THE TELEPHONOGKAPII. 309 



wax, metal, or other yielding substance. The stylus resting upon such 

 a surface, and being attached as it is to the vibrating diaphragm of the 

 phonograph transmitter, is affected by the dampening effect of the 

 needle or its inertia, and the higher harmonics are more or less 

 destroyed, and there are also false sounds produced, due to the molec- 

 ular disturbances in the needle and diaphragm itself. Although Mr. 

 Edison has recently made remarkable improvements in the perfection 

 of recording and reproducing- by means of his phonograph over his 

 earlier forms, there are difficulties such as I have referred to which it 

 has heretofore been impossible to overcome. In Poulsen's telephono- 

 graph, however, the tiny magnet not being in contact with the steel 

 wire, the lines of force are silently stored up, and without being affected 

 by external influences. The author has had considerable experience in 

 working with various types of phonographs, and was accorded facilities 

 to examine and operate the telephonograph both at Paris and Berlin, 

 and still more recently here in New York. In Berlin, Messrs. Mix and 

 Genest have for some time past been conducting a laboratory for experi- 

 mental development of the telephonograph, and through their cour- 

 tesy and that of Director Zopke I was afforded the pleasure of visiting 

 this laboratory, and saw some very interesting developments in this 

 promising field. I found the instrument would record and reproduce 

 the most delicate sounds, even breathing and very low whispering, and 

 certain words which those who have had experience in working with 

 the phonograph know have always been very difficult to record and 

 reproduce perfectly. All have been taken care of most perfectly by 

 the telephonograph. If it is not desired to retain the record made 

 upon the steel wire, the recording magnet is placed at the end of the 

 drum and connected with a couple of cells of battery, which supply a 

 constant magnetizing current to the magnet, which entirely obliterates 

 the records which had been stored up in the steel wire, as this wire is 

 passed before the poles of the magnet. A permanent magnet may also 

 be employed for this purpose. 



Another type of instrument which Mr. Poulsen has designed is shown 

 in fig. 3 (PI. I). This consists of two reels, carrying a band or ribbon 

 of steel about three-sixteenths inch wide and about one-thirty -second 

 inch thick. This steel ribbon, which may be made of any length and 

 which may be recorded upon for an hour or more at a time, is passed 

 from one reel to the other, the reels being operated by a small electric 

 motor. Above the steel band or ribbon is placed a tiny electro-magnet 

 of the form shown in tig. 2, letter D, which is connected to a tele- 

 phone trannsmitter and battery, in the same manner as in the instru- 

 ment already described, and after a record has been made, is also 

 connected to a Bell telephone as a reproducing instrument. It is stated 

 that these steel ribbons after receiving the magnetic record could be 

 wound in many layers, similar to a spool or bobbin of ribbon, without 

 affecting the record, and that the record could be reproduced thou- 



