The Phonograph.

Southland Times, Issue 11750, 1 June 1891, Page 3

The Phonograph.

If Thomas Alva Edison, the great American inventor, had lived a hundred years or ■b ago, and had dared to show the people who then inhabited England and America his wonderful phonograph, the chances are he would have been killed as a magician of the darkest order. At the present time the world is getting so accustomed to news almost every day of some extraordinary invention or discovery, that outside the little formula' " Dear me ! what a wonderful thing," the subject is generally taken quite as a matter of course. This apparent indifference is no doubt owing in many cases to the fact that for a considerable time the public have to depend upon report as to the excellence and novelty of many inventions, The preconceived ideas of most people as to the powers of the phonograph were naturally tinctured with a good spice of doubt. How coold it be possible that any machine could reeeivea man* voice and repeat it any number of times afterwards, so that it could be easily recognised ! It was a hard thing to swallow. Most people are willing on the strength of report to admit that by some extraordinary means or other the phonograph does register sound, and emit it again, but until they have heard it they cannot possibly imagine how faithfully it does its work. As a matter of fact, the phonograph is one of the most wonderful creations of the cleverest man of the age — not less wonderful because it is not so useful as many of the other things he has invented. The people of New Zealand owe something to the enterprise of Messrs McMahon, who have introduced the phonograph to them, and it is pleasing to know that so far they have met with the success they deserve. It is not easy to say very much as the thing simply must be seen and heard to be realised. All the explanatory business is done by Professor Archibald in a very chatty and interesting way, and the introductory account of the history of the instrument is efficiently told, and illustrated with lime light views. The patent of Mr Edison for the machine dates from July, 1878, and he states that the discovery may be regarded M almost accidental. He was engaged upon ••machine intended to repeat Morse telegraph characters, and in the manipulation of this he found that when the cylinder carrying the indented paper was turned with great swiftness it gave off a humming sound From the indentations resembling that of human talk distinctly. He was led from this to fit a diaphragm to the machine which would receive the vibration upon an imT>r«s»ibl» material placed on the cylinder.

was excellent. The indentations on the cylinder, when rapidly revolved, caused a repetition of the original vibrations to reach the ear through a. recorder, just as if the machine itself were speaking. " I saw at once," Bays Edison, " that the problem of registering human speech, so that it could be repeated by mechanical means as often as might be desired, was solved."

To those who heard the squeaky instrument of the kind shown here ten years ago (and to hear which it was necessary to be silent as mice) it may be needful to say that the vastly improved machine to be exhibited in Invercargifl this week is, by means of the microphone, able to produce sounds with a volume equal to that which originally impressed it on the cylinder. The box plan is now open at Hale's Repository, and as the season cannot possibly be extended intending patrous should book early.