TALKING MOVIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 December 1924, Page 8

TALKING MOVIES.

AUisiUALiAN IN V.IUN'iOR’S . irfUL/CEb S.

ON MARKER-NEXT YEAR

LONDON, Dec. 27. ‘‘Mpvies that speak' are now an actuality. 1 Mr. O. F. Elwell, ian Australian, has .solved the problem of litting the human voice to a film., •• -A- successful demonstration was given at the Royal ■/ Society of Arts, with perfect synchronisation of sight and sound. .

A ; microphone records the sounds, resulting -in.-the currents being ampli.ied by a three-electrode valve and photographed on the. side/of the film in the form .of parallel indentation, these can be reproduced in so’und by _u- valve and loud speaker: . ». The idea of these, “plionofilins,” was conceived by Dr., de 'Forest as the .outcome of wirelesk experiments.- in which lie placed a -third electrode in.a two-electrode valve, the little “Aladdin's Lamp,” .; which made radiotelegraphy and telephony possible; . Mr. Elwell and Dr. de ' Forest cooperated in perfecting the invention. The “phonofilin” will probably be on the market in .1925. The ’Australasian rights' have already been sold. The discovery will revolutionise the movies, being adaptable to the presentation of political speeches,- sports, and all kinds of demonstrations, orchestras, operas and singers. Several of these "were conclusively displayed at the Arts Society demonstration. ■ . Mr. Elwell, who was born in Melbourne, attended, the Fort j Street school, Sydney. He has been: connected with wireless for 18 years, and »s a pioneer of continual wave telegraphy in Australia. He built stations in England and America, and on the Continent, and experimented with * wireless telephony before Marconi. SYSTEM : EXPLAINED. / MELBOURNE, Dec. 2s. Mr. AY. Lyell, electrical expert .ol Australasian 'Films, Limited, said today that, experiments with a view oi reproducing dialogues with acting on pictures had. been carried lout iur a number of years, but the 'de Forest system seemed to be the only one of any prospective value.

About 1900, he said, Professor Fleming invented - his . thermanic valve, which was the birth of wireless telephony. By. introducing the grid, de Forest improved the valve for wireleey work. While at work on this he invented the phonofilm. This •onvention was based on the conversion of sound into light and /'vice versa;. Through a wire stretched in ■i magnetic field the sound of the voice caused vibrations. - An image of the wire was projected on' the edge of the film. Simultaneously, with- the taking of the picture, the artist’s voice on reaching vthe -receiver; con-, taining the wire under tension/caused which on being photographed on the edge of the film, took the form of a variable comb. When the film was projected the image of fhe comb. -' was also 1 projected on to a se'.erium, which directly a fleeted a microphone. With r,he de Forest system of amplifying, the sound was increased ’ and resembled wireless speech. There was a close resemblance between this svstem and wireless telephony. With this appliance’ instead •>f picking cut sound vibrations: from the airi the sound waves were, taken from the projected image of the vibrating wire. As the photograph of the sound waves was taken simultaneously with the actor 1 :, synchronisation was -perfeof-. hut the sound ro"embled the o v dio<irv plinnop-raoh. Apnarentlv the reproduction of speech had now been improved.