May-June 1878
The phonograph continued to occupy much of Edison’s time during May and June. Fascination with the invention continued to bring visitors to Menlo Park, including reporters from out of state, and Edison took up the challenge to develop an improved machine for the new exhibition business. Edward Johnson contracted with the Philadelphia telegraph instrument makers Partrick & Carter to manufacture phonographs for exhibition, and the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company hired James Redpath, who had been running a lyceum bureau in Boston, to take charge of its exhibition agencies. Edison was to receive twenty percent of the net receipts from the exhibitions. By the middle of May, the company had begun to train some eighty prospective exhibitors to operate the phonograph. Among the new exhibitors was Edison’s old friend and former partner Ezra Gilliland.1
The difficulty of operating the exhibition phonograph, which made it necessary to train exhibitors, was one of the problems that led Edison to begin work on an improved model. By early June, he had developed a new design and built a prototype. He then contracted with Newark manufacturer Alex Pool & Company to build ten of these “new hand” phonographs, though he and Batchelor would make some further modifications before these were finished in July. The most significant improvement, a larger and heavier flywheel that allowed operators to turn the cylinder at a more uniform speed, also began to be incorporated into some of the existing exhibition machines sometime in June.
Phonograph exhibitions were also taking place in Paris, where Theodore Puskas showed it “four or five times a day.”2 Page 259 The phonograph was also demonstrated at the Universal Exposition, which opened on 1 May. In Britain, the phonograph began to be “exhibited daily in action at the various establishments of the London Stereoscopic Company,” though George Nottage, the company’s manager, disputed Edison’s right to share in exhibition receipts.3 Edison himself retained the rights to the phonograph and telephone for countries outside of the United States, Canada, and Europe, and he began to arrange agencies for these inventions in Central and South America and Australia during May and June.4
The telephone continued to require some of Edison’s attention as Western Union began commercial introduction in the United States and James Adams and William Preece conducted tests in England. At the end of May, Edison finally signed a new agreement with Western Union and the company ordered five hundred carbon telephones from Western Electric in Chicago and from its own New York shop, though the carbon buttons themselves would be manufactured at Menlo Park.5 Western Union planned to introduce the Edison telephone on its new “Merchant’s Exchange,” which connected “express, steamship, railway and other companies, merchants, lawyers, banks and private individuals by means of private lines with a central office, and through that office with each other.”6
While Western Union’s tests proved successful, the same could not be said of those taking place in England. There the extensive use of underground lines proved troublesome, though Edison’s transmitter was clearly superior to Bell’s in comparative tests. The Bell Telephone Company, however, had a strong patent position on receiver technology, and Edison set his nephew Charley to work experimenting with alternative receiver designs. Edison also revived the idea of using an electromotograph receiver. In the meantime, he continued to use Bell-style receivers in the telephone sets that he ordered from Partrick & Carter for use outside of the United States.
The fate of the carbon transmitter in Britain was profoundly affected by a controversy that erupted at the end of May when Edison charged that William Preece, whom he considered his agent there, had colluded with telegraph inventor David Hughes to steal his claim to the discovery that carbon and other semi-conductors varied their resistance under pressure. Hughes made this claim in association with his development of the microphone, but Edison felt that Preece should have set forth Edison’s claim to this discovery in connection Page 260 with his telephone experiments of 1877. To add insult to injury, Hughes also claimed the discovery of this principle for measuring heat, even though Edison again claimed priority as a result of his April announcement of the heat measurer he soon named the tasimeter. To the chagrin of Preece and the British scientific community, Edison initially chose to stake his claim through a letter published in American newspapers in early June. Newspapers and scientific and technical journals on both sides of the Atlantic were soon taking sides and publishing opposing accounts of the controversy. Edison completed his break with Preece by giving charge of his telephone in Britain to George Gouraud, who had been connected with promoting his automatic telegraph there a few years earlier.
Besides working on the phonograph and telephone, Edison found time to experiment with some of the new devices he had conceived earlier in the year, including the aerophone, phonomotor, and megaphone. He set two men to work on the new hearing aid, which he began to call the “auriphone.” Edison and Batchelor also developed his tasimeter into what Edison believed to be a practical scientific instrument. Another project commenced at the laboratory in early May, when machinist John Ott, who had worked in Edison’s Newark shops, was hired by the partners in the toy phonograph contract to develop an instrument under Edison’s direction. Finally, Edison considered joining Patrick Kenny, the former superintendent of Gold and Stock Telegraph Company’s manufacturing shops, to develop a facsimile telegraph, a technology he had first worked on in the late 1860s.
Also joining Edison at Menlo Park was Stockton Griffin, an old telegraph associate who became his personal secretary at the beginning of June. Griffin’s hiring was probably precipitated by the large amount of correspondence, as well as the continuing stream of visitors (including organized groups from Newark and Boston), with which Edison had to cope as a result of his new-found fame.
Amidst all the demands on his time, Edison took a moment to observe the transit of Mercury on 6 May with a telescope he borrowed from instrument maker Asahel Eaton. His longtime interest in astronomy also led Edison to accept an invitation from Henry Draper to accompany one of the scientific expeditions being made to the western United States to observe the solar eclipse scheduled to occur in late July.
With steady income guaranteed by his new agreement with Page 261 Western Union and from phonograph exhibitions, Edison offered to pay for a trip to Europe for his father, though Samuel did not go at this time.7 He also decided to purchase a handsome team of ponies from the Brooklyn Riding Academy.
To Clarence Blake
Menlo Park, N.J.a April 30, May 1 1878
Friend Blake.
Your two letters1 were sent to Newark and just reached me; The machine you have is an extremely poor one and very slight changes improves or destroys the articulation. The shake & grinding noise in the bearings are recorded = On my machine here I have hardened steel rings (polished)b in which the shaft runs, consequently with very smooth foil the noise is slight. This morning I recorded “Mary had etc” 16½ feet from the instrument. The articulation is all that I want = If I can always make machines that will articulate so a person canc readily read an article read backwards previous to his hearing it as this machine does I shall be satisfied = The tone is more natural if the delivering funnel is not used = 2 Previous to the appearance of prof Jenkins article I had tried repeating words backward as well as music, many songs are melodious = Jenkins statement that .A. sounds & other letters reproduced backwards are the same is not correct and cannot possibly be so although they sound somewhatc alike = I have never noticed that an increase of speed destroyed the articulation. I think that it merely raises the pitch. This to me knowing nothing of Helmholz V.T3 is a self evident proposition. To be sure I tried an experiment a few moments ago I sent my assistant away and spoke the following letters A L G U M E X I B O D U. on his return to the room I repeated it at aboutc twice the speed and he gave me the letters on the 2nd trialb he said If he could have remembered them he could have told them the first time. Now if these letters sounded different I do not see how he could have recognized them. Your rubber experiment4 Page 262 is new to me; I have used gutta percha & paper under foil but not rubber tightly stretched = What you want is one of my new clockwork cylinder machines with adjustable pendulum bob—You could then go for the Acousticians. If I fix up one for you here, how would you like to spend a few days here in making some scientific investigations in Sound—5 I shall never do it. I have been thinking much about the phono disc & the complicated organ of the ear and I have reached this conclusion ied that the complicated apparatus of the ear is more especially designed to anylize analize clang sounds & that ferrotype discs are quite sufficient for sounds that whose vibrations follow each other with some regularity = but is a poor instrument for analyzing single vibrations as in the knocking of sticks where the sound is made by an enormous number of single vibrations not series— 6 more anon—Yours
ALS, MB, CJB. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp. bObscured overwritten letters. cInterlined above. dCircled.
1. Blake had written Edison on 29 and 30 April. DF (TAEM 92:334, 337).
2. Edison was responding to Blake’s 30 April letter (see note 1) discussing his experiments with a small hand-crank phonograph obtained from Thomas Watson. The same day Blake had also written to Watson concerning these experiments (Box 1205, NjWAT).
3. In his 29 April letter (see note 1), Blake had disagreed with Fleeming Jenkin’s and J. A. Ewing’s challenge to Hermann von Helmholtz’s theory of vowel sounds. Essentially, Helmholtz claimed that a fundamental tone unique to each vowel determines the distinctive sound of that vowel. Were this theory correct, mechanically raising the pitch of a vowel on the phonograph would produce an entirely different sound. Jenkin and Ewing claimed that reproducing vowel sounds at different speeds from those at which they were recorded changed the pitch but made “no alteration in the quality of the sounds.” Jenkin and Ewing 1878a; Jenkin and Ewing 1878b (Cat. 1031:70, 104, Scraps. [ TAEM 27:773, 797]); DSB, s.v. “Helmholtz, Hermann von.”
Edison experimented with a diaphragm like this design by Clarence Blake.
4. In his 29 April letter (see note 1), Blake reported that “By covering the cylinder with a layer of very thin pure rubber tissue and putting the tin foil on top of that I find that in addition to distinct articulation I can get a better reproduction of the s, sh, and ch, sounds.” Sometime after this Blake wrote to William Preece about his phonograph experiments, including those with rubber, noting that the latter “was new to Mr. Edison, and has since been repeated with like success” (Preece 1878c).
5. Blake visited Menlo Park on Sunday, 26 May. Blake to TAE, 24 and 28 May 1878, DF (TAEM 15:694, 18:1010).
6. In his letter to Preece, Blake indicated that he had attempted to solve this problem by constructing “a diaphragm upon the principle of the human drum membrane.” He found a curved membrane used as a Page 263 phonograph diaphragm reproduced the human voice “without the sharper over-tones, with much more natural and agreeable quality and with more than double intensity.” Blake also stated that Edison was conducting his own experiments with a diaphragm of Blake’s design. See Preece 1878c.
To Asahel Eaton
Menlo Park NJ May 1, 1878
Prof Eaton
If possible have telescope here by the 5th1 If you cannot let me know at once as I must get another one at once Yours truly
L (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Lbk. 3:228 (TAEM 28:683). Written by William Carman.
1. Edison planned to observe the transit of Mercury on 6 May. Eaton wrote on 4 May that the telescope Edison had ordered was not ready and he was sending a three-inch telescope with appropriate eyepieces instead. This was an unfinished but functional telescope, “a much better instrument” for this purpose. Eaton wrote again on 25 September that he had not yet completed Edison’s six-inch telescope but offered to finish the smaller one sent in May. DF (TAEM 15:607, 16:144); “Notes,” Nature, 17 (1877): 69.
Technical Note: Phonograph
[Menlo Park,] April 31 [May 1?] 1878.
Duplicating phonographic Records
After many experiments we have concluded that of all the methods tried that the following two are the best=1 A plate the size of the sheet has grooves planed in it corresponding to the thread on the cylinder or plate, on this plate is laid a sheet properly indented, the raised dots downward in the grooves— a frame fits of this like the printers use for locking up cpy type formsa This frame extends ½ and or 1 inch Page 264 above the record the foil is gummed to the grooved platen the best plaster over this frame is a plate with a funnel shaped orifice & into this is poured the best plaster parirs = after its set its turned upwards the foil taken from it & its then placed under a press whose piston is proved with a platten equal in size to the sheet this platten is of polished metal, four pins are on the frame holding the Paris, these are the registering pins over which the paper frame having the foil to be indented is placed, a sheet of gutta percha foil or other non fibrous material is laid on the foil & the press platten brought down f & forces the foil on the raised dots of the paris thus taking an accurate copy
The other plan is to substitute an electrotyped peice of Copper for the paris—2
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 17:84, 10 (TAEM 4:953, 880). Document multiply signed. a“Duplicating phonograph records continued” follows at top of second sheet.
1. Other approaches, probably from before this date, are included in Edison Caveat 80 (Doc. 1341 [figs. 60–62]).
2. The day before, Edison had written Painter, “The electrotyping is a perfect success” (Doc. 1309). The first experiments in this process were conducted by William Hollingshead, a New York electrotyper. Hollingshead had seen Edison’s phonograph during the New Year’s exhibitions at Western Union, where he acquired a tinfoil recording. After making a matrix from the foil, he used deposits of copper to make electrotype duplicates of the recording. The deposits, which varied in depth between .004 and .0312 inches, “were exactly like the original tin foil having every scratch or mark faithfully reproduced thereon.” Hollingshead accompanied Joseph Moody to Menlo Park on 23 February and gave a piece of the copper record to Edison, who was “pleased that there was a possibility and certainty of preserving and duplicating any records made on tin foil or otherwise.” Hollingshead never returned to Menlo Park but was “informed that steps were immediately taken to exploit my method of obtaining reproduction from tin foil records.” Hollingshead’s deposition, pp. 11–12, American Graphophone v. Leeds & Catlin; Wilson 1878, 655; Cat. 1233:54, Batchelor (TAEM 90:80).
In June, Charles Cheever suggested to Gardiner Hubbard that they take “some active steps ... in regard to perfecting arrangements for Stereotyping the Matrices, there have been several Stereotypes made of it, but they have all been reported to me as not reproducing well when placed upon the machine.” He felt that “Edison is so very busy between the visitors and his experiments that I fear that much valuable time will be lost unless we take outside means for getting at this part of the thing.” He therefore suggested “appointing a few people say a half dozen who would like to experiment with the same furnishing them each with a Page 265 Phonograph at cost price and offering a prize of a Thousand Dollars to the one who within the next two months shall produce the best result, no prize to be given unless such best one works in a satisfactory manner.” He also indicated that the “Toy people” were interested in sharing the cost of these experiments. Nothing appears to have been done in this matter. Cheever to Hubbard, 10 June 1878, ESP Lbk. 1:394-95, UHP.
To Uriah Painter
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 2 1878—
UH.P.
Phonograph must come out before anything—1 I send model of Phonomotor, (boring machine) to patent ofs in few days2 It will make one of the best scientific toys of the day.— I also send model of Apparatus for printing phonographic records ieb making duplicates.3 This will earn more money than the phono = rush them through. These violent changes of policy on sale of phono is scarcely the correct thing4 The phono ought to have an a supreme executive. Yours
Where is the large photograph
Drawings of Edison’s phonomotor from Scientific American.
ALS, PHi, UHP. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp. bCircled.
1. In a letter the previous day, Painter had asked Edison about his progress on the phonomotor and aerophone. DF (TAEM 15:585).
2. The phonomotor used a pawl attached to a diaphragm to engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel. This linkage converted the diaphragm’s vibrations into continuous rotary motion by means of a flywheel. Charles Batchelor made a measured drawing of the device on 1 May (NS-78–008, Lab. [TAEM 7:881]) from which John Kruesi constructed an instrument that is probably the one at the Edison Institute (Acc. 00.1382.496, MiDbEI[H]). Edison did not execute a patent application Page 266 until 31 August (U.S. Pat. 210, 767). A 27 July Scientific American (39:51) article noted Edison’s claim that “he will have no difficulty in making the machine bore a hole through a board” (“Edison’s Phonomoter,” Cat. 1030:31, Scraps. [TAEM 25:272]).
