142 



I'll- 'Ml I'M - 



PHONOGRAPH 



An attempt has been made by Dr Sweet for English 

 (Etementartmck Jet genroeketn n A'm//iWi. I.eip. 

 1880, an<l Primer of Sfmitit En<iliJ>. Oxford. 1890), 

 and by M. Paul Pamy for French ( l.t* Son* tin 

 {'rtiM^au and Le Fran^ait parlt, Uitli 1889), to 

 writ* exactly what i sjioken. dividing tin- words, 

 or sometimes only dividing the hieatli-/n>ups, ami 

 a study of these 'book* will show the difficulty of 

 tin' problem. Tl<- P/utnology of /.;</ 



lith Diiitrrlt (18M, bv the late Dr Ellis, the 

 writer of this article. shows mi attempt to write 

 all English dialects, practically previously un- 

 written, and mostly from pure dictation, and very 

 ditticult il was found, the alphalict here given 1-eing 

 i|iiite iiiHiillieieiit for the pnr|H>se. For a fuller 

 account of phonetics, referenre may IN- made to his 

 SjxtrA in Song (1878), in which this alphalict 

 U used. Bee also the articles in this work on 

 Ai.i-HAiiKr. tiitiMM's l,\w, LKTTKRS, SHORTHAND, 



VlsllII.K Sl'KKCH. VOICE. 



To show the nature of phonetic writing, this 

 rapid sketch of the subject may \- concluded with 

 a rough attempt to write received English in the 

 e<lucate<l colloquial form u-eil in London (not in 



flr Foanrfik S)l-in<i. 



Aa-6-faa-dhH, ei-m-tkoo-&, tlhSt-illiaf urir-hraa-nck 

 ffr u-d Jau'jrz fai'vrit vuotl-bfi'H, >cir/t-iz groa'ing 

 *i'il ilhil paa'it not-fan'-ffim-Mil nau'th vxiu'l fir- 

 Mi yaa-Jn, anut-bi-tai-f-tH-mfzlftlr Olton't tW-fee't, 

 ati-mo'Hr, in Irtv/ttk tB-ilai'y, unlif turn mitnap'- 

 it thrring iiur-it-fa-tnti'iili to'tt-itt eu'zkoo&l ni'lSl 

 eit-^ji; far fi'-r Jwfir/Wi ObtH-vd-itt rai't fir ia'krea 

 rr-nri-trrr-k dkit mun'th, Unooa'ttti-it dou'n ak'etiretli 

 on-fH'i tlai't, in-ri-nww it itt - elapi'HriOrut noa- 

 rr-tlriai-iltSn, ba<rrinfl want, dnf6riny-& dtfp&retli 

 Hani iy iiftSvSt Hr-twltl, po'Oriny rai'n. 



In ordinary orthography, 



Kxample of Phonetic Sgwlling. 



Ah ! father, I am sure, tlmt that new hranch of oar 

 Jeorxe's favourite woodbine, which is itrowini: near the 

 po-t not far from tin- north wall of the pal-den, must 1 

 afe to measure atx>ut two feet, or more, in length to-day, 

 unlnv 'iiie mishap if occurring or it has suildvnly lost 

 iU usual vital energy ; for I bare carefully observed its 

 rate of increase every week this month, ami nnt>-<l it 

 down accurately on vour slate, and I know it haa experi- 

 enced no variation, Imrring once, during a desperately 

 annoying interval l cul<l, |x>uring rain. 



Phonograph, an ingenious insliument for me- 

 chanically recording and reproducing human speech, 



The phonon,,,!, was 



,. ....... 



iMtl 



II, IMT, !,.! 

 .., J. K. 



piaj. 



invented by Mr T. A Kdison 

 (11. v. ) in the spring of 1*77, at his 

 Mcnlo Park l.alioraloiy. New Jersey, and came 

 into i-\i-(enee a- the r.-ult of one of the many 



f c\|H-rimcnt he was then engaged upon. 

