登陆注册
4620100000069

第69章

The phonograph was first publicly exhibited in England at a meeting of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, where its performances filled the audience with astonishment and delight. A greeting from Edison to his electrical brethren across the Atlantic had been impressed on the tinfoil, and was spoken by the machine. Needless to say, the voice of the inventor, however imperfectly reproduced, was hailed with great enthusiasm, which those who witnessed will long remember. In this machine, the barrel was fitted with a crank, and rotated by handle. Aheavy flywheel was attached to give it uniformity of motion. A sheet of tinfoil formed the record, and the delivery could he heard by a roomful of people. But articulation was sacrificed at the expense of loudness. It was as though a parrot or a punchinello spoke, and sentences which were unexpected could not be understood. Clearly, if the phonograph were to become a practical instrument, it required to be much improved. Nevertheless this apparatus sufficiently demonstrated the feasibility of storing up and reproducing speech, music, and other sounds. Numbers of them were made, and exhibited to admiring audiences, by license, and never failed to elicit both amusement and applause. To show how striking were its effects, and how surprising, even to scientific men, it may be mentioned that a certain learned SAVANT, on hearing it at a SEANCE of the Academie des Sciences, Paris, protested that it was a fraud, a piece of trickery or ventriloquism, and would not be convinced.

After 1878 Edison became too much engaged with the development of the electric light to give much attention to the phonograph, which, however, was not entirely overlooked. His laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, where the original experiments were made, was turned into a factory for making electric light machinery, and Edison removed to New York until his new laboratory at Orange, New Jersey, was completed. Of late he has occupied the latter premises, and improved the phonograph so far that it is now a serviceable instrument. In one of his 1878 patents, the use of wax to take the records in place of tinfoil is indicated, and it is chiefly to the adoption of this material that the success of the 'perfected phonograph' is due. Wax is also employed in the 'graphophone' of Mr. Tainter and Professor Bell, which is merely a phonograph under another name. Numerous experiments have been made by Edison to find the bees-wax which is best adapted to receive the record, and he has recently discovered a new material or mixture which is stated to yield better results than white wax.

The wax is moulded into the form of a tube or hollow cylinder, usually 41/4 inches long by 2 inches in diameter, and 1/8 inch thick. Such a size is capable of taking a thousand words on its surface along a delicate spiral trace; and by paring off one record after another can be used fifteen times. There are a hundred or more lines of the trace in the width of an inch, and they are hardly visible to the naked eye.

Only with a magnifying glass can the undulations caused by the vibrating stylus be distinguished. This tube of wax is filed upon a metal barrel like a sleeve, and the barrel, which forms part of a horizontal spindle, is rotated by means of a silent electro-motor, controlled by a very sensitive governor. A motion of translation is also given to the barrel as it revolves, so that the marking stylus held over it describes a spiral path upon its surface. In front of the wax two small metal tympanums are supported, each carrying a fine needle point or stylus on its under centre. One of these is the recording diaphragm, which prints the sounds in the first place; the other is the reproducing diaphragm, which emits the sounds recorded on the wax. They are used, one at a time, as the machine is required, to take down or to render back a phonographic message.

The recording tympanum, which is about the size of a crown-piece, is fitted with a mouthpiece, and when it is desired to record a sentence the spindle is started, and you speak into the mouthpiece. The tympanum vibrates under your voice, and the stylus, partaking of its motion, digs into the yielding surface of the wax which moves beneath, and leaves a tiny furrow to mark its passage. This is the sonorous record which, on being passed under the stylus of the reproducing tympanum, will cause it to give out a faithful copy of the original speech. A flexible india-rubber tube, branching into two ear-pieces, conveys the sound emitted by the reproducing diaphragm to the ears. This trumpet is used for privacy and loudness; but it may be replaced by a conical funnel inserted by its small end over the diaphragm, which thereby utters its message aloud.

同类推荐
  • 佛说坚意经

    佛说坚意经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大乘庄严经论

    大乘庄严经论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 立斋闲录

    立斋闲录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 伤寒贯珠集

    伤寒贯珠集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR

    A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 万道大主宰

    万道大主宰

    摘花飞叶,可斩日月山河;动念之间,上摘九天星辰,下镇六道黄泉;翻手掌乾坤,覆手遮天地!这是…武者的世界!少年崛起于大荒边城,习武技,修战痕之术,踏遍诸天万界,战尽各族英杰!
  • 校园蜜爱:丫头,入怀来!