3. This may have been a stamping press, a drawing of which appears in a 10 May draft caveat (NS-78–007, Lab. [TAEM 7:873]). Though Edison discussed other methods for duplicating phonograph recordings in his 29 May caveat (Doc. 1341) he did not include this press.
4. Edison may be referring to the decision to lease phonographs for exhibition rather than sell them outright. The company had sent a circular letter on 1 May indicating that machines would soon be ready for delivery on payment of 8100. However, on 17 May the New York World reported that the company had decided on “a more profitable scheme, and refused to deliver the machines,” offering instead exclusive short-term exhibition license for the same amount. Gardiner Hubbard had apparently made this change in late April at which time Charles Cheever complained that “the programme which I laid out was the result of a great deal of consideration and consultation between Mr Painter and myself. I return finding the whole thing changed and mixed up.” Hubbard, however, had “no doubt that for the next few months we can make more money by exhibiting the phonograph than in any other way.” “The Phonograph’s Last Device,” New York World, 17 May 1878, Cat. 1029:68, Scraps. (TAEM 25:195); Cheever to Hubbard, 24 Apr. 1878, and Hubbard to Sanders, 1 May 1878, both Box 1205, NjWAT; see also Doc. 1308 n. 5.
Edison’s drawing of a stamping press for duplicating phonograph records.
Notebook Entry: Natural Philosophy and Natural Theology
[Menlo Park,] May 2nd 1878.
Axioms. 1a
1. Articulate Speech consists of two parts Musical sounds and clang sounds, the first varying in pitch and volume with enormous rapidity, while the latter is composed of vibrations having no definite relation with one another.2
2. The diaphragm of a telephone or phonograph is delicate to vibrations which follow each other with some degree of regularity and very insensitive to the same vibrations when they do not follow each other with regularity, hence the vowel sounds powerfully affect the plates and the hissing or clang sounds do not affect it so powerfully. 3 The diaphragm equals the ear in the reception and reproduction of sounds composed of musical vibrations, but is far inferior to the ear in dealing with clang sounds. I infer that the enormous complications of the human ear is more especially designed by the Creator to analyze clang sounds, such as the dropping of water, clapping of hands, etc. etc. sounds which the Phonographic disc seems to be unable to do.4
3. That the Universe has always existed and will always Page 267 exist are self evident propositions facts and that space is infinite is also self evident, because the mind of man cannot conceive the creation of so much matter for5 nothing or the destruction of the same nor can he conceive a point on one side of which is space and the other side no space.6
4. Each ultimate particle of matter is endowed with intelligence.7
5. Those nations whose people live upon a mixed diet are the most civilized. A mixed diet gives a diversity of ideas, ideas coming from the oxydation of food. Instance the greater learning in cities where the diet is more mixed than in the country; and the superiority of the French English and German speaking people, and per contra the Chinese who live mostly on rice who will continue to think in the same channels as long as they are confined to this one cereal8
6. The dissipation of energy at the loss which takes place in the transformation of one force into another is lost in other forms of energy unknown to us, hence the existence of unknown forces other than light, heat, electricity etc.9
7. All matter is under strain of Gravitation, hence if Planetary changes cause an increase or decrease in the attraction of gravitation, it would account for a deal of force on our earth.10
8. Either light exerts an attractive power and lifts organic matter against gravity as for instance the rise of a potato vine in a cellar to a hole in the roof of same, or else a potato vine is endowed with intelligent energy11
X, NjWOE, Lab., Cat. 995:1 (TAEM 3:275). Written by Charles Batchelor. aAll underlined portions of this document were underlined twice in the original.
1. These axioms apparently represent Edison’s ideas, although they are in Batchelor’s hand and are unsigned; Edison elaborated upon the subject of the fifth numbered paragraph during a luncheon interview the same day (see note 8). Most are closely related to topics and currents of thought that were reasonably familiar, though not commonly accepted, among the nineteenth-century educated public, such as readers of Popular Science Monthly. These notes, which come at the start of an otherwise empty volume, are unusual for notebooks of this period, but see Doc. 1651.
2. This distinction—essentially between musical tones and noise— was commonly made in contemporary textbooks on acoustics. Referring to noise as “clang sounds,” however, was not common. See e.g. Atkinson 1886, 192; Avery 1885, 375; Peck 1866, 168–69.
3. Edison had not fully overcome the difficulty with sibilants and this continued to be a focus of experimentation at the laboratory through the summer. For some indications of this work see Docs. 1164 n. 5, 1190 Page 268 n. 3, 1203, 1227, 1320, 1341, 1356, 1356, and 1400. The distinctiveness of vowel sounds was the subject of considerable research by others, see e.g. Doc. 1311 n. 3.
4. Edison rarely invoked this physico-theological argument from design when he expounded on religion (but see also notes 6 and 7). Religious views attributed to him did appear in a few newspaper stories around this time. In his Chicago Tribune biographical sketch (App. 3), George Bliss claimed that Edison “says the existence of a God can be demonstrated in a thousand ways to an absolute certainty, but he has no religious convictions in the ordinary sense.” According to a letter to the editor of the New York Daily Graphic, Edison had stated in an interview that religion “is a matter I have studied somewhat, but I haven’t been able to get any clue to any first cause, or any hereafter” (“Origin of the Phonograph, 16 May 1878, Cat. 1029:62, Scraps [TAEM 25:192]). A Boston paper reported that “Edison believes in a God, and one that is all-powerful alike to create and to destroy. He is not a regular attendant of church. He claims kinship with no particular denomination or school of philosophy, but approaches nearer to the Deism of the younger [John Stuart] Mill than anything else. But modification would probably have to be made in this to suit his views and beliefs. He is a devout man and full of goodness” (“The Phonograph, Etc.,” Boston Daily Evening Traveller, 23 May 1878, Cat. 1240, item 620, Batchelor [TAEM 94:211]).
5. Probably should have been “from.”
6. This agrees with conclusions Thomas Paine set forth in his deist natural theology, The Age of Reason, and with the argument Paine gave regarding the infinity of space. Paine was one of the few philosophers whose works Edison ever directly stated he had read and he clearly was impressed greatly by them (Edison 1925; Edison 1948, 151–58). Paine’s own argument for the eternity of the universe, however, also relied on the inconceivability of a terminal point or moment, as in the case of space, rather than on any problem with the concept of ex nihilo creation, as given here (Paine 1967, 47). Another philosopher commended by Edison, Herbert Spencer, did insist that both creation and destruction of matter are strictly inconceivable (Spencer 1898, 180–82). For Edison’s view of Spencer see Shaw 1878 (p. 490), in which Edison is reported as asserting that there is “no philosopher like Herbert Spencer, no writer like Victor Hugo, and no poet like Edgar A. Poe.”
7. Edison later made this claim in newspaper and magazine interviews (see, for example, Edison 1948, 205–44). Although Ernst Haeckel’s stream of popular writings, amplifying Goethe’s maxim “no mind without matter, no matter without mind,” had begun circulating in the preceding few years, such outright assertions of panpsychism were not common (but cf. note 11). Rejections of the orthodox concept of ultimate matter as inherently inert or “dead,” however, were as frequent in philosophical and popular writings of the era as they had been in the century before. Both Paine and Spencer concluded that matter is essentially active. “Intelligence” also could be used merely to refer to any rudimentary suggestion of apparently purposive action. Edwards 1967, s.vv. “Haeckel, Ernst,” “Panpsychism”; Toulmin and Goodfield 1977, 307–36.
8. Edison was quoted extensively on this topic in the Cincinnati Commercial. Describing his lunch with Edison at a New York restaurant on 2 May, the Commercial’s reporter quoted Edison as saying “I have a theory Page 269 of eating. Variety—that is the secret of wise eating. The Nations that eat the most kinds of food are the greatest Nations.” As lunch proceeded, Edison elaborated:
The rice-eating Nations never progress; they never think or act anything but rice, rice, rice, forever. Look at the potato and black-bread eaters of Ireland; though naturally bright, the Irish in Ireland are enervated by the uniformity of their food. Look at the semi-savages who inhabit the Black Forest. On the other hand, what is, take it all in all, the most highly enlightened Nation, the most thrifty, graceful, cultured and accomplished? Why, France, of course, where the cuisine has infinite variety. [“New York Letter,” 5 May 1878, Cat. 1029:47, Scraps. (TAEM 25:183)]
While popular and academic theories of environmental influences and national character were widespread at the time, Edison’s emphasis on variety of diet may be unique. However, the general notion of a relation between food and thought had been aggressively proclaimed by various materialist philosophers and doctors in the middle of the century, particularly by Jacob Moleschott, whose works contain a general view of thought as a product of physiological chemistry, an emphasis on the key role of oxidation, and the claim that the Irish were oppressed in part through their reliance upon a diet of potatoes (cf. Gregory 1977, 87–92). For the context of common attitudes about supposed national, ethnic, or racial characters, and the physical theories to account for them, see Gossett 1963, Higham 1970, Duijker and Frijda 1960, and Haller 1971.
9. Along with the principle of conservation of energy, the idea that “dissipation of energy” was a general pattern of fundamental importance had been developed in mathematical physics since the middle of the century and had been given various popular formulations. In the same period, Herbert Spencer set forth his general philosophy to widespread acclaim, including Edison’s. Spencer emphasized processes of dissipation and conservation, although he wrote in terms of force and motion rather than energy. While quite different from each other, these two concepts of dissipation each dealt with relationships among known forms of energy or force as they are transformed from one to another; the losses in question were energy lost to use or momentum lost to view, but all clearly accountable. In contrast to both of these well-known views, Edison here assumed that not all the energy going into some transformations was accounted for among the identified outcomes, so some energy seemed to be really lost, but he also took conservation of energy for granted; this is closely related to his understanding of his experiments with what he called “etheric force” (see e.g. Doc. 678). For ideas about the dissipation of energy see Brush 1978.
10. The actual strength of such gravitational force is insensibly tiny for phenomena on any scale much smaller than that of the motion of the earth as a whole. See, for example, Culver and Ianna 1979, 104–7.
11. The subject of motion in plants was becoming a major area of research involving eminent scientists, such as Charles Darwin and Julius Sachs, and also was being drawn into philosophical debates over the nature of life and evolution by writers such as Samuel Butler. Pauly 1987, 35; see, e.g., Darwin 1875 and Butler 1877.
Notebook Entry: Tasimeter
[Menlo Park,] May 2nd 1878
Pressed Carbon Micro-Tasimeter1
We have long noticed the expansion and contraction of our telephone cases and consequently variability of adjustment and about the middle of April2 made an instrument to detect fine degrees of heat which consisted of a button of our pressed carbon suitably mounted with a sheettrip of rubber resting against it on which the heat strikes lengthening or shortening same and putting more or less pressure on When arranged with battery and galvanometer in Wheatstone bridge it is exceedingly sensitive.3
If a strip of gelatin be substituted for the hard rubber it is exceedingly sensitive to moisture also.
X, NjWOE, Batchelor, Cat. 1317:57 (TAEM 90:685). Written by Batchelor.
1. Batchelor may have added “Micro-Tasimeter” at a later date. The term seems not to have replaced “Carbon Electro-Thermometer” until mid-June. See Docs. 1289 n. 3 and 1329 n. 1.
2. See Doc. 1289 n. 3.
3. This design was first published in the 22 June issue of Scientific American (“Edison’s Micro-Tasimeter” [38:385]). That article described how Edison’s work on a heat measurer had been stimulated by Samuel Langley (see Doc. 1367). In a 7 June letter, Langley asked Edison for one of his tasimeters, and on 10 June astronomer Charles Young of Princeton described experiments he and Cyrus Brackett, a Princeton physicist, had carried out with an instrument that was apparently based on the Scientific American description. Young asked Edison for some of his carbon buttons to aid their work and also invited him to “come & see us & what we are doing by way of preparation for the eclipse.” The Scientific American article, which was widely reprinted, stimulated other responses, as did other, less detailed newspaper accounts. For example, Dr. J. F. Tucker, a prominent Chicago physician, wrote about the possible use of the tasimeter to determine body temperature, and John Long, an American at the University of Tubingen in Wiirttemberg, was interested in using it for his experiments on the conductivity of heat in fluids. Long also reported interest in the tasimeter among professsors at the university and told Edison he “should be much pleased to introduce your instrument among the German chemists.” “Edison’s Micro-Tasimeter,” Page 271 Sci. Am., 22 June 1878, Cat. 1240, item 681, Batchelor (TAEM 94:233); Langley to TAE, 7 June 1878; Young to TAE, 10 June 1878; Tucker to TAE, 15 June 1878; Bliss to TAE, 18 and 27 June 1878; Long to TAE, 11 July 1878; all DF ( TAEM 15:760, 19:415–19, 422–23).
To Theodore Puskas
Menlo Park May 3 = 78
In Haste,
Friend Puskas
Expect to send Twoa clockwork phono for Exposition on the tenth, via London, Austin Baldwin Express look out for them= I understand that the Patent would be void is more than one machine was imported, but I, suppose you can fix that. We have great improvements, last night I recorded a sentence 16 feet from the instrument, & reproduced it audibly = The voice of everyone now comes out loud so that thereb is not that great diference between my speaking & a stranger as in the machines you have =The great improvement consists in having no shake or lost motion in the shaft bearings, otherwise the talking is poor= Johnson is clearing 100 dollars per night exhibiting machine in 23rd st has been running 16 night & crowds are getting larger. The Standard machine is coming in fast. I signed today another Very elaborate phonograph patent with 60 drawings’ This I have ordered Serrell to take out in all the Countries Itb will secure the thing tight= I find its impossible to get patents in South America the cost is too graeat to obtain concessions so I have told a lot of people here to go ahead & do what they pleased about it giving me something which I will see that you get your share=2 I sent your English Contract several days ago=3I do not know if you will like the provision about lawsuits but you must consider that I must for many years perform labor & expend money, hence I considered that it would be only fair that you should pay any law suits which may never arise= I think the new patent will fix it all right I applied for provisional protection twenty days ago=4 You do not send me any Paris papers, do you get those I send you The Contract on telephones with WU Tel is closed5 I get $6000, yearly for 17 years and $500 yearly on improvements which6 is to be paid for 17 years. This will probably bring me in $12 000 yearly for 25 years=
I am going to ship in a few days in addition to the han clockwork Exhibition inst a hand machine that will work perfectly Page 272 & continue so for months without touching it It will be very solid but cheaply made= All my telephones on WU wires continue to work better than I ever expected= We have greatly simplified them since we shipped the Exposition telephones= Adams tells me the Sea air has spoilt his carbons=6 I do not understand this= I have shipped some more telephones & carbons in a tin case soldered to exclude the air=
Please see your parties in England & have them write what particular things is necessary to disclaim=7 Counsel here upon my explanations say they do not see that I should disclaim anything but they may be wrong=
AL, HuBPo, TP. aInterlined above. bObscured overwritten letters.
