty equipped with {
pocket phone would have much greater
access to the wires.
Mr.. Macfarlane has given the name
of Cuckoo bona" to his invention, {
name derived from Porto Rican usage
His instrument is the result of expert
ments made at his Elkins Park labora
tories covering the last nine years.
Besides his transmitterless yes
pocket telephone Mr.. Macfarlane is ths
inventor of the railroad telephone
which permits passengers to converse
while travelling by means either of q,
audio-frequency wireless system or on
in which communication is establishe,
through the rails on which the train i
running. He is president of TIN
American Moving Train Telephone Cor
poration and the Cuckoo Bona Emerg
eney Telephone System.