    校园蜜爱:丫头,入怀来!

    【宠文】他凶残霸道,却为她温柔内敛,他骨子里偏执狂傲却为她而隐藏,传闻隐世家族即墨家少主即墨宸低调到无人认识,却纡尊降贵到圣英学府当学生,还是渣生,这一切却无人可知,只因,她……相恋只需一天,相爱只需百日,相守要一生。初为相恋,后为倾心。都说相爱的人要经历世间磨难终成眷属,且看风云变幻,你我不变初心。某日,某女拿着一张化验单怒目瞪着罪魁祸首,“说好的呢?都特么的是套路!”某男勾唇,“套路得人心,不套路你哪能得到你?”十月怀胎一朝分娩,初生的宝宝整天粘着妈妈,某男悔不当初,“老天啊,早知道说什么也不会出这个损招的……”【文风时逗逼时睿智时搞笑时殇情,小心前方高能,狗粮吃腻。】
  • 百年明朝一鉴开:熊召政读史笔记

    百年明朝一鉴开:熊召政读史笔记

    对历史人物的直接评论和对整体的思考用评价式叙事的方式来讲述和评论明朝的一些典型历史人物、历史事件和历史故事。全书分三章,第一章是对一些历史人物的直接评论和对整体的思考。第二章和第三章是全书的主体,主要讲述和评论了刘伯温、宋濂、方孝孺、姚广孝、解缙、李东阳、杨廷和、严嵩、徐阶、叶向高、张居正、张璁等明朝著名历史人物。
  • 周子全书

    周子全书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 无能胜大明陀罗尼经

    无能胜大明陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 想想你,花就开了

    想想你,花就开了

    人生一世,风起云涌,山高水长,辗转周折,向着明亮那方砥砺前行。不是为了走得更久更远,而是为了有一天,终于学会听从自己心灵的指引,到达,或者归来。本书精选黄丽娟散文五十余篇,分为“食色”“远足”“内观”三辑。作者以清新淡雅、隽永温情的笔触记录所见所闻,传递生命乐章,给人以安宁辽阔的视野和心灵的顿悟。
  • 究竟大悲经

    究竟大悲经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 狂妃逆天

    狂妃逆天

    展邪依,国家一级特种兵,因未婚夫的算计而落入圈套中,被雷电劈中消香玉损!当现代特种兵穿越到天界,成为城主府大小姐,一切的一切都将重新开始!天才变成废柴?那她再让废柴变成天才不就行了。人人唾弃?没关系,她会让那些人都统统闭上嘴巴,再无唾弃的可能!陷害她的罪魁祸首,她会让她知道,得罪她的下场,是多么的销魂!***在这弱肉强食的天界,她唯有努力变强,强到所有人都仰望的地步,那样才不会被人威胁!而在一次又一次的雷电攻击下,让她成功的修炼了万年难遇的混沌之力!当两颗不同的灵魂相容,即可合二为一,又可分开成为单独的个体之时,掀起的又是怎样的风暴!当她成为天界的强者,通过往生塔重回现代之时——等待她的又将是怎样的阴谋?而一直跟随在她身边的魂棍,又有着怎样的惊天之密?神秘男人的一次次出现,一次次相帮,看似充满目的的举动下,又有着怎样的宠溺温柔!本文男强女强,一对一宠文,男女主身心绝对干净!!!***推荐铱铱的旧文:《幻神王妃》铱坊推荐好姐妹的文文:《废柴小姐太妖孽》菩提苦心《重生之我本彪悍》大尾巴猫《妖娆神音师》葉瓶子《重生之桃源商女》黑血女王《田园地主婆》沫迷糊《逆天驭兽师》柒月甜
  • 皇明九边考

    皇明九边考

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 嫡女难逑

    嫡女难逑

    定伯候世子风光霁月,温润无比。——对一半,错一半。风光霁月不假,温润无比定是眼瞎,一个能笑着将人皮割下的人,能温润到哪里去。叶尚书嫡女貌若无盐,蠢笨之极。——又对一半,错一半。貌若无盐能沾边,蠢笨之极也定是眼瞎,一个能轻轻松松将叶府主权玩弄于鼓掌之间的,又能蠢到哪里去。“叶琉璃,听说你要成亲了?”宗政九双眼微眯,危险信号发出。“年纪大了,自然是要的。”叶琉璃笑得甜美。“聘礼几何?”“不多不少,万斤。”宗政九优雅起身,淡定抱走,而后扔下一个铜板,这就是他出的价。