1. See Doc. 1341 n. 1.
2. On 8 May, Edison arranged with T. J. Smith to exhibit the phonograph and carbon telephone along the west coast of Central and South America. Smith was associated in this enterprise with L. A. Ludwig of the Commercial News Department of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. By the end of June, Smith had established”a telephone line across the Isthmus of Panama in connection with the Pacific Mail Steamship and Pacific Railroad Companies. Agreements between Smith and TAE, 8 May 1878, Miller (TAEM 28:1090, 1101); Smith to TAE, 11 Mar., 18 and 20 Apr. 1878; Ludwig to TAE, 28 June 1878, all DF (TAEM 15:342, 537, 543; 19:865).
A month later, Edison appointed Frederick W. Jones as his agent to obtain phonograph patents in Brazil and Argentina. He also gave Jones the sole right to manufacture, use, and sell the phonograph in those countries. After arriving in Brazil, however, Jones found someone already there exhibiting a phonograph which he had apparently purchased in Paris from Puskas. While Jones was waiting for his phonograph to arrive from New York this party gave free exhibitions, including one to Dom Pedro, the Brazilian emperor to whom Edison had hoped to send one of his clockwork phonographs when they were completed. As a result of these free exhibitions Jones was unable to draw sufficient spectators for his own. He did, however, obtain phonograph patents for Edison in Brazil and Argentina by the beginning of October. Memorandum of agreement and power of attorney between Jones and TAE, n.d. and 4 June 1878, Miller (TAEM 28:1092, 1125); Jones to TAE, 1 June, 23 July, 5 Oct., and 6 Dec. 1878; J. C. Rodriquez to TAE, 20 May 1878, all DF (TAEM 15:735; 19:239, 283, 317, 328); TAE to Rodriquez, 26 May 1878, UHP.
3. That is, the agreement between Edison and Puskas of 16 April 1878 (TP).
4. It is unclear exactly when Edison signed the British provisional patent specification (Brit. Pat. 1, 644[1878]). He had not done so by 10 April, when Serrell asked to see him about it in New York. If Edison’s statement of twenty days is correct, he would have signed it on 12 April. Serrell to TAE, 10 Apr. 1878, DF (TAEM 18:653). Page 273
5. This agreement was not executed until 31 May, but Edison and new Western Union president Norvin Green signed a memorandum of agreement on 29 April. Miller (TAEM 28:1105); WU Coll.
6. See also Doc. 1248.
7. See Doc. 1237.
To William Preece
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 4= 78
Friend Preece:
The air of the sea must be vastly different from that over a tub filled with salt water, becauseb carbons placed over the tubb are not affected. I have sent my latest from of Telephone—non expansion & non-adjustable with supply of carbons in a sealed tin case by Col Gouraud.1 Tell Adams to write details. HDo they work well on a Rheostatic line.2 WU closed contract 1 after all the tests and Mr Phelps is making a quantity. They pay $6000. yearly for 17 years and $500 yearly for 17 yrs for each valuable improvement.
My Solicitor & myself are at sea about the disclaimer business. We cannot comprehend what is to be disclaimed, as The phonograph isb used as a Telephonic recorder and is just as much a part of a Telephone as a Morse inker is a part of the Morse system. You may listen to a Morse sounder & receive the message phonetically and the same with a Telephone or you may substitute the Morse sounder for a register or ink recorder or the Telephone with a phonograph. My Telephone patent was the next to Bells in point of time in England. Would you be so kind as to have the claims written out & your idea of those to be disclaimed =I have applied for another very important patent in England covering the phonograph fully, final specfs go next week= I have been backward in asking you to spend your time looking after my interest because I could not see where you was to receive any consideration thereform. If you will point out where I can reciprocate financially (outside of Telegraph matters which of course you could have no interest) I will brush up sufficient “cheek” to ask you to assist me. Have you a private laboratory, if not you ought to have one. Why not make Jack the public pay for one when we do so much for him= I hope Mr. Nottage & Puskas wont quarrell, both seem to be square men. Ive got two new things besides Aerophone that I want you to wet nurse over there before the public= 3 At present my time is entirely taken up by the phono= See Alex J Ellis in Nature.4 Ill make him take a back seat in the cellar within 90 days, how foolish in Page 274 him to make a statement like he did from results attained by a mach mere experimental machine;= I spoke 16 feet from the phono last night & it reproduced it. The articulation is perfect but the tone is not as yet quite natural= More anon from your Friend
ALS, UkLIEE, WHP. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp. bObscured overwritten letters. cInterlined above.
1. Gouraud sailed for England on 24 April. Gouraud to George Prescott, 23 Apr. 1878, DF ( TAEM 19:506).
2. Probably an underground cable (see Docs. 1319 and 1331).
3. The two new things were probably the phonomotor and tasimeter, though Edison may also have been referring to his harmonic engine, the sewing machine motor he and Batchelor had been working on since October 1876 and which was now being mentioned in the press. See Docs. 800, 802, 829, and 1129; and “Thomas A. Edison,” Chicago Tribune, 4 May 1878, Cat. 1240, item 578, Batchelor (TAEM 94:193).
4. Alexander Ellis was an English philologist and mathematician (DNB, s.v. “Ellis, Alexander John). At Alexander Graham Bell’s invitation, he experimented with a phonograph made by Augustus Stroh, which differed “in many respects from the one described by Prof. Mayer.” In a 13 April letter to Nature (17:485–86), Ellis reported:
The difference between words produced from the phonograph and those spoken into it gave me the same feeling as the difference between a worn print and an early proof of an engraving. When the words were uttered loudly and slowly and repeated rather faster, it was easy to catch the sense and meaning, but I doubt whether unknown English words would be recognised, and certainly unknown foreign words would present insuperable difficulties. [Cat. 1029:28, Scraps. (TAEM 25:176)]
He concluded that the phonograph had not yet “risen beyond a lecture illustration or a philosophical toy.” However, on 30 April he wrote another letter to Nature (18:38) acknowledging that “the phonograph has already risen beyond the rank of lecture illustrations and philosophical toys, to which I assigned it in my last, and . . . promises to lay some permanent foundations” for acoustical science (Cat. 1030:25, Scraps. [TAEM 25:268]).
From Lemuel Serrell
New York, May 6th 1878.a
Dear Sir:
I send below a copy of a communication from my London correspondent. Yours truly
Page 275
“We regret very much to be obliged to report the failure of Telephone (Edisons) up to the present, we had a conversation with Mr. Preese on the subject this week and he appears to have written very fully to Mr. Edison.1 We have not seen Mr Adams yet but we understand that he is working very hard to try to put matters right, and is very annoyed naturally. The difficulty is with the underground wires and a telephone is useless here unless it will work when some of the wires are underground. Mr. Preese is very much disappointed. Of course Messrs Vallance cannot proceed until the Telephone works well and let us hope this will be done before something else better gets into the market”
L, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:851). Letterhead of Lemuel Serrell. a“New York,” and “187” preprinted.
1. Not found.
Technical Note: Phonograph
[Menlo Park,] May 7th 1878a
Note.
In Phonograph when you speak, the loud tones like vowel sounds go deeper in I should think and consequently are deeper in proportion to their length, & the spring may not go to the bottom of sthese so readily as shallower1 so if you had a cast or electrotype of wrong side and worked with strong spring the tones that were deepestb would make most noise: But still the vowel sounds are now the strongest vibrations and we get the strongest sound from them & are trying to weaken themb or reinforce the weaker ones
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 17:88 (TAEM 4:957). Written by Charles Batchelor. aFollowed by double horizontal line. bObscured overwritten letter.
1. In February, Edison had debated with William Hollingshead whether the reproducing point reached the bottom of deep indentations in a hard material. According to Hollingshead, Edison thought it had to do so in order to reproduce loud sounds. Hollingshead disagreed, arguing that this would actually create distortions. To settle the issue, he suggested that Edison coat a recorded cylinder with a thin carbon film and then play it on the phonograph. The reproducing point would scrape off the carbon, either revealing “a clean, clear line” if the point reached the bottom of each indentation, or leaving traces of carbon if it did not. Edison does not appear to have performed this experiment. Hollingshead’s testimony, pp. 45–46, American Graphophone v. Leeds & Catlin.
From Charles Harris
New York May 8th 1878
Dr Sir.
Acting on your suggestion, I have engaged John Ott1 to report to you, to work under your instructions for the purpose of getting a toy box, such as we talked of yesterday.2 I have given him money to purchase supplies for immediate use. I feel more confidence in the success of this step, than anya that has yet been taken towards producing toys, and that it will result to our mutual benefit.
Hollingshead will continue his electrotype experiments. Have cabled Puskas.3 Yours Truly
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:66). aObscured overwritten letters.
1. John Ott had worked as a machinist in Edison’s Newark shops from 1870 to 1875. This is the first reference to him since he had made electric pens for Edison in 1875 and it is unknown if he had been working with Edison at Menlo Park. See Doc. 623.
2. The following day Charles Batchelor made several drawings for a talking toy. Vol. 17:91–93, Lab. (TAEM 4:960–62).
3. Not found.
4. Charles Harris had joined Oliver Russell in the phonograph toy contract sometime after 22 April. He had a business in New York making or selling bells. Russell to TAE, 22 Apr. 1878, DF (TAEM 19:59); Wilson 1878, 588.
Charles Batchelor’s drawings ofa speaking toy.
From Stockton Griffin
[New York,] May 9, 1878
Friend Tom
I am afraid I cant join you before June 1st unless you are going to be seriously inconvenienced by my not coming. Eight days is pretty short notice to give where one has worked so long as I have. I would be pleased1 to hear from you and will abide by whatever you say.
Mya retirement from the ofs is making a commotion. Yrs
Griff1
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:632). aObscured overwritten letter.
1. Stockton Griffin, who had worked with Edison in Cincinnati in 1867, had been in charge of the Eastern wires in Western Union’s main New York office for several years. Previous to that he had worked for the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. He resigned his position at Western Union to become Edison’s personal secretary. See TAEB 1:297 n. 1 Operator, 1 June 1878, 10.
To the Editor of the New York Daily Graphic
Menlo Park, N.j.a May 10 1878.
Dear Sir1—
I feel an inclination to thank you for the pleasant things you have said about me and the Phonograph in the Graphic. Your words and pictures have gratified me the more because I had long since come to look upon your paper with pride and to regard such an illustrator of daily events as one of the marvels of the age. I am able to report to you that I am constantly increasing the sensibility and power of the Phonograph. I feel certain that it will soon justify all the hopes of its friends By the way, Croffuts April-first hoax concerning my alleged food machine2 has brought in a flood of letters from all parts of the country.3 It was very ingenious. With congratulations on the great success of your journal I am Yours Truly
Thomas. A Edison.
ALS (photographic transcript), NjWOE, Batchelor, Cat. 1240:597 (TAEM 94:197). aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp.
This facsimile of Edison’s letter was published in the 16 May New York Daily Graphic.
1. The text of this letter was taken from a draft written by William Croffut at Edison’s suggestion (Croffut to TAE, 10 May, with draft, DF [TAEM 17:91]). The version in Edison’s hand was published in the Graphic of 16 May (p. 544) with the caption “Facsimile of a letter from Page 278 the inventor of the telephone and phonograph.” The Graphic’s editor commented on Edison’s handwriting.
This peculiar penmanship is no affectation, nor is it adopted for an occasion; but it is the uniform style of all the inventor’s personal letters. It does not look like the hand of an intensely busy and hurried man, but he explains to his friends that while his hand was still unformed, he chose this, because it was legible and because he found by practice that he could write it as fast as any other. He dashes off his letters with the rapidity of an accomplished clerk, but every one of them is a work of art. [p. 538, Cat. 1029:62, Scraps. (TAEM 25:192)]
Edison developed the signature shown here in early March. By April he settled on this as the standard form of his public signature. It eventually became a trademark.
2. See Doc. 1282.
3. These letters have not been found; however, the 6 April issue of the Graphic contained a few responses in an article titled “They Bite.” Cat. 1240, item 497, Batchelor (TAEM 94:157).
From James Heenan
New York, May 10, 1878a
Mr. Edison:
Please do not forget your engagement for Decoration Day, Thursday, May 30, at Mt. St. Vincent,1 thirteen miles up the Hudson by railroad from the depot W. 30th St. bet 9th and 10th Avs. You are expected are expected to bring your wife and children and any friends you wish to invite. You and your assistants with company2 are desired1 in the morning and for dinner, to prepare for the exhibition of your inventions, inspect the magnificent academy, stroll through the grounds, see Edwin Forest’s famous castle and the museum,3 and visit the house of Mr. Morosini4 (Mr. Jay Gould’s Secretary) about fifty yards from the Mount gate. Mr. M. has a rare collection of curiosities which he wishes you to look at. He has a beautiful place and will entertain you nicely. At the Mount there may be some grand music if time permits.
At the exhibition of your inventions there will be present representatives of the New York and National Associated Presses, the City and Metropolitan Presses, the New York newspapers and special correspondents of Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, San Francisco, Canadian and other papers. You might invite Mr. Amos Cummings, of the Sun, to accompany you in the morning. The other journalists will not leave until 1 p.m. The 30th being such a holiday its feature in the news Page 279 line outside of the regular Decoration doings may be your “layout”
If not asking too much tryb to have an exhibition of your speaking and musical telephones and electric pen as well as the phonograph—’the more, you know, the better under the circumstances. It would be well to have a fair description of each instrument or machine for all the reporters to copy from. If I had the descriptions in time I could have thirty copies of each made on manifold or with the electric pen in order to save work for the newspaper men.
All expenses, fare, expressage, help, &c. will be paid by me. I will accompany your party to the Mount and remain with it until the return to the city.
I see Mr. Griffin, our old western friend, every day now. I understand he will be with you after the 15th. I have been explaining things to him. He and his company will be with us.
Several days ago, April 29, the Sun had a splendid article 6 on your inventions and I hurriedly made the enclosed dispatch from it Want of time and telegraphic facilitiesb prevented something much better, although I had already pretty well covered up the subject in previous dispatches. The wires on April 29 could not accommodate the matter on hand in the morning.
Twoc or three trains leave for the Mount on the morning of the 30th, including one from the Grand Central Depot. Your party is expected on the 11 a.m. train from 30th St. if it can not start earlier. All other persons take the one o’clock train. It takes 40 minutes to get to the Mount from 30th St., and a little less from 42d St. I will write again and send time table.7 Yours truly,
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:639). Letterhead of National Associated Press. a“New York,” and “187” preprinted. bInterlined above. cObscured overwritten letters.
1. The Convent (now College) of Mount St. Vincent was a Catholic girls’ school. It stands on the east side of the Hudson River at what today is the northernmost point of New York City but at that time was neither urbanized nor within the city limits. An unknown number of invited guests attended Edison’s exhibition. “The Magician of Science,” New York Sun, 31 May 1878, Cat. 1240, item 632, Batchelor (TAEM 94:216).