 Following up some of his telegraphic inventions, 

 In- hid .Icvelopc.l a machine, which by reason of 

 the indentations made on paper, would t 

 a menage in Moi.e characteis froi.i one circuit 

 lo another automatically, through the agency of 



ing-point connecied with a circuit closing 

 i|e\i.-e. ETpoo revolving with rapidity the cylin 

 der that carried the indented or eniliossed paper 

 Mr I'.dison found that the indentations could lie 

 ! with immense rapidity through the 

 vibration of the tracing point. He at once 

 saw that he could vibrate a diaphragm by the 



...tind w.ive. of the voice, and. by r ms'of a 



-tylti-. attached lo th>- diaphragm, make them 



i 'id themselves n|.n an nnprc.sible substance 



placed mi the revolving cylinder. The record being 



ihtis. the diaphragm would, when the -tylns 

 again traversed the cylinder, !* thrown into the 



same vibrations as before, and the actual repro- 

 duction of human speech, or any other sound, 

 would be the result The invention thought out 

 in this manner was at once tried, with paraffined 

 paper as the receiving material, and afterword* 



with tinfoil, the ex|-ri nt proving a remarkable 



Hiiccess, despite the crudity of the apparatus. In 

 IsTs Mr Euan made a number of phonographs. 

 which were exhibited in America and Kurut.r. ami 

 attracted universal attention. The reconU w ere 

 made in these on soft tinfoil sheets fastened around 

 metal cylinders. For awhile Mr Kdison was com- 

 pelled to suspend work on this invention, but soon 

 returned to it and worked out the machine OB it 

 exists practically to-day. |t occupies al>out the 

 same space as a hand .-CM in;,' -machine. A light 

 of wax to slide on and oti the cylinder is siil. 



stituted for the tinfoil, which hail oeeo w i ai.]M-,\ 

 ig stylus is replaced by a 

 minute engraving |>oiiit. Under the varying press 



around, and the indenting stylus is replaced by a 



lire of the sound-waves, ihis jMiint or 'knife cuts 

 into the tube almost in i pen -eptihly, the wnx chiselled 

 away wreathing oil' in very line spirals before the 

 edge of the little blade, as the cylinder travels 

 under it. Each cylinder will receive alniut a 

 thousand words. In the improved machine Mr 

 Kdison at first employed two diaphragms in 

 'spectacle 1 form, one to receive and the other to 

 reproduce; Inn he has since combined these in a 

 single efficient attachment. The wax cylinders 

 can be used several hundred times, the machine 

 being lilted with a small paring tool which will 

 shave off the record previously made, leaving a 

 smooth new surface. The machine has also wen 

 supplemented by the inventor with an ingenious 

 little electric motor with delicate governing 

 mechanism, so that the phonograph can be, oj.er 

 ated at any chosen rate nt speed, uniformly, '['his 

 motor derives its energising current cither from an 

 Edison -Lalande primary battery, a storage battery, 

 or an electric-lignt circuit. 



The new aim perfected Edison phonograph has 

 already gone into very general use, and hundreds 

 of thousands are distributed in American business 

 offices, where they facilitate correspondence in a 

 variety of ways. They are also employed by 

 stenographers as a help in the transcription of 

 their shorthand notes. Heretofore these notes 

 have been slowly dictated to amanuenses, but 

 they are now frequently read ofT to a phonograph, 

 andthen written out at leisure. The phonograph 

 is, however, being used for direct stenograph 

 work, and it reported verbatim 40,000 words 

 of discussion at one convention held in 1K!K), the 

 words being quietly repeated into the machine l.\ 

 the reporter as quickly its they were uttered by 

 the various speakers. A large number of machine. 

 are in use by actors, clergymen, musicians, rceiicis. 

 mid others, 'to improve their elocution and singing. 

 Automatic phonographs arc aNo to lie found in 

 many places of public resort, equipped with musical 

 or elocutionary cylinders, which can lie beard upon 

 the insertion of small coin ; ami miniature phono- 

 graphs have Ix-en applied to dolls mid to\-. The 

 value of the phonograph in the presci \ at ion of 

 dying languages has been perceived too. and iccoid. 



have already been secured of the speech, song-, 



\varcries, and folklore of American tribes now 

 becoming extinct. It in also worthy of note that 

 several \oice records remain of distinguished men, 

 who 'iH'ingdead yet speak.' Their tones can now 

 lie renewed at will, and their very utterance-. 

 faithful in accent and individuality, CM ! heard 

 again and again through all time. 



Improvements are being made in the whole-al? 



reproduction of phonographic cylinders, b\ electn. 



typing and other processes; and (he machine, in a 

 more or less modified form, is being introduced as a 



