EDISON'S LATEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 42

EDISON'S LATEST.

The North American Phonograph Company, which went into the receiver's hands last August, has had absolute control of the phonograph. The company could not pay its indebtedness to the Edison Phonograph Company and to Thomas A. Edison, and was thus forced to go out of business. Edison, as an individual, offered 125,100d0l for its entire assets, and the offer has been accepted. In speaking about the matter, he says :—": — " The company has one asset which I am willing to pay a high price for — that is, a claim on all my future inventions and improvements of the phonograph. Ido not care to have any one else have a lien on my brains, so I made a bid which proved higher than all the others. I shall manufacture the phonographs myself now, and expect to keep all promises I made when I first introduced them. lam going in for the households, instead of nickel-in-the-slot machines, and in a short time I expect to produce an entire opera or a complete novel on a cylinder. It will cost a good deal, but it will pay me. "I suppose it will cost me2ooodol to have tho opera of ' Norma ' sang' to the machine, but I can reproduce that on almost as many cylinders as I please. I think I can afford to pay more than the reporters, so that any gentleman can have ' Trilby ' read to him in bis parlonr in the course of an evening. I shall manufacture the perfected phonograph individually." When asked, "What is the latest?" Edison replied \ y " Nothing at all, except the kinetophone, the combination of kinetoscope and phonograph. lam going to reproduce the motions and words of life-size speaking figures. I have already got a speaking and moving figure up to half life size. Lately I have paid more attention to my mine than to anything else, but very soon I will get to work in my laboratory again."