2. It is unknown if Edison’s family attended. According to press reports he was accompanied by Charles Batchelor, Martin Force, George Carman, Stockton Griffin, and Frank McLaughlin. Ibid.
3. Edwin Forrest, an actor famous for his tragic characters and off-stage Page 280 scandals, built a Norman-style castle that he never occupied. The Mount St. Vincent convent acquired the building after his death in 1872 and filled the library with a mineral collection. Ibid.; DAB, s.v. “Forrest, Edwin.”
4. Giovanni Morosini, a former sailor, became Gould’s bodyguard and personal secretary in 1872. Klein 1986, 86.
5. According to news accounts, Edison demonstrated the phonograph and had guests try the speaking and musical telephones. The electric pen was also on display. A vocal performance by a student concluded the exhibition. “Mr. Edison in a Convent,” New York World; “Phonograph and Telephone,” New York Herald; and “The Magician of Science,” New York Sun; all 31 May 1878, Cat. 1240, items 628–29, 632, Batchelor (TAEM 94:215–16).
6. “The Inventor of the Age,” New York Sun, 29 Apr. 1878, Cat. 1240, item 561, Batchelor (TAEM 94:106). Heenan’s enclosure has not been found.
7. On 28 May, Heenan wrote Edison with train information and expressed his hope that “Mrs. Edison will be well enough to go to Mt. St. Vincent Thursday morning.” DF (TAEM 15:709).
8. An acquaintance from Edison’s days in Louisville, Heenan was an official of the National Associated Press in New York. “The Magician of Science,” New York Sun, 31 May 1878, Cat. 1240, item 632, Batchelor (TAEM 94:216).
From Mrs. Andrew Coburn
Brooklyn May 13th 1878
Dear Sir
Knowing your pecularities for no long letters, and a dislike to long conversations, I will make my letter short as possible. I intended to go and see you, but thought best to write at the present. My Husband has been disabled for over three years with a fractured elbow & now about to have it amputated has been confined to the bed for over two weeks with a Lung” difficulty which makes it much worse & I thought would solicit alms from you—temporary, even but little, it would be a great help. My Husband Andrew D Coburn1 you will remember was in your employ nearly two years, as Inspector & Tool Keeper on Rail-Road Av. Newark, N.J. My health you will remember never was very good, & in trying to work & keeping my family together I am entirely broken down. My Husband would be only too glad to see you—if you could spare time to come—
If you can & will assist me, it will be much appreciated—2 I remain Yours with Respect
“We are in perfectly destitute circumstances.” Page 281
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:650). a“n” interlined above.
1. Andrew Coburn first worked for Edison as a machinist at the American Telegraph Works in November 1870 and moved to Edison and Unger in 1871. Cat. 30, 108; Cat. 1210:96, both Accts. (TAEM 20:189, 664).
2. Stockton Griffin wrote on this letter “Ansd & sent check for $5.” Mrs. Coburn thanked Edison on 23 June and wrote again on 13 July asking for a $50 loan to start a business making socks, garters and leggings. In July, Andrew Coburn asked Charles Batchelor to intercede on his behalf and in September the surgeon treating Andrew Coburn also appealed for Edison’s assistance. It is not known if he provided any additional money. Mrs. Coburn to TAE, 23 June, 13 July, and 31 Oct. 1878; George Fowler to TAE, 1 Sept. 1878; Andrew Coburn to Batchelor, 25 July 1878; all DF (TAEM 15:826, 933, 996; 16:2, 356).
Frotn Uriah Painter
W-DC— 5+13-78
My Dr E,
Yours of 5–12 to hand—1
Hurrah for the Telephon[o]s[co]pe2 I’ll get the patent on it for you promptly as the others.
If it will work & I believe it will, if you say so there money in it, a heap! If its big now, it will be reduced!3I thought you had some Phono’s4 of EHJ— I told you to take what you wanted! I mail with this 18— I sent 13 large Photo’s to NY get 2 of those if you have not one for Batch—
We have the show biz started in good shape— The best man in the Country to manage it— 5 We will have 100 machines sold inside of 104 days @ $100. each & 60 to 80 shows running on the shares—!!
How comes on the Phono?
If you dont let up on JCR.6 on that mattera I’ll give you half what we get out of it!
Poor Henry7 died to-day! He has been too ill to see anyone for some time. I wanted to have got a letter from him on the Phono & you!
Get up Patent application” for PTelephonoscope right away .
Phonomotor not come yet! ans if Photos come OK—
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:653). aInterlined above.
1. Not found.
2. The telephonoscope was a device for receiving sound over great distances. Its basic design consisted of long paper funnels to the ends Page 282 of which were connected flexible tubes for insertion into the listener’s ears. When used with a speaking tube, the device reportedly enabled conversation to be “carried on through a distance of one and a half to two miles in an ordinary tone of voice. A low whisper, uttered without using the speaking trumpet, is distinctly audible at a distance of a thousand feet, and walking through grass and weeds may be heard at a much greater distance” (Prescott 1879, 563). Edison made a preliminary notebook drawing of this device on 2 April and on 10 May made sketches for a draft caveat. The instrument subsequently became known as the megaphone. “Edison’s ‘Ear Telescope,’” New York Sun; “The Megaphone,” New York Herald; both 8 June 1878, Cat. 1240, items 660–61, Batchelor (TAEM 94:227); “Edison’s Megaphone,” Sci. Am. 39 (1878): 113–14.
Edison’s telephonoscope for receiving sound over great distances.
3. Edison explored ways of adapting the telephonoscope for use as a personal hearing aid, a device he termed the auriphone (although for a while he called both instruments the megaphone). He sketched ways in which the listening tubes could collapse telescopically to make them portable, and considered various shapes and arrangements of resonator tubes. Doc. 1361; NS-78–002, Lab. (TAEM 7:762); “Ears for the Deaf,” New York Daily Graphic, 5 June 1878; “The Megaphone,” New York Herald, 8 June 1878, Cat. 1240, items 645, 661, Batchelor (TAEM 94:221, 227).
4. Painter meant “photo’s.”
5. In a letter of 6 May, Charles Cheever told Gardiner Hubbard that they had hired James Redpath (1833–91) to manage the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co.’s exhibition business. Redpath was to receive twenty percent of the receipts (UHP). Redpath was a former journalist who had become well-known for his abolitionist articles. He had established the Redpath Lyceum Bureau in Boston in 1868 (DAB, s.v. “Red-path, James”).
6. Josiah Reiff; Edison apparently held promissory notes from him. Painter to TAE, (6 May 1878, DF [TAEM 15:612]).
7. Joseph Henry.
From William MacMahon
Boston, Mass May 14, 1878
Sir:
I sometime ago arranged with your Company to exhibit the Speaking Phonograph in Boston and to give you an idea of the success we have met with here, I have turned in royalties amounting to $500 at the present time, we opened the exhibition of the Phonograph here on Thursday last, as soon as it was advertised here I received communications from an innumerable number of scientific societies to give them private exhibition and scientific explanations of your great production, prominent among which were letters from the faculty of Harvard College, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and several other prominent bodies— I made engagements with the above named parties and intended to give them private exhibitions prior to opening here, your company could Page 283 not however furnish me with a machine in time, so that I was obliged to disappoint them— there is now a great desire here, not only among that element, but also among the representatives of the Boston press, to come personally in contact with you— After due consultation they realize that all your time is valuably occupied, they propose, if agreeable to you, to visit you in body, that is to say the press and representatives of leading Scientific associations, numbering in all not to exceed twenty, their purpose will be to visit Menlo Park, come personally in contact with you, spend a few hours in your company and return to the “Hub”1
Will the same be agreeable to you? if so you will confer a favor by designating the day you will be at leasure and when you would be pleased to meet this deputation—2
Please answer at once by telegraph, so that I can wait upon these gentlemen and report your decision—
I am very respectfully Your obt Servant
Wm MacMahon3 Manager of Phonograph Exhibition
P.S. Arrangements have been made for a special car if your decision is satisfactory, and we sincerely hope it will be.
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:662).
1. On 22 May, Edward Johnson met MacMahon’s group, consisting of representatives from seven Boston newspapers and an unknown number of other visitors, in New York and escorted them to Menlo Park. Edison demonstrated the phonograph, phonomotor, telephonoscope, tasimeter, harmonic engine, and his musical and speaking telephones. The party spent about six hours in Menlo Park. “The Phonograph, Etc,” Boston Daily Evening Traveller, 23 May 1878; “Edison and His Inventions,” Boston Journal, 25 May 1878, Cat. 1240, items 620, 622, Batchelor (TAEM 94:211–12).
2. In an undated telegram Edison wired MacMahon: “Party can come any time next week.” DF (TAEM 15:724).
3. William MacMahon managed the phonograph exhibition at Boston’s Horticultural Hall (see Whitehill 1968, 185). Nothing further is known of him.
From Norman Miller
Tuesday p.m. May 14/’78
Friend Edison,
I enclose the Field-Andrews Contract.1
I made copy as you requested, and it is with Mr Lowrey— as you said that I might show it to him—2 He will be at home tomorrow so if you wish to tell him the rest of the story you can do so at some early day. Page 284
The great points just now seems to determine how to find money for finishing Kennys Instruments,3 with your or Riffs4 applications and to whom the invention will belong when done— You know what I am driving at is to have it yours and Kennys, that you may sell it to W.U. if they want it, and will pay what it is worth—
I send this by Frank Mac’5 as better than the mail—
I dont see how you can hope to find a better man than him on Phono for Australia—6 Hope you will make a trade and both do well. Yours
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:514).
1. Doc. 92.
2. In a letter of the previous day, Miller had remarked that Lowrey could help Edison in regard to facsimile telegraphy “not only with [Elisha] A[ndrews], but also at W.U. when the time comes .... If I did not know that he is a good true man to you, I should not ask you to have a talk with him before making any new deal with A.” DF ( TAEM 19:512).
3. Patrick Kenny had been superintendent of Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.’s manufacturing shops in the early 1870s. He was also an inventor and was apparently working at this time on a facsimile telegraph. Edison was considering combining their efforts and approached Andrews about this on 23 May. See TAEB 1:372, 621 n. 21; and Andrews to TAE, 24 May 1878, DF (TAEM 19:519).
4. Miller apparently meant Josiah Reiff.
5. Frank McLaughlin was a telegrapher acquaintance of Edison’s who had been an agent for the electric pen. See Doc. 660.
6. McLaughlin and Charles Harris had acquired rights to Edison’s phonograph for Australasia. McLaughlin was to go to Australia to exhibit the phonograph, with Harris paying his expenses, including the purchase of two phonographs from Edison. The three men were to equally divide the net profits from McLaughlin’s exhibitions. Although the agreement between them is dated 14 May, a supplemental agreement with Harris, dated 8 May, transferred his rights under the contract back to Edison. This was so a new arrangement could be made with John Hickling, a New York banker and broker, who agreed to fund McLaughlin’s trip. On 10 June, McLaughlin and Hickling signed an agreement with Edison for the same terms as the earlier contract as well as a supplemental agreement allowing them to purchase Edison’s entire rights to Australasia for $17,500 cash by 31 July. They expected to raise this money in England, but after arriving in London, discovered that “the instruments used by the Stereoscopic Association are considered here as more complete than those we brought over and no encouragement has been given leading to the hope of disposing of the rights for Australasia.” They also decided to abandon McLaughlin’s proposed exhibition business for Australasia and returned to the United States. Agreements between Edison, McLaughlin, and Harris, 8 and 14 May 1878; agreements between Edison, McLaughlin, and Hickling, 10 June Page 285 1878; all Miller (TAEM 28:1102–4, 1127); agreement between Edison, McLaughlin, and Hickling, 11 June 1878; Hickling to TAE, 15 July 1878; Lemuel Serrell to TAE, 18 June 1878; all DF (19:254, 280; 18:712).
Notebook Entry: Tasimeter
X, NjWOE, Lab., NS-78–009 (TAEM 7:886).
1. The term “carbon electric thermometer” was apparently suggested as a replacement for “heat measurer” (see Doc. 1289 n. 3) by George Bliss during his visit in early May (undated memos of names in Cat. 1029:17, Scraps. [TAEM 25:170] and 78–035, DF [TAEM 19:449]). A device labeled “Thermo Carbon Electrothermometer” is on the same page as a 1 April drawing of a “Small cast iron Transmitter” but appears to be a later addition (Vol. 14:78, Lab. [TAEM 4:221]). An account book entry headed “Carbon Thermometer” includes entries between 29 May and 7 June; another entry headed “Micro Tasimeter” begins on 14 June (Cat. 1185:179, 223, Accts. [TAEM 22:636, 656]).
This drawing shows the second style of tasimeter Edison designed (see Doc. 1316 for the first). He drew another version of the design two days later. On 12 June, Batchelor made a measured drawing of the instrument for the laboratory machine shop. It was first used by Edison during the solar eclipse expedition to Rawlins, Wyo., at the end of July. NS-78–009, Lab. (TAEM 7:887, 891); Doc. 1373.
To Samuel Edison
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 18 1878.
Dear Father
How would you like to go to Europe with Simonton1 If I pay your fares = Yours
ALS, Hummel. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp.
1. James Symington was deputy sheriff and constable in Port Huron and had just become an agent for the National Publishing Co. On 14 May he had written Edison that Samuel wanted to visit Europe, particularly Amsterdam to investigate the family genealogy. Seeking to disengage Samuel from his relationship with Mary Sharlow (see Doc. 421 n. 3), Symington suggested that if “you was to send him to Europe upon such a mission or whatever you might contrive I have enough of mannagemet to get [her] married to some widdower or some low rascal who could easily be tempted to marry her for 300 dollars.” Symington and Edison’s father did not make the trip at this time, but Thomas did pay their expenses for such a trip in 1885–86. Symington to TAE, 14 May 1877, 24 Nov. and 21 Dec. 1885; 20 Jan. and 20 Nov. 1886; Samuel Edison to TAE, 30 Oct. 1885; all DF (TAEM 15:658; 77:468, 470, 478; 79:249, 272).
To William Preece
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 19, 78
Friend Preece,
Yours received.1 I am glad of the success before the Royalb Society=2 Please tell Adams to write in detail the nature of the difficulty there= Do Telephones work well on resistance= Page 287 If the static charge is the bug I will go for a compensation= Here we whisper from NY to Phila 24 wires on the pole 4 cables, & all the net work of wires in the main offices at NY & Phila. Now my dear Mr. P. I am completely stuck on your patent law there. Myself and Solicitor cannot for the life of us see what to disclaim= As shown in the patent the phono is the recorder of the telephone, and forms a part of it. I would be a great favor if you would jotb down you idea of the points to be disclaimed= Do you want a copy of WU contract with me on telephones $6000 per year for 17 years’= In Nature I see Hughes has discovered that some substances are sensitive to sound like selenium is to light=3 Evidently Mr Η dont read the papers that is nothing but my carbon telephone= he varies the resistance by disturbing the pressures thats all & II bet £100 on it= Hyperoxide of lead Iodide Copper, metallicb sulphide— Black ox manganéese & many other things semi conductors will replace my Lampblack button but they are all inferior= please do not letb Mr Hughes unconsciously go for me & rediscover what cost me so much experimenting= From Ellis’ note in Nature I infer that the phonos over there do not work very well= because here, we read a newspaper backwards and then bring in a person to listen if he gets every word it is OK if not it isnt properly adjusted = I think the Quadruplex matter will soon be fixed up with Smith Fleming & .Co= 4
I hope in two weeks to send you something new— an no patent (Im weakening on English patents) purely scientific Elegant. Yours
ALS, UkLIEE, WHP. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp. bObscured overwritten letters.
