The invisible powers of nature / by E.M. Caillard.

  • Caillard, Emma Marie, 1852-1927.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The invisible powers of nature / by E.M. Caillard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    275/280 (page 251)
    THE PHONOGEAPH, OPt SOUND-WRITER. Even since this little book has been preparing for the Press, a wonderful electro-magnetic invention has been perfected, by means of which words can be recorded, not in writing, but in speech, and reproduced at will. The PHONOGRAPH, or sound-writer, is the instrument by which this last miracle of science is accomplished, and its inventor is Mr. Edison, the great American electrician, to whom we owe so many other electrical marvels. The iirst idea of the phonograph flashed xvpon him when listening to the sounds made by the Morse recorder, as it printed the little dots and dashes which have already been described. These peculiar sounds, varying accord- ing to the written signs, are always made by the Morse machine, and a skilled person can tell by them what is being inscribed on the paper strip without looking at it. Mr. Edison found that when the machine was made to work so rapidly that the Morse signs could no longer be distinguished by the ear, a buzzing, miTsical sound was given out, which altered with the different characters, and was like an inarticulate language. He at once thought that if, instead of a roll of paper to be indented with printed signs, he could place a thin metal disc which should receive indentations caused by the sound-vibra- tions representing the h\iman voice, articulate words would be the result. He made the experiment, and found that he was right, and that the machine, if spoken into, could exactly reproduce what was said. From this begin- ning has grown the wonderful instrument just introduced into England. The person speaking into the phonograph