Evening star., 1926-05-20

Retains Great Energy.
II would be far more appropriate to
speak ot Emile Ber!iner as 70 years
Young. There is no man of 30 any
where in the United states more
I n@F%ctiCalll active. lie is sti} invent
ing. "Acuustic tiles" are the latest
5product Of his cenius. They are des-
tined TO revolutioniZe interior archi-
stecture. BY means of them the hear
ing facilities in churches, catnedrals.
theatprS, opera houses. auGitoriumS
sand assembly halls Will be immeasur-
ably improved. y priest singing mass
on an altar in Il building equipped with
s"aCOustic tiles" Will be able to make
ehmself heard, speaking in Il conVcrSa-
.tional tone, more than Il thousand feet
away.
! The year 1926 is the golden jubilee
OF the telephone. Berliners first
strumphant excursion into the inven-
tive realm was III connection with
alexander Graham Bells solution of
sthe problem pf transmitting speech by
wire. Berliner, who had arrived in
sWa>hington in 1S1! a. a German lad
sof II, was making his living as a dry
goods Clerh ON Seventh street when
ethe exhibition ot the Bell telephone at
the Philadelphia Centennial electrified
the world
Though utterly without technical
education. Rctliner began expert
,menting III telephony at his humble
lodgings in Il house on Sixth street.
%The hor~e 60. >lg still stands. As il
happer.S 10 be inhabited hy n family
which has no fewer than five members
semploycd by the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telerhune 60. il has been
decided. because OF Berliner's associa-
-tion With the premises, t. chr.sten il
-'Te!cphCne House. An appropriate
tablet Will record the history of the
building.
Invented Tran>mitter
BerIiner's telephone experiments
conducted with crude paraphernalia.
resulted in April, 1911. in the inven-
ton OF the microphone-late~ pop
suiarly known as the telephone trans
mitter. II is the same microphonic
principle, applied 70 radio that makes
modern hroadrasting possible.
The microphon", "r uarsmitter.
completed the Hell Telephone I-D to
that time Bells invention simply
was a good receiver. II was % very
poor transmitter. even for short dis
stances. Eventually the Bell Conn
inany, largely through the activities OF
Theodore \. Vail, then Superintend-
ent OF railway mails in the United
S0lSllSN tSl N)slltt' JFtl'tl JtilClI III
Washington, acquired the Berliner
Tnicrophone patents They were tri
umphantly defended by the He'll in
terests through II subsequent years
of the bittereSt litigation III United
states Supreme Court history. Ber-
liners original microphone--a soap
hox-has an honored place in the Ma
tional Museum.
Ten years after patenting the micro
phone Berliner turned his attention
TO the talking machine. In 1888, be-
fore the Franklin Institute at Phila-
delphia, he exhibited hi; invention of
The gramophOne---d word which is
coined. That machine proved to be
the direct fOrerunner Of the modern
apparatus, which has set the whole
world 10 music through the Use Of
records Berliner not only invented
the gramophone, but devised the
'}ateral-cut disc" record. whereby il
became possible 10 manufacture an
unlimited number of the same re.
corded impressions of speech or music
Inc disc record revolutionized the
talking machine art. as Rerliner's in.
MENTION OF the microphone.transnitt
reVolutionized the telephone industry.
Is Given Full Credit.
Waldemar Kaempffert ona.tin,a
editor Of the Scientific American. and
co-author of A Popular History of
american Invention" has said
wv hatever the telephone and the talk.
ing machine may have been before
Emile Berliner's time. II cannot ha
successfully disputed that he convert
cd them into the instruments thew
are today"
Ihe FRANKLIN Institute has bestowed
ltS gold medals on Berliner for his
contributions 70 telephony and 10
the science and art Of sound repro
dueti"n' and for his gramophone.
Here In the District Of Columbia
f1nilo Berliner is best known 10 tho
modern generation for his urrenlitting
services IN the field of child health
ana prevention of tuherclllar (isea So
TO That work he has practically de-
voted the past quarter Of a century Of
MS active life and unstinted portions
OF MS fortune. In 1901 he founded
m washington q Society for the Pre-
Tentlon Of Sickness" 1t was tha
ehrySa lis OF n movement that event,1.
ated' IN 1907, in the holding Of a
Halonal mllK conference in the Capi.
lai City. There for the first time milk
Standards were promulgated, and the
cause Of astcuriZation Of all doubtful
milk received the emphatic indorse
p,ent Of the conference From 1917
80 1922 Berliner was president of the
Association FOR the Prevention of
tuberculosis for the District of Co.
hlmbia. The other day DR.. George
N. kober. eminent Washington medi-
cal scientist, in a public address in
honor of Berliner's approaching
seventy fifth birthday anniversary
recorded that during the year ended
Tune 80, 1925, of 9,277 babies born in
Che District only 113 died from in
testinal troubles. mo better proof
gould be given" said Dr. Kober, ito
Indicate Berliner's clear insight into
the method of conducting popular
health education"
Has Faith i'm Washington.
Emile Berliner has been a longtime
and inveterate believer in the future
F Washington as a city. His earliest
earnings from his telephone and talk
Ing machine inventions were invested
N Capital real estate. of which he
remains an extensive holder.
He married in 1881 Miss Cora
Adler of Washington. They are still
surrounded by a large family of
e3lildren and grandchildren.
The man who taught the cowboy
10 whistle grand opera celebrates the
diamond jubilee of his birth in wholly
Jnimpaired mental and physical vigor.
From the volcano of his inventive
resourcefulness it is safe to predict
still further eruptions.
Before the year is out "The Life of
Emile Berliner" will be added to the
biogra phies of the many Americans
whose scientific achievements have
contributed to the progress of the
world.
No objection is felt to the work