1. Not found.
2. No reports of this have been found.
3. David Hughes (1831–1900) was a London-born electrician and inventor. He was educated in the United States, where he taught music and began research in acoustics that led to his invention of a synchronous printing telegraph system. Hughes returned to Europe in 1859 to promote his invention, finally settling in London where he continued his electrical experiments. DAB, s.v. “Hughes, David Edward”; Marsh 1980; Marsh and Roberts 1979.
An unsigned notice in the 2 May issue of Nature (18:20) stated that Hughes
has made the wonderful discovery that some bodies are sensitive to sound as selenium is sensitive to light. If such a body be placed in the circuit of a small battery it will be so affected by the sonorous Page 288 vibrations when spoken to as to replace entirely the transmitter of a Bell telephone. Conversation, music, and all the sounds transmitted by an ordinary telephone are easily reproduced. A mere scratch with the finger-nail, or a touch with the soft part of a feather is distinctly transmitted. The sonorous vibrations produce strains in the conductor, which cause variations in the resistance of the circuit, and thereby produce similar variations in a current flowing through that conductor.
The photoelectric characteristics of selenium had been discovered five years earlier and were the focus of continuing investigation. Wil-loughby Smith, “Selenium, Its Electrical Qualities and the Effect of Light Thereon,” J. Soc. Teleg. Eng. 6 (1877): 423–48; Edison’s Menlo Park Scrapbook No. 18, “Phenomena General,” contains many related notes and articles (Cat. 1028, Scraps. [TAEM 25:119]).
4. See Doc. 1336 n. 3.
To Theodore Puskas
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 19= 78
My Dear Puskas
I closed Australisia today= good parties, man leaves for Australia; 1st June to exhibit=‘ I send copy of contract by next mail,= As we can get no patent in China & Japan I am making arrangements here to start a man2 at once to head off any others as I understand other parties intend going there= How about India. I think I can place it here= Preece & others keep talking about English patent= Preece says as it stands it isnt worth a dam—= I differ with him= I desire that the points that are to be disclaimed should be pointed out The phonograph in that patent is only a Telephone receiver & is very properly a part of it= Please consult with some one there about it & let me know= My Telephones are meeting with great success here. I hear Adams is sick in London3 & has not done much owing to their lines. I sent him a lot of improved telephones= W. U. Telgh Co are starting a Central Station system with my Telephones. 4 Exhibition of phonograph in Boston netts $4300. per day, in NY about 80 to 100 per day and 75 more parties are starting out over the Country to exhibit on a royalty= I am making an improved hand machine for exhibition purposes that will be splendid= will send you one= The clockwork cylinder machine is running to day & works splendid I shall probably ship it next Saturday to you in at London= Heard you had a quarrell with Nottage what was it about= have invented several new things since you left= Do not judge of the Carbon telephone from results in Page 289 England= Its success here goes beyond anything that I had ever imagined. It is cheaper than any other telephone= Please write and let me know what you are doing= I received your telegram about France started OK =5 more anon Yours Truly
ALS, HuBPo, TP. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp.
1. See Doc. 1328 n. 6; Frank McLaughlin did not sail until 15 June. TAE to Puskas, 3 July 1878, TP.
2. Edison may have been referring to E. W. Kellogg of Hartford, Conn., who had made several inquiries about exhibiting the phonograph in China and Japan. See Doc. 1372.
3. See Doc. 1338 n. 2.
4. Edison is probably referrring to Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.’s new “merchants’ exchange, for connecting express, steamship, railway and other companies, merchants, lawyers, banks and private individuals by means of private lines with a central office, and through that office with each other and worked with Edison Telephones and printing instruments.” Gold and Stock designed this service so that “both telephones and printing instruments will be used on what is known as the Philadelphia plan. By this plan, subscribers are, by means of switches, enabled to communicate directly with each other, and each can, if he desires it, send and receive his W. Union messages over his private line.” At the end of May the company ordered 500 Edison carbon telephones, apparently for use in this service. American Speaking Telephone President George Walker noted that “the Edison instrument dispenses with the call box, and we hope to be able to rent it, at as low prices as those of Bell Company.” Gold and Stock advertisement, New York Herald, 8 Sept. 1878, 13; American Speaking Telephone Minutes, 35, 38–39; G&S Executive, 184; see also Doc. 1390 n. 1.
5. The undated telegram reads: “France started OK—posted letter.” The letter has not been found. DF (TAEM 15:580).
From George Bliss
Chicago, May 19th, 1878.a
Dear Sir:
Thanks for your kind letter of the 16th.1
I shall be glad when the phonograph matter is finally arranged. 2
I have been staking everything on my relations with you 3 in spite of the sneers of others at Patent rights and much underhand opposition.
I expect the day will come when you will enjoy a magnificent income.
The Siemens Bros, of London have a monthly income of 60.000 pounds from their patents.4 Page 290
Puskas & Roosevelt have certainly made a scoop in a France at which I am immensely delighted. 5
My exhibition phonographs have not come yet but expect to be under full headway by the middle of the week.6
The public interest is intense. Respectfully,
TLS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:678). Typewritten in upper case. Letterhead of Electric Pen and Duplicating Press Co., George Bliss, General Manager; letterhead and dateline are electric pen copy. a“Chicago,” and “1878.” preprinted.
1. Not found.
2. Bliss had been trying to obtain the Illinois concession from the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co. and had periodically asked Edison’s help. He believed the matter had been settled in April and expected Edward Johnson to ship him a large phonograph on 1 May, but found Johnson becoming “non-comittal.” On 16 May, however, Bliss reported to Edison that “the Phonograph people have awarded Illinois to me.” Bliss to Gardiner Hubbard, 18 Apr. 1878, NjWAT, Box 1151; Bliss to TAE, 16 May 1878, DF (TAEM 15:672).
3. On 11 May, Bliss wrote Edison that he had sold his stock in Western Electric and resigned as a director. The previous day, Bliss had written Gardiner Hubbard that he had turned down two other business offers in expectation of receiving rights to Edison’s phonograph. Another letter to Hubbard on 13 June indicates that Bliss was not quite “staking everything” on his relationship with Edison. At the time, he was negotiating with the Bell Telephone Company for rights to Illinois. However, on 29 June, Bliss informed Hubbard that Charles Holland, his partner in the electric pen business, was insisting that he give all his time to that effort. As Bliss could not escape his electric pen obligations “without a loss of $6,000,” he felt “constrained to drop the Bell telephone matter.” By mid-June he had also sold out his rights to the phonograph in Illinois, except in Chicago, where he managed the day exhibits. Bliss to TAE, 11 May and 10 June 1878, both DF (TAEM 15:644, 775); Bliss to Hubbard, 10 May, 13 and 29 June 1878, Box 1151, NjWAT.
4. Siemens Bros., a London firm headed by Charles William Siemens, produced and installed submarine telegraphic cables and other electrical equipment (see TAEB 3:171 n. 2). No source has been identified for the number.
5. Bliss may have been referring to a 3 April agreement between Puskas and Cornelius Roosevelt (TP). Under its terms, Roosevelt had “the Exclusive agency for France & its colonies for the sale of Phonographs,” which he was to purchase from Puskas at the rate of 100 per month. It also reserved for Puskas the right to sell phonographs at the Paris Universal Exposition. Page 291
6. At least his first (he ordered three in May and four more in June) arrived a day or two later. Its removal from the crate and initial operation were described in the Chicago Evening Journal of 21 May. “The Modern Miracle,” Cat. 1029:99, Scraps. (TAEM 25:214); Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., royalty accounts for May and June 1878, DF (TAEM 19:179, 183).
7. Enos Barton.
8. Ezra Gilliland had worked with Edison as a telegrapher in Adrian, Mich., and Cincinnati. In 1875 he formed Gilliland & Co., with Edison as a partner, to manufacture electric pens and presses as well as telegraph instruments in Newark. This firm was dissolved in 1877. In the spring of 1878 Gilliland was a partner with W. C. Ross in the Cincinnati Electric Works. See TAEB 1:16, 2:544 n. 1; Gilliland to TAE, 18 Mar. 1878, DF (TAEM 15:367).
From James Par trick
Philada May 21 1878
Dear Edison
Mr Gilliland was here last night’ examined our work upon Telephones Phonographs” we are making for the Phonograph Co of New York.2 Says the Company propose having one hundred manufactured and he will do all he can to get us the contract as our work so far is decidedly the best out.= I will be in New York Thursday morning with one of our machines, now if you can be over there and give give us a lift in way of obtaining us this order you will be doing us a big favor or if you can write us a letter to Johnson that will attain the desired object (providing our work proves satisfactory to your and other inspection) it will be all the same.= You know best who controls this work and therefore can tell best who to write to or see= How about the Telephones we would like to pitch into about a hundred pair now or would like when you get the Standard Phonograph done to try a lot of them for you.= 3 Allow me to congratulate you upon the sale of Telephone “ well done”= Hoping to see or hear from you before long— I remain yours Respy
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:72). aInterlined above.
1. Ezra Gilliland then went to New York where he obtained for himself and his father an exclusive license to exhibit the phonograph in Ohio. A few days later James Redpath wrote that Gilliland was in New York and “has been teaching our operators here—and understands the machine as well as Mr. Edison himself.” Agreement between Ezra and Robert Gilliland and the Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., 21 May 1878; Redpath to Charles H. Fiske, 25 May 1878, EPS Lbk. 2:99–100; both UHP. Page 292
2. Partrick & Carter made at least twenty-six instruments in their Philadelphia shop during May. They are probably similar to the twenty-six Greenfield phonographs (see Doc. 1276 n. 1), which were made entirely of iron, including the cylinder. It is unclear how many Partrick & Carter manufactured, but by the end of June eighty large phonographs had been made. The additional thirty-eight were probably manufactured by Partrick & Carter, although S. Bergmann & Co. may have begun manufacturing or altering instruments in New York by June (see Bergmann & Co. bill to Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., 1 July 1878, Box 4, UHP; and Doc. 1419 n. 2). By the end of June, seventy-three of these instruments had been sold for $100 each, which included supplies. Edison received his 20% royalty only on the actual selling price of the instrument ($95.50). Johnson to Partrick & Carter, 20 and 29 May and 1 June 1878; Partrick & Carter bills to Edison Speaking Phonograph Co., 18 June 1878; all UHP; Edison Speaking Phonograph Co. royalty statements for May and June 1878, all DF (TAEM 19:181–83).
3. In June, Edison ordered twenty-five telephones from Partrick & Carter. See Doc. 1355.
4. James Partrick, a former telegrapher who had served as treasurer of the National Telegraphic Union, had formed the Philadelphia telegraph manufacturing firm Chester, Partrick & Co. in 1867. He later formed Partrick, Bunnell & Co., with offices in Philadelphia and New York, and when Jesse Bunnell set up an independent shop in New York in early 1876, he formed Partrick & Carter. “A New Firm,” Telegr. 4 (1867): 99; advertisements for these firms in ibid. 4–12 (1867–76), passim.
From Marion Page
Milan May 23 [1878]
Dear Brother
I received your “Photo” all right and for which I sent you many thanks— I think it very good of you indeed
Everyone is very anxious to have you come to Milan they will give you a grand reception
Hundreds have already been to see the old house where you was born
Homer’ is getting so he can walk arround he came very near being killed— I wrote Mary about it2
I tell you Rinkey you ought to come to Milan and bring a Phonograph write to me again where is father what has Pitt gone to the Hot Springs for
Love to all Ever your loving Sister
Write again wont you?
London 24 May 1878a
T. A. Edison
They1 confident of rights under original contract but recognize expediency of compromise after much discussion am of opinion if authorized by you can close on following basis Out of first receipts you to be repaid your expenses five hundred pounds next they to be repaid their expenses hereafter incurred on same account after which you to receive first five hundred pounds yearly then they to receive five hundred pounds yearly then you other five hundred pounds anything further theirs better cable reply expedite promised map2 Persuade Prescott to approve and promptly—as parties all here and moment exceptionally favorable for opening campaign3 cable Nottage to consult me regarding England
L (telegram), NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:520). Message form of Direct United States Cable Co., Ltd. a“187” preprinted.
1. Smith, Fleming & Co.
2. That is, a proposition map, or a chart outlining terms of the proposed agreement. George Prescott to Gouraud, 29 May 1878, DF (TAEM 19:526); OED, s.v. “map,” ib.
3. Gouraud had been trying to move Prescott toward a settlement since April. Prescott was also negotiating quadruplex rights with the British Post Office, which depended on reaching an agreement with Smith, Fleming & Co. This matter remained unresolved until at least December, when Prescott suggested to Edison that they place further negotiations in the hands of Henry Weaver, Esq. Prescott to Gouraud, 22 Apr. 1878; Gouraud to Prescott, 23 Apr. 1878; Prescott to TAE, 23 Dec. 1878; all DF (TAEM 19:503, 506, 577).
From George Scott
[New York,] May 25/78a
Friend Edison
To my astonishment this am the enclosed transmitter would not “transmit .” After trying everything, I unscrewed it & found the glass disc cracked into 3 pieces—1 having none exactly like it I replaced it by a micro-glass cover which however seems to do no good— Page 294
The other Transmitter is OK & has today worked from 197 Bway to my house in Brooklyn thro all obstructions.— I therefore think it will be a success— Please return me the enclosed Transr in good order quickly as possible so I can demonstrate the whole thing on monday— Yours in haste
〈for Batchelor WC〉b
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:713). aObscured overwritten letters. bWritten by William Carman.
1. Edison placed a glass disk between the diaphragm and the carbon button in his transmitter (see Docs. 1278 n. 2 and 1351).
2. George Scott had been superintendent of Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. since 1872. Gold and Stock had the exclusive right to manufacture, sell, and lease telephone instruments protected by Western Union patents. “The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company,” Telegr. 8 (1871–72): 307; TAEB 3:644 n. 1.
To Henry Edmunds, Jr.
Menlo Park, N.J.a May 26 1878.
