1 84 



NA TURE 



[June 20, 1901 



ordinary phonograph ; the speech is as clear and distinct 

 as that transmitted through a good telephone. 



In Fig. I is shown a photograph of one form of the 

 telegraphone, in which the steel wire iliat is intended to 

 receive the record is wound in a spiral on a drum, this 

 drum being rotated either by a sinall motor or by hand, 

 as shown. The little magnet which imprints the records 

 on the wire is seen on the front of the drum with the wires 

 leading from it to the transmitting or receiving telephone. 

 The magnet is mounted on a small carriage, which slides 

 on a bar going from right to left of the instrument at the 

 top. At the back, attached to the same carriage, is a small 

 plough, which engages with the steel wire on the drum 

 and thus acts as a guide. When it is desired to speak 

 to the instrument the magnet is started at the right hand 

 side and the plough made to engage with the wire. The 

 drum is then rotated, and as it turns the magnet moves 

 from right to left, the wire passing all the time between 



was taken away from Copenhagen ; though the song had 

 been repeated a very great number of times it still seemed 

 very distinct, though, being in Danish, we cannot venture 

 to express any opinion on ihe articulation. If, however, 

 It be desired to wipe out the record, a steady current is 

 passed through the magnet coils as it travels from end to 

 end of the recording wire ; this effectually destroys all the 

 existing record and leaves the wire ready to receive a 

 fresh one. This form of instrument is comparable to the 

 ordinary phonograph in that it can only receive a record 

 of one or two mmutes' duration ; but, quite apart from its 

 greater clearness, it is superior to the phonograph because 

 the records can be so easily wiped out and fresh ones 

 made. 



Another form of telegraphone is shown in Fig. 2. In 

 this a steel ribbon is used instead of a wire to receive 

 the record. The ribbon is wound on two drums so that 

 it can be unrolled from one on to the other. As it goes 





(From the Eu^tr 



its poles. During this motion any words spoken into a 

 telephone connected to the magnet will be recorded as a 

 series of magnetic fields on the wire. When the magnet 

 arrives at the end of the wire the mechanical trip on tl'e 

 left of the instrument lifts the plough off the recording 

 wire and makes it engage with a wire wound in a wide 

 helix, which can be seen at the back ; this causes the 

 carriage and magnet to return quickly to the starting 

 point. To reproduce the record the magnet is connected 

 to a telephone receiver and is again made to travel along 

 the spiral ; as the now magnetised wire passes between 

 its poles it sets up currents which reproduce the recorded 

 speech in the receiver. 



The record can be left on the wire and used over and 

 over again ; it is not certain how long the record will last, 

 as sufficient time has not yet elapsed to test this 

 point. We heard a song in Danish which had been sung 

 to one of these instruments some months ago, before it 



NO. 1 65 I, VOL. 64] 



from one drum to the other it passes over the poles of 

 the recording magnet, which is connected, as before, with 

 the telephone receiver or transmitter. It is remarkable 

 that although the convolutions of the ribbon when wound 

 on the drums lie closely one above the other, the mag- 

 netic fields on one turn do not seem to interfere with 

 those on another. With this arrangement it is easily 

 possible to cut of! any length of ribbon holding a par- 

 ticular record which it is desired to preserve. 



A very ingenious apparatus has been devised by which 

 a message may be transmitted simultaneously to any num- 

 ber of stations, an arrangement which should prove very 

 useful for many purposes, for example for Press messages, 

 &c. A diagram of this apparatus is shown in Fig. 3. An 

 endless steel ribbon, k, passes round two pulleys, .\ and B, 

 driven by a motor. This ribbon, after it leaves the pulley, 

 A, comes to a strong permanent magnet, l', which wipes 

 out any record existing on it. It then comes to a 



