Figure i.- Charles Sumni;r Tainter (1854- 1940J Iroiu a 

 photograph taken in San Diego, California, 191 9. (S'milh- 

 sortian photo 42729-.'! J 



centuries.- Immediately after this discovery, how- 

 ever, he did not improve it. allegedly because of an 

 agreement to spend the ne.xt five years developing the 

 New York City electric light and power system. 



Meanwhile Bell, always a scientist and experimenter 

 at heart, after his invention of the telephone in 1876 

 was looking for new worlds to conquer. If we accept 

 Tainter's version of the story, it was through Gardiner 

 Green Hubbard that Bell took up the phonograph 



^ One of the most interesting prophecies was written in 16.S6 

 by Cyrano de Bergerac, in his Comic hislorj oj the slates and 

 empires of the Moon: 



" 'I began to study closely my books and their covers which 

 impressed me for their richness. One was decorated with a 

 single diamond, more brilliant by far than ours. The .second 

 seemed but a single pearl cleft in twain. 



" 'When I opened the covers, I found inside something made 

 of metal, not imlike our clocks, full of mysterious little springs 

 and almost invisible mechanisms. 'Tis a book, "tis true, but a 

 miraculous book, which lias no pages or letters. Indeed, 'tis 

 a book which to enjoy the eyes are useless; only ears suffice. 

 When a man desires to read, then, he surrounds this contriv- 

 ance with many small tendons of every kind, then he places the 

 needle on the chapter to be heard and, at the same time, there 

 come, as from the mouth of a man or from an instrument of 

 music, all those clear and separate sounds which make up the 

 Lunarians' tongue.'" (.See .'\. Coeuroy and G. Clarence, 

 Lf phonographe, Paris, 1929, p. 9, 10.) 



challenge. Bell had married Hubbard's daughter 

 Mabel in 1879. Hubbard was then president of the 

 Edison .Speaking Phonograph Co., and his organiza- 

 tion, which had purchased the Edi.son patent, was 

 having trouble with its finances because people did 

 not like to buy a machine which .seldom worked 

 well and proved difficult for ;ui unskilled person to 

 operate. 



In 1879 Hubbard got Bell interested in improving 

 the machine, and it was agreed that a laboratory 

 should be set up in Washington. Exjjcriments were 

 also to be conducted on the transmission of sound by 

 light, and this resulietl in the selenium-cell Photo- 

 phone, patented in 1881. Both the Hubbards and 

 the Bells decided to move to the Capital. While Bell 

 took his bride to Europe for an extended honeymoon, 

 his associate Charles Sumner Tainter, a young instru- 

 ment maker, was sent on to Washington from Cam- 

 bridge. .Massachusetts, to start the laboratory.' Bell's 



' Fainter retained a lifelonR admiration for .Mcxandcr 

 Graham Bell. This is Tainter's description of their first meeting 

 in Cambridge: ". . . one day I received a visit from a very 

 distinguished looking gentleman with jet black hair and beard, 

 who annoimced himself as Mr. .\. Graham B<-ll. His charm 

 of manner and conversation attracted me enatlv. . . ." 

 lainter, op. cil. (footnote 1), p. 2. 



P.\PER 5: PHONOGR.JiPH .\T .ALEX.ANDER GR.\H.^M BELLS VOLT.\ L.ABOR.ATORY 



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