My Dear Mr Edmunds
Yours of the 15th received,1 since the date of your letter, Preece Telegraphed me that Adams was all right again and off to Paris.2I am very much grieved at the Hughes article in the Engineering.3 That Mr Preece should announce before the B.A. my discovery of the variation of resistence of Carbon & other semi conductors by pressure4 and the same fact published B broadcast for over two years and within the last 6 months of the Great success of my Carbon Telephone, & Adams in England with the apparatus th it is incomprehensible that the article should appear giving the credit to Hughes it is not coinvention because after a thing is known all over the world for two years its sudden reinvention is clear stealing. Months ago your telegraphic journal published & illustrated my pressure relay=5 All of the experiments of Hughes made by me two years ago incidentally to the perfection of my telephone— The Wheesy sound of his devices was the great difficulty that I had to eliminate= The Grating of wires when disturbed does not give articulation & his statement that certain substances are sensitive to sound is all bosh & is refuted in the very same article [-]b 2nd p. in 2 column [bot?] pp60 & any disturbance of the metal Connecting junctures must increase or decrease the pressure= In my English patent the whole thing is shewn=7 It is a notorious fact in this Country Page 295 that G M Phelps Supt of the WU Tel shops was the inventor of the Hughes apparatus8 so it is only his second attempt= I telegraphed the Engineering about it & have sent them the papers= 9I am afraid I bore you with this but I cannot help it as its rather rough to see workd two years labor to discover & fact & then have it stolen withoutc comment especially in England where I want to stand well=
If you will do what you can to set this matter right, I will reciprocate in such a way that you will not regrent regretd it= in haste I am Yours truly
ALS, Pritchard. aPlace from Edison’s laboratory handstamp. bCanceled. c“[-] 2nd . .. pp” interlined above. dInterlined above. eObscured overwritten letter.
1. Edmunds had written Edison on 15 May that Adams had caught cold at Easter and was “laying sick at the Hospital, he has had a bad attack of inflamation of the Bowels—but is now much better.” Adams had asked Edmunds to write Edison “to see his wife & tell her not to be uneasy about him.” DF ( TAEM 15:668).
2. On Monday, 27 May, Preece wrote Edison that he had
telegraphed to you on Friday to say that Adams was all right again and I believe he went to Paris on Saturday. He has had a very severe bout of it and it will take him some time before he gets perfectly straight The fact is his heart is very much diseased and the doctor says that any sudden shock or disappointment might be fatal to him. I have not liked to tell him much about the failure of the experiments here for fear it might hurt him. The sooner he returns to America the better and I should advise you to keep him there when he does return. [WHP]
3. The 17 May issue of Engineering (25:384) contained a copy of David Hughes’s paper, “On the Sonorous Vibrations in Varying the Force of an Electric Current,” read before the 9 May meeting of the Royal Society of London (Hughes 1878). In this paper Hughes claimed that he had discovered that carbon and other semiconductors varied their resistance under pressure. The 10 May issue had carried an article about the experiments and the claims in Hughes’s paper under the title “The Hughes Telephone” (25:369).
4. Preece 1877.
5. This had appeared in the 1 July 1877 issue of the London-based Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review (5:149–50). It is a reprint of the account that appeared in the 1 June 1877 issue of the Western Union-sponsored Journal of the Telegraph (Doc. 926).
6. Edison appears to be referring to the fifth and sixth paragraphs of Hughes’s Royal Society paper (Hughes 1878). Page 296
7. Brit. Pat. 2, 909 (1877); see Doc. 973.
8. George Phelps rendered Hughes’s printing telegraph practical for use on telegraph lines in the United States (Israel 1992, 52–53). On 6 June, Henry Bentley wrote Edison, encouraging him to “Go for the robbers. Phelps told me yesterday how Hughes treated him some years since in printing telegraph matters” (DF [TAEM 19:719]).
9. The 5 July issue of Engineering (26:13) contained the statement that on 27 May, “telegrams were received by Sir William Thomson, Mr. W. H. Preece, and ourselves from Mr. Edison, the object of which was not only to assert his claim, by priority, to the discoveries of Professor Hughes, but to convey the unworthy insinuation that Mr. Preece had been guilty of a gross breach of confidence and friendship, and had joined with Professor Hughes in a conspiracy to rob Mr. Edison of his rights as a discoverer” (Cat. 1240, item 790, Batchelor [TAEM 94:296]). Although Edison apparently cabled Preece on 27 May (see Doc. 1339), the editor of Engineering seems to be confusing Edison’s 4 June cables to both Preece and Thomson (Docs. 1347 and 1346) with whatever he cabled to Preece on 27 May. In its 5 July issue, the journal also selectively used the material that Edison had sent in a manner that further incensed him (see Doc. 1375).
10. Prescott 1878a.
11. Prescott 1878e.
From George Ward
NY. 27th May 78
Friend Edison
Dr. Muirhead1 looked further into Hughes’ publication2 after you left & we talked it over.— He thinks says Hu[ ]a it is undoubtedly your principle and he thinks, under the circumstances you should set to work immediately and [----]a make new Telephones in this form or an improved oneb and call it your improved instrument.—
Preece has no doubt got your message this morning— 3
Dr Muirhead expects to be here on Wednesday you had perhaps better see him again as he has cabled particulars of this affair to CLatimer Clark—4
Excuse haste Yours very truly
〈Bless your soul Hughes cant get good articulation except in the way I have arranged it. Barker at Phila has tried Hughes & its all wheesy just what Ive been working to get over since 1876. Hughes has not improved my principle he is only starting up what I started in 18756〉
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:704). aCanceled. b“or an improved one” interlined above. Page 297
1. Electrical engineer Alexander Muirhead (D.Sc., University of London) was a director of and chief scientific adviser for Latimer Clark, Muirhead, & Co. (an engineering firm co-founded by his father, John Muirhead). Together with H. A. Taylor, he had developed the basic system for duplexing undersea cables, which he, Taylor, and the firm’s manager (his older brother John Muirhead) had just installed for the United States Direct Cable Co. He and Ward had visited Edison at Menlo Park on 22 May. DNB, s.v. “Muirhead, Alexander”; “Obituary. Muirhead,” Engineering 40 (1885): 268; “John Muirhead,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 126 (1898): 399; Ward to TAE, 18 and 21 May 1878, DF (TAEM 15: 677, 690); “Edison and His Inventions,” Boston Journal, 25 May 1878, Cat. 1240, item 622, Batchelor (TAEM 94:212).
2. Hughes 1878.
3. According to the 5 July issue of Engineering (26:13), Edison had sent a telegram to Preece on 27 May regarding his support of Hughes’s claims, but it has not been found. In a 22 May letter that Edison had not yet received, Preece had written that
the recent discoveries of Professor Hughes have thrown your telephone completely in the shade. Hughes’s doings border so closely upon yours that it is difficult to distinguish between what you have done and what he has done. You were on the very threshold of a great discovery, in fact, had it not been for the Phonograph distracting your attention you must have anticipated what Hughes has done. You must have seen the papers and know exactly what he has done and therefore it is useless my going into the matter. I have not tried it practically and have only seen his results; which are certainly startling. I am going to bring them before the Society of Telegraph Engineers tomorrow night and will send you a report as soon as it is printed.
Preece added that he was glad Edison had already closed a contract with Western Union, “for Hughes having thrown his invention open to the world makes it rather awkward for patentees like yourself.” Copies of this letter are in WHP and in the David E. Hughes Papers at the University of Manchester, England, with a notation indicating that Preece sent it to Hughes.
4. Josiah Latimer Clark was a founding partner of Latimer Clark, Muirhead, & Co. (see note 1). Edison had met Clark in London in 1873. He was a British civil engineer and electrical expert best known for his work in submarine telegraphy and in the establishment of standard units of electrical measurement. Docs. 369, 411, 418; DSB, s.v. “Clark, Josiah Latimer.”
5. George Ward was American manager of the Direct United States Cable Co. Reid 1886, 526.
Frotn George Gouraud
London 28 May. 1878a
Dear Sir,
Phonograph.
I have not yet been able to see Puscus— He had an interview the other day with Nottage who again volunteered several expressions indicating dissatisfaction at having to work with Puscus— There is something about Puscus’s manner which evidently irritates Mr Nottage and I earnestly advise you’r not giving Mr. Puscus any further powers than he already holds in connection with your phonograph matters in Great Britain at least— Nottage mentioned incidentally that under his contract with you you had no right to participate in any receipts from exhibiting the phonograph—1I expressed surprise at this, affecting to really know more about your contract than I do— I think you may count upon Mr. Nottage recognizing a moral right at least and that you will receive some share of the proceeds which are calculated to be very large—if the exhibition part of the thing be organised with intelligence & carried out with activity— I am in consultation with Nottage at this moment with respect to a campaign of this sort which will at once bring extensive free advertizing & open the way for orders for large numbers of machines— Please send me copy of your contract with Puscus which you were good enough to offer me when in N.Y.2
Also I beg you give attention to the other matters in this connexion concerning my interest in your royalties here which I am satisfied I can be the means of very greatly increasing if I have any inducement to do so Yrs respectfully
Geo E Gouraud [pr H.?]b
L, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:243). a“London” and “187” preprinted. bIllegible.
1. Edison’s 22 March agreements with Nottage and Howard John Kennard established royalties on the manufacture and sale of phonographs. There were no provisions for exhibition receipts. Miller (TAEM 28:1080, 1086).
2. Puskas’s 16 April contract with Edison authorized him to examine the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Co.’s books and collect royalties and fees on Edison’s behalf. It also entitled him to a one-third share of the company’s payments to Edison. TP.
Caveat: Phonograph
[New York,] May 29, 18781a
To all whom it may concern.
Be it known that I, Thomas Alva Edison of Menlo Park in the State of New Jersey United States of America Electrician, have invented, certain new and useful Improvements in means for Recording Sounds and in Reproducing such Sounds from such Record, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full clear and exact description of the same.
This invention consists in means for recording in permanent characters the sounds made by the human voice in speaking and singing, those made by musical instruments, birds animals or any sound whatever, and in means for reproducing those sounds at any desired time. The sound vibrations act upon a diaphragm or other body capable of motion; this diaphragm is at the back of a chamber provided with an opening or mouth-piece, and to this diaphragm an indenting point is secured. This instrument I term a “Phonograph.” The phonograph is adjusted to position with its indenting point contiguous to a moving surface covered with a thin sheet of metal foil or other suitable material, or else the surface with the metal foil is stationary and the phonograph movable. The surface upon which the metal foil is secured is by preference grooved spirally and the indenting point indents the foil in the line of this groove as the diaphragm is moved back and forth by the sound vibrations, these indentations are a record of the sound waves and form the characters for reproducing the sounds. This indented sheet I term a “Phonogram.”—
The instrument or portion of the instrument that reproduces the sound from the phonogram I term a “Phonet It is similar in construction to the phonograph, being provided with a diaphragm and point, but the mouthpiece is by preference funnel shaped to render the sound loud and distinct.—
The sounds are reproduced by the phonet being adjusted to place so that the point of its diaphragm is at the beginning of the spiral line of indentations and as the surface containing the indented foil is moved, the diaphragm of the phonet is vibrated by the point passing from one indentation to the next, hence the diaphragm receives the same movement from the indentations as when making those indentations, consequently the sounds made by the phonet will be the same as those that operated upon the diaphragm of the phonograph.
In the drawing Fig. 1 is a section of the phonograph and sectional elevation of the mechanism for presenting the surface to be indented, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.2 Page 300
Fig.b 1.
Fig. 2.
The phonograph is made of the body portion a diaphragm b and indenting point3 c. The body portion a has a central opening forming the mouth-piece into which the person speaks or through which opening the sound vibrations pass to act upon the diaphragm and the diaphragm is secured at its edges to the body a leaving a space between the body and diaphragm in order that the diaphragm may vibrate freely.—
The indenting point should be a diamond or other very hard substance The diaphragm is made of a thin sheet of iron or other material and it is preferable to place the indenting point Page 301 upon a delicate spring arm e 2 to employ a short piece of rubber tubing e 3 between the spring and diaphragm, this rubber acts as a damper to prevent false vibrations of the diaphragm— The phonograph is upon a lever arm i pivoted at 5 to the vertical stud 6 so that the phonograph may be raised or lowered vertically or moved horizontally for a purpose hereafter explained—
It is now to be understood that if a person speaks with his mouth near the mouth-piece of the phonograph, the sound vibrations will act upon the diaphragm and vibrate it and communicate to the indenting point a similar movement, and that if a piece of metal foil or other material susceptible of being indented is placed beneath or behind the indenting point and caused to move regularly, or the indenting point moved over the material, that said material will be indented and form a perfect record of the sound vibrations I will now describe the means for sustaining the sheet to be indented and the mechanism for moving the same
d is a disk or plate secured to and turning with the shaft4 e and hinged to this disk is a ring-frame f: this disk d has two spiral grooves 3 4 in its surface
There are pins 2 2 upon the surface of the disk and holes at corresponding places in the ring-frame; the sheet to be indented is of a size and shape to correspond with that of the disk d and frame f and said sheet has holes in it corresponding to the position of the pins 2 2 and these holes form register marks in placing or replacing the sheet upon the disk d and after the sheet is so placed, the ring-frame f is brought down upon the sheet and holds it firmly in place. There may be a central opening in the indented sheet of a size slightly larger than the space occupied by the spiral 3 and the outer edges of the sheet are stiffened by a ring of thick paper or paste-board caused to adhere by glue or other adhesive material. The surface of the disk d is made with two spiral grooves 3 and 4 as aforesaid, the groove 3 is a guide for a pin that is upon an arm5 g on the phonograph and the groove 4 is for the indenting point c .
As the disk and sheet are revolved, the groove 3 causes the indenting point to occupy a position immediately over the line of the spiral 4 and the indentations will be made upon the sheet of foil in a line corresponding to that of the spiral 4 shown in fig. 2 .
The indentations made in the foil are a complete record of the sound vibrations that acted upon the diaphragm b and Page 302 from this indented sheet which I term a “phonogram,” the sounds are reproduced.
The phonograph is carried outwardly by the spiral 3 and in so doing the parts swing upon the vertical stud 6 By depressing the outer end of the lever i the phonograph is raised so that it can be swung aside from the disk d to allow of the ring-frame f being thrown back and the indented sheet or “phonogram” removed from the disk.
The shaft e is revolved by a weight or spring and gearing at h and the spring is wound up by moving the lever k back and forth which acts upon a ratchet and pawl of ordinary construction. I is a lever provided at its outer end with an inclined groove in which is a pin on the lever6 m and the other end of this lever m is connected with the coupler m 1 by moving the lever 1 one way or the other, the shaft e will be connected to or disconnected from the gearing h and hence the disk d stopped or started at pleasure without interfering with the motor.
As it is necessary that the shaft e should be revolved with uniformity, I provide a governor at n to prevent the apparatus revolving too rapidly and this may be made as in figs 1 3 & 4 in which there are metal blocks o at the ends of spring arms from a crosshead on a shaft that is driven by the gearing h said blocks swinging radially and acting against the interior of a stationary cylinder ρ if the speed becomes too great, thereby checking the speed by the friction of the blocks against the cylinder.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5
These spring arms may be secured at one end to a prismatic block as shown in fig. 5 . It is preferable to cover the surface of the blocks o next the cylinder p with felt or similar material that will slide upon the interior surface of the cylinder p but produce more or less friction according to the centrifugal action—
The guide spiral 3 may be dispensed with and either of the devices shown in figs 6 7 8 or 9 made use of Page 303
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
In figs. 6 and 7 the shaft e projets above the surface of the disk d and there is a tooth upon the shaft contiguous to a rack-bar extending from the phonograph, hence each revolution of the shaft the rack-bar and phonograph will be moved the space of one tooth, consequently the lines of indentations will be parallel and concentric to the shaft e excepting at the places when the tooth acts to move the rack-bar and phonograph outward or inward— In this case the spiral grooves are cut to correspond to the feed.
Fig. 8.
In fig. 8 a worm upon the shaft e acts upon a worm pinion to revolve the shaft e 5 and the worm at the other end of this shaft e 5 acts upon teeth around the base of the lever i on the stud 6: by this device the phonograph will be moved outward gradually and the line of indentations will be in a spiral corresponding to the continuous spiral groove in the plate d.
Fig. 9.
In fig. 9 the shaft e is made with a fusee at P1 and one end of a swinging arm connected to the phonograph takes against the same; the spirals of the fusee gradually move outward the phonograph as the disk and shaft are revolved and the line of indentations will be spirally the same as that made by the spiral 3. Page 304
Fig. 10.
In fig 10 the shaft e is provided with a screw pinion meshing with teeth upon a cam-wheel 7; this gives the same movement to the phonograph as the spiral groove 3 .
Fig. 11.
In fig. 11 the guide groove 3 7 for the arm and pin g is upon a disk d1 upon the shaft e but the groove 3 occupies the same relative position upon the disk d 1 as the groove 4 upon the disk d so that the phonograph is moved outwardly by the groove of the disk d1 swinging both the arms g and i upon the vertical pivot 6.
Fig. 12.8
Instead of the sheet of metal foil being upon the disk d it may be wrapped upon a cylinder q as in fig. 12 . In this case the cylinder is upon a shaft e 1 revolved by the gearing at h 1 Page 305 and upon said shaft there is a right and left hand screw at k1 and there is a corresponding double spiral groove in the surface of the cylinder q.
The phonograph is secured to a sliding shaft l 1 and said shaft is moved endwise back and forth by the screw k1 acting upon an arm m2 that is secured to the said shaft l 1. As the phonograph is moved in one direction, the line of indentations is made spirally in the foil on the cylinder q and when the arm m2 reaches the end of the screw it will be moved in the other direction by the reverse screw thread and the phonograph will make a second spiral line of indentations that will cross the first spiral line. This feature is especially available for a phonet where the surface of the cylinder q is formed of an electrotype or other copy of the phonogram, so that the words or sounds may be reproduced automatically and at intervals if desired—
Fig. 13.
Fig. 14.
It is preferable to make use of a thin metal plate n 2 see figs. 13 and 14 pivoted at one end and fitting within a longitudinal groove in the surface of the cylinder q for securing the edges of the metal foil and holding it securely upon said cylinder— The top of the plate n2 is flush with the surface of the cylinder and grooved to correspond with the grooves in the cylinder so as not to interfere with the indenting point A wire may replace this device such wire being secured by arms at each end of the cylinder and raised and lowered in and out of the Page 306 groove by a cam or otherwise— I find that an interruption of one eighth of an inch space where there is no recording is not detected by the ear.
The apparatus shown in figs. 13 and 14 is similar to that shown in fig 12 except that the phonograph is stationary and the cylinder moves horizontally and the shaft e1 is only provided with a screw thred in one direction, hence the cylinder will have to be moved back by hand to bring it to place if desired to reproduce the sounds from the phonogram, or to position the phonograph if a new sheet of foil is to be indented after the first one has been removed— This is readily accomplished by raising the arm o1 and its tooth from the screw k 1 which leaves the shaft up and cylinder free to be moved back and forth.
Fig. 15.
In fig. 15 the phonograph is fitted to move horizontally instead of the cylinder q as in fig 12 but the shaft e1 is provided with a screw thread in one direction only, hence the phonograph has to be positioned by hand after the arm o1 has been raised from the screw k 1 .
In figs. 12 and 15 the phonograph can swing upon the shaft 1 1 to raise the indenting point from the cylinder q and allow for the removal or insertion of a sheet of foil, and there is a stop9 at 8 for adjusting the position of the phonograph when brought down to indent the foil. In figs. 13 and 14 the phonograph is upon an arm pivoted at 9 so that it can be swung horizontally away from the cylinder q for the purpose aforesaid and the adjustable stop10 8 is also provided—
Thus far I have described the “phonograph” or instrument upon which the sound vibrations act, and which instrument acts to indent the sheet of foil and produce the “phonogram” or record of such sound vibrations; mechanism has also been described for presenting the sheet of foil to be indented by the Page 307 phonograph. I will now describe how the sounds are reproduced from the phonogram—
If it is desired to reproduce the sounds from the phonogram in the same instrument in which the phonogram was produced, it is only necessary that the indenting point c be made to traverse the line of indentations in the phonogram and that a funnel shaped mouth piece, shown by dotted lines in fig. 1 be added to the phonograph, to aid in increasing the loudness and distinctness of the sound. The instrument in this form I term a “Phonet”—
In the instrument shown in figs. 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 and 15 the phonet requires to be positioned by hand as before explained in order that the point c may be placed at the beginning of the spiral line of indentations. As the point c passes from one indentation to the next either by the foil being moved beneath said point as in figs. 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 and 14 or by the point moving over the foil as in figs. 12 and 15 the diaphragm b receives a movement corresponding to the depth of the indentations, and corresponding also with the same movement it received from the sound vibrations when making those indentations, hence air waves will be produced by the movement of the diaphragm that will make sounds by passing through the mouth-piece of the phonet that will be exactly the same as the sounds that acted upon the diaphragm of the phonograph. The material upon which the record is made may be metal foil such as tin, iron copper, lead zinc cadmium, or a foil made of composition of metals, paper or other materials may be used, the same being coated with parafine or other hydro-carbons, waxes, gums, or lacs, and the sheet so prepared may itself be indented, or the material, say paper may be made to pass through a bath of hot parafine and thence between scrapers; thin metal foil is now placed on the material and the sheet passed through rollers which give it a beautiful smooth surface. The indentations can now be made in the foil and the parafine or similar material and the indenting point does not become clogged with the parafine in consequence of the intervening foil. If the copper-foil or tin-foil with copper surface is used, and a matrix of iron or steel made by electrotype deposit or otherwise upon the phonogram, such matrix may be hardened and used for impressing a sheet or roller of metal as hereafter mentioned, thereby the original phonogram can be reproduced indefinitely in metal that may be hardened and used for any reasonable length of time to utter the sentence or words or sounds phonetically— Page 308
I will now briefly describe some modifications in the construction and operation of the Phonograph and Phonet.
Fig. 16.
In fig. 16 the indenting point c is upon a spring arm e2 as in figs. 1 and 2 but there are short sections of rubber tube e3 at each side of the diaphragm b to dampen the diaphragm and prevent false vibrations.
Fig. 17.
In fig. 17 the rubber of the diaphragm acts against the outer end of the arm e2 to increase the leverage and lessen the depth of indentations in the foil and allow of the record being made in less yielding material than tin-foil.
Fig. 18.
Fig. 18 shows a modification of the last mentioned device the pressure being applied to the arm e2 between the indenting point and the support for the arm so as to increase the depth of the indentations.
Fig. 19.
Fig. 19 shows the arm e2 made as a lever with a spring Page 309
Fig. 20.
Fig. 20 shows the indenting point upon the center of a spring bar that is firmly held at each end; the bar is connected at its center to the diaphragm b by a string or otherwise.
Fig. 21.
Fig. 21 represents the diaphragm b as of concave form instead of flat.
Fig. 22
Fig. 22 shows the indenting point upon a spring secured to the diaphragm.
Fig. 23
Fig. 23 shows a disk upon the spring e2 of the indenting point; this disk is placed quite close to the diaphragm and is moved by the air as the diaphragm is vibrated, the disk being so close to the diaphragm that the two will vibrate together as Page 310 air cannot pass between or escape as rapidly as the vibrations take place.
Fig. 24
Fig. 24 shows the diaphragm vibrated by electro-magnetism In this case the diaphragm is to be of iron and the power of the electro-magnet will be varied by a rise and fall of electric current passing through the helix of the electro-magnet, this rise and fall of electro-tension is to be produced by the action of sound upon a diaphragm and connections in an electric circuit.
Fig. 25.
Fig. 25 shows the method of vibrating the indenting spring and point by the direct action of an electro-magnet without the use of a diaphragm, the electric tension in the helix being varied by sound vibrations upon a diaphragm.
Fig. 26.
Fig. 26 shows the spring arm e2 connected to one end of a permanent magnet so as to highly magnetize the reproducing point; the foil should be of iron;— when the point passes an indentation there will be less attraction than when passing no indentation; this will give good articulation free from the scraping noise of the point on the foil, for in this case it does not touch the foil but is worked by magnetic attraction. Page 311
Fig. 27.
Fig 27 represents two instruments in connection with the cylinder q in this case the phonet and the phonograph are separate. The phonograph records in the usual manner but the phonet has its diaphragm set in motion by the rise and fall of the lever e2 . This reduces the scraping noise of the foil and acts by leverage and a slight tension to move the diaphragm as the phonogram is moved beneath the point c.
Fig. 28.
Fig. 28 shows an arrangement whereby four persons may speak simultaneously and have records made in separate parallel lines upon one cylinder and the phonogram will reproduce the sounds the same as though it contained the record of but one voice.
Fig. 29.
Fig. 29 shows a single phonograph adapted to receive the voices of three persons as in singing; the sounds made by the three voices are conveyed through flexible or other tubes to the diaphragm and will be recorded in a single line of indentations, but when reproduced by the phonet the sounds uttered will correspond to the three voices. Page 312
Fig. 30.
In fig. 30 the foil is sustained upon a hollow cylinder with a funnel shaped end. The record is made upon the foil in the usual manner by the phonograph excepting that holes are made entirely through the foil. A nozzle with a small opening is placed so that it will always be opposite the line of perforations as the cylinder is revolved. This nozzle is connected to a source of compressed air or other fluid, and every time a perforation comes opposite the nozzle, a puff of air passes into the cylinder and a sound is produced upon the principle of the siren— The nozzle may be placed on a spring to keep the end of the nozzle in contact with the line of perforations.
Fig. 31.
Fig. 31 shows the phonograph as rriade with a made chamber between the diaphragm and the mouth-piece this is especially useful in collecting sound when the person speaking or the sound to be recorded is made several feet from the instrument—
Fig. 32.
Fig. 32 shows a device whereby the indenting point may be dispensed with in the phonograph1. The funnel forming the phonograph is made with a diaphragm at the larger end or mouthpiece, and a very small hole at the pointed end adjacent to the foil on the cylinder q; this foil should be very thin so that the indentations will be made by the direct action of the air waves as concentrated by the funnel without the interposition of the indenting point.—
Fig. 33.
Fig. 33 shows a phonet in which the phonogram or sound record has been made upon an endless belt: this is a convenient arrangement for toys as the same may be made to imitate the bark of a dog or other noise made by an animal, and this belt may be of steel or other hard material that allows the same to be used for a long period of time. Page 313
Fig. 34.
Fig. 34 is a perspective view showing a double phonet there being a spiral line of indentations on each side of the revolving disk d one phonet coming into action as the other finishes: in this case the spirals should be in opposite directions so that the disk continuing to revolve in the same direction, moves one phonet from the center outwards and then the other phonet is connected and moved back towards the center: this may be used as a toy.—
Fig. 35
Fig. 35 represents a phonet in which the phonogram containing a sentence, speech, words, or other sound record is upon a belt or strip wound upon a reel; this belt is drawn along gradually and wound upon the second roller by any suitable mechanism, and as the phonogram is thus moved it actuates the phonet c b.
Fig. 36
Fig. 36 shows a phonograph or phonet similar to that shown in fig. 12 ; the cylinder q is revolved but remains in one position and the phonograph or phonet is movable back and forth over the cylinder In this instance the arm m2 is extended beyond the screw k 1 and passes beneath the inclined spring guide m5 when the screw is carrying the arm and phonograph towards the right: as the arm m2 passes from beneath the end of the guide m2 it is no longer held to the screw and the arm m2 and phonet are lifted by the guide m2 as the spring m6 draws the shaft, phonograph and arm along to the place of beginning, at which place the arm m5 drops off the end of the inclined guide m 5 into the thread of the screw, and as this revolves it carries the arm along beneath the guide m5 as before. Page 314
Fig. 37
Fig. 37 represents the phonograph or phonet upon a pivoted arm so that it may swing across or at right angles to the line of movement of the indented material or phonogram. In this case the line of indentations may be lengthwise of the belt or across the same in the arc of a circle
Fig. 38
Fig. 38 shows a phonograph similar to that shown in fig. 31 except that the sound chamber is of a different shape
Fig. 39.
Fig. 39 shows a mouth-piece with an orifice of soft rubber to fit the mouth or the lips of the person speaking so that all sound waves will be confined to the chamber and diaphragm.
Fig. 40.
Fig 40 shows the mouth-piece of the phonograph made with cross slots with irregular edges.
Fig. 41.
Fig 41 shows the mouth-piece as perforated with numerous holes.
Fig. 42
Fig. 42 shows but one opening in the mouth-piece: the edges of this are irregular— These irregular edges reinforce the hissing sounds and cause a more perfect phonogramc to be produced.— Page 315
Fig. 43.
Fig. 43 represents a mouth piece of mica with a central opening protected at its edges by a wooden ring—
Fig. 44
In fig. 44 the diaphragm b is of wire gauze with a backing of paper connected to it by any suitable cement and there is a ring of stiff paper at the edges of the gauze disk to strengthen it.—
Fig. 45.
Fig. 45 represents a diaphragm b of parchment or similar material stretched tightly within the frame b6 by cords and screws— The cords may be of different lengths and tension and respond to and reinforce certain sounds.
Fig. 46.
Fig. 46 shows a mouth-piece for the phonet made in imitation of the human mouth.
Fig. 47.
Fig. 47 represents the body portion of the phonograph or phonet made triangular and the diaphragm is of corresponding shape. Page 316
Fig. 48.
Fig. 48 represents three cylinders each provided with a phonograph or phonet; this is useful in recording and reproducing three part singing or music.
Fig. 49
Fig. 49 represents a phonet made as a tube with flaring or trumpet shaped ends and with two diaphragms 15 16 placed cross-wise of the tube so as to form an air chamber— There is a third diaphragm b which is vibrated by the movement of the reproducing point c and said diaphragm gives motion to the air in the chamber and vibrates the diaphragms 15 16 which latter produce air waves and the sounds issuing from the two trumpet shaped ends will blend and increase the volume of sound.
Fig. 50.
Fig. 50 represents a device whereby deep indentations are made in the metal foil— Two diaphragms are employed; the first:” b 2 is vibrated by the sound vibrations and controls a valve b7 in a tube connected with a source of compressed air or other fluid; this valve b7 allows more or less air to pass to the diaphragm b according to the vibration of the diaphragm b2 hence the diaphragm b will vibrate in harmony with the diaphragm b2 but it will be acted upon by greater force and consequently the indentations will be deeper in the foil than if the diaphragm b was acted upon simply by the sound vibrations of the voice. Page 317
Fig. 51.
Fig. 52.
Figs 51 and 52 represent a device that may be used with a phonet to increase the loudness of the sounds reproduced. The sound vibrations from the phonet are conducted by a tube shown by dotted lines in fig. 51 to the diaphragm b3 that controls a valve b7 in a tube connected with a reservoir of air or other fluid under pressure, and the air as it escapes by the valves passes into the trumpet shaped end of the tube and produces sounds that are very loud and clear and are a reproduction of the sounds resulting from the use of one of the phonets before described.
This same apparatus may be used to reproduce with louder utterances a person’s voice, the sound from the voice being used to vibrate the diaphragm b3 and thereby regulate the air waves escaping from the valve b7 into the trumpet.
Fig. 53
Fig. 53 shows the speaker’s head within a box or case; in this instance nearly all the sound vibrations act upon the diaphragm.
Fig. 54.
Fig. 55.
Figs. 54 and 55 illustrate how the movements of the lips in speaking may be recorded and reproduced. In this instance a lever applied to the diaphragm carries the indenting point c Page 318 fig. 55 and the end of this lever is placed in the mouth of the speaker and the movement of the lips regulates the indentations in the foil. A similar apparatus shown in fig. 54 within a case is connected to the movable lips of a mask so that these lips open and close as in articulation at the same time that the sound vibrations are given by the phonogram to the phonet.
Fig. 56.
Fig. 56 represents a toy phonet in which the phonogram strip 35 is secured at one end to a cylinder upon which it is wound— By pulling upon the strip it is unwound and a rubber cord 37 is wound upon the shaft of the cylinder— When the hand is removed from the indented strip the rubber cord rotates the shaft and winds up the phonogram upon the cylinder and the sounds are reproduced in the phonet by the phonogram acting upon a point and diaphragm a. The movement of the shaft is regulated by the fan, worm and pinion 38.
Fig. 57
In fig 57 the cylinder for moving the phonogram-strip is shown as provided with pins that enter holes in the edges of the strip; this causes the strip to be fed along very regular.
Fig. 58.
In fig. 58 the cylinder with pins is shown as made with heads to act as guides for the strip
Fig. 59.
Fig. 59 shows a re-indenting device for amplifying or increasing the size of the indentations— There are two rollers one of which a4 travels faster than the other a 3 and there is a lever 40 pivoted at 41 and provided with a point c for each cylinder. One point follows the indentations in the cylinder a3 and the other rests upon a4 and as this travels the fastest, the Page 319 indentations made therein will be longer and also deeper by the point being at the outer end of the lever.
Fig. 60
In fig. 60 one roller 42 of the pair is made of hardened metal with the sound record in relief. This is obtained by electrotype or other process from an iron foil or other metal phonogram and this roller is used to indent strips or sheets of foil or rollers to produce copies that can be used with the phonet.
Fig. 61.
Fig. 61 represents a roller 42 of hardened metal with the record in relief and arranged so as to knurl or indent the phonogram in a roller 43 of soft metal that is to be pressed against the roller 42 by a screw or other suitable means.
Fig. 62
The cylinder having a spiral groove in its surface may be made by placing the mould shown in fig 62 around a cylinder or shaft and filling the space between the cylinder and mold with plaster of paris or other suitable material— The mold is of metal with a screw or spiral rib projecting therefrom and it is made in two parts and hinged so that it can easily be removed when the plaster of paris is dry
For amusement or instruction the phonograph is capable of extended use. Page 320
Fig. 63
For instance, a revolving cylinder, see fig. 63 containing rows of indentations representing the letters of the alphabet and provided with keys containing corresponding letters, can be used in teaching the alphabet, and sentences, speeches, and other matter can be spoken by the phonet and repeated by the learner without the eyesight being called into use.
Clocks may be provided with phonogram cylinders or wheels to call off the hours, to give alarms &c.
The phonogram may be upon a strip, sheet, belt, or roller, and it can be of a dog’s bark a rooster’s crow, a bird’s song, a horse’s neigh, and these can be used in toy animals with a simple phonet for reproducing the sound.
In copying phonograms or making duplicates, an original phonogram may receive a deposit of copper, or iron in a plating bath, and if of iron may be carbonized to convert it into steel and hardened and then.the same should be backed up with type metal and used for impressing strips or pieces of metal A bed of gutta percha or similar material may be used to sustain the sheet metal while being pressed; numerous copies of the original phonogram can thus be reproduced— A plaster cast can be used for producing a copy by pressure.
Fig. 64.
The governor to regulate the speed of the instrument may be made of a pendulum weight 61 see fig. 64d hung at the lower end of a rod that is provided with a universal joint at 62 and the upper end of the rod is moved around by a crank 63 that is revolved by the train of gearing— As the speed increases the weight will describe a circle of larger diameter and thereby increase the resistance—
The universal joint may be displaced by a spring wire fig. 65 that allows of the movement— Page 321
Fig. 65.
Fig. 66
A magnet 64 upon the crank-arm 63 fig. 66 may be used to revolve the pendulum by attracting an armature at the upper end of the pendulum rod and thereby avoid the friction resulting from the contact of the surfaces of the pendulum rod with the crank.
Fig. 67.
In fig 67 the diaphragm b is represented as connected to a pair of delicate piston valves within a tube 68 that has three parts, one 69 is connected to a reservoir of compressed air; the others 70 and 71 are connected to a chamber 72 at opposite sides of a diaphragm so as to vibrate the same in harmony with the diaphragm b but there will be greater amplitude given to the same by the pressure of the air and by a connection to the phonet diaphragm b2 the sound produced will be greatly increased.
I shall probablyc claim as my Invention,
First. A phonograph apparatus consisting in the combination with a diaphragm or body vibrated by sound, of a point and a surface upon which a record is made by indentations to produce a phonogram, substantially as specified.
Second . The combination with a phonogram of a phonet to reproduce the original sound, substantially as set forth.
Third . The method of reproducing speech and other sounds consisting in recording the same by the atmospheric vibrations and reproducing corresponding vibrations by the record or phonogram giving motion to a diaphragm or similar movable body.
If The combination with the diaphragm and point of a Page 322 flat receiving surface and means for revolving the receiving surface and causing the point to follow a volute or spiral line, substantially as represented in figs. 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 and 34 .
2 The combination with the phonograph or phonet of a propelling weight or spring and a governor to regulate the speed and ensure uniformity of movement substantially as set forth.
3 A revolving disk provided with a clamping frame to secure the foil or other material in combination with the swinging arm diaphragm and point substantially as specified.
4 The combination with a revolving grooved cylinder of a diaphragm and point and a screw or other mechanism for causing the point to correspond in position with the groove so as to indent the foil or other material wrapped around the cylinder substantially as set forth and shown in figs. 12 13 14 15 16 17 & 18 .
5 In a phonograph or phonet, a spring introduced between the diaphragm and the point substantially as set forth and shown in figs. 16 17 18 19 22 and 26 .
6 In a phonograph or phonet, a rubber spring or similar device to dampen the vibration of the diaphragm and prevent false vibrations as set forth and shown in figs. 16 and 21 .
7—The combination with the diaphragm in a phonograph or phonet apparatus of a lever to modify the relative action of the diaphragm and point substantially as described and shown in figs. 17 18 27 .
8 The combination with the diaphragm and point, of a permanent or electro-magnet, substantially as described and represented in figs. 24 25 26 .
9 The method of recording and reproducing two or more sounds or speeches simultaneously substantially as described and as illustrated by figs. 28 29 and 48 .
10 A phonet composed of a perforated sirene and a jet tube substantially as described and represented in fig. 30.
11 The mechanism for producing a phonogram and employing the same in a phonet substantially as described and illustrated in figs. 32 33 35 36 and 37.
12 The combination with the phonograph diaphragm and point of a sound chamber substantially as described and illustrated in figs. 31 38 39 and 53.
13 The diaphragm and mouth-pieces for a speaking phonograph substantially as described and as illustrated in figs. 41 42 43 44 45 and 46 .
14 The combination with a diaphragm and its point of Page 323 two diaphragms for the purposes and substantially as shown in fig. 49.
15 In combination with a diaphragm and valve actuated by sound vibrations, a source of compressed fluid and a trumpet as in figs. 51 52 on orc a phonograph, as in fig. 50 substantially as set forth.
16 The combination of two diaphragms with a valve and a source of compressed fluid as represented in fig. 67 for increasing the volume of the voice or other sound as set forth.
17 The combination with two or more phonograms, of phonet keys for selecting letters or utterances as described and illustrated in fig. 63.
18 The means for duplicating or reproducing phonograms from an original phonogram substantially as set forth.
19 The combination with the phonograph or phonet of the revolving crank and pendulum governor substantially as described and shown in figs. 64 65 66 .
20 The combination with the phonograph of a lever moved by the lips and of a lever and phonet to move the lips of a mask, substantially as described and illustrated by figs. 55 and 54.
21 The combination with a phonogram of a clock movement or toy and a phonet for reproducing sounds for clocks or toys substantially as set forth.
D (transcript), NjWOE, DF (TAEM 18:669). In an unknown hand. Periods used to demarcate figure references have not been reproduced. aDate from file wrapper. bAll figures are on eight separate sheets. cInterlined above. d“see fig. 64” interlined above, e“shall probably” interlined above. fThis and all subsequent claim numbers in a different hand.
1. Edison executed this caveat (Caveat 80) on this day and filed it at the Patent Office on 3 June (it is not in the existing National Archives file of Edison caveats; neither is Caveat 81 or 82). He had begun sketching designs for it on 5 March, and had drawn more on 28 March (NS-78–007, Lab. [TAEM 7:871–72]). At the same time, Lemuel Serrell was assembling materials for Edison’s foreign phonograph patent applications. Serrell wrote Edison on 2 May that drawings and specifications for those applications awaited his approval for photolithographing (DF [TAEM 18:659]). Edison used those drawings as the basis for this caveat, which is why it includes material from his earlier phonograph caveat (Doc. 1227) and the drawings from his aerophone patent (U.S. Pat. 201, 760), which had issued on 26 March. He did not include drawings from 30 April and later, even though some were labeled “Caveat 80” or “Caveat Phonograph” (Doc. 1310; NS-78–007, Lab. [TAEM 7:873]).
2. Edison’s September patent application for the disk phonograph (Case 155) included figures 1–11 from this caveat (see Serrell to TAE, 8 July 1878, DF [ TAEM 18:724]). Page 324
3. Located beneath “b” in figure 1, with an arrow pointing from “c” to the indenting point.
4. Located below and to the left of “c” in figure 1.
5. Located above “a” in figure 2.
6. Located to the left of “mi” in figure 1 ; to the left of “g” in figure 2 .
7. Not shown in figure 11; see figure 2.
8. Edison’s second September phonograph patent application (Case 154) covered much of the remaining material in this caveat along with the modifications to the clockwork cylinder phonograph of Doc. 1310. See Serrell to TAE, 8 July 1878, DF (TAEM 18:724).
9. Located to the right of “li” in figure 15 ; similarly placed in figure 12 (“8” is illegibly small in both).
10. At right end of arm in figures 13 and 14.
11. Located at the top left; b7 is beneath b2.
From George Scott
New York May 31, 18781
T. A. Edison.
Your instruments are a success in the Brooklyn wire can you furnish me with 2 induction coils & transmitters alone to fit up a sett for merchants circuit I want to show you new design for combination box I am making.
L (telegram), NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:714). Another copy is in DF (TAEM 15:720).
1. This was the same day that Edison finally signed his agreement with Western Union regarding the payment for his telephone patents. The company ordered its shop, under the direction of George Phelps, to make “500 Edison Carbon Telephones with Morse Key, and sounder, and induction coil.” Miller (TAEM 28:1105); American Speaking Telephone Minutes, 35.
From Charles Stowell
Ansonia Conn. May 31st 1878
Dear Sir.
WA few weeks ago we met in Mr Ashley’s room,1 and you were giveing me some account of subdividing the Electric Light, and if my memory serves me you said as soon as you got some meaterial from Germany you wanted to come up to Ansonia to try it on some of our machines.2I told you to come and promised that Mr Wallace3 would give you all the chance you could ask. When I got home then I told him what about our interview and he said as I knew he would that you could have all the chance to try anything you wanted, and he should Page 325 be happy to see you here. So come along the sooner the better would be glad to see you here tomorrow.
You will remember that you said that they were all on the wrong tractk using carbon, hope you will be as successful in this direction as you have in so many others. It will be a blessing to the world, to be able to subdivide. Fuller4 makes a great noise about what he has got, but I do not think much of it. I will say that it worked well on two lights and Mr Wallace saw four, but a drawback to it is that if one chlight chance to go out you have got to go to it and relight, besides there will be a question if he can use the Jablochkoff candle. When he was here I said as much to him and he replied that heis was entirely different from Jablochkoff, which I failed to see.
Wish you could say how soon we may look for you because we are want to see it divided even down to ten or twenty candle lights Yours Respt
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 17:918).
1. As editor of the Western Union-sponsored Journal of the Telegraph James Ashley probably had rooms at the company’s headquarters.
2. What “material from Germany” Edison was waiting for is unknown. He did not visit Ansonia until September. See Doc. 1423.
3. William Wallace (1825–1904), British-born wire manufacturer and inventor, established Wallace & Sons at Ansonia, Conn., with his father and brothers in 1848. With electrical inventor Moses Farmer he constructed dynamos based on Farmer’s design, which were used in combination with Wallace’s own carbon-arc lamp. He visited Edison at Menlo Park in 1877. See TAEB 3:413; DAB, s.v. “Wallace, William.”
4. James Fuller, an electrician and electroplater, designed a system of arc lights sold by the Fuller Electrical Co. Edison had met him several years earlier in connection with demonstrations of Fuller’s magnetoelectric generator in New York. Doc. 634; Hiram Crosby to TAE, 16 Feb. 1878, DF (TAEM 49:102).
5. Charles Stowell had been working as an electrician for Wallace & Sons since 1875. He had previously been an assistant to electrical inventor Moses Farmer in Boston (Stowell’s testimony, Sawyer C Man v. Edison (U.S.), [TAEM 47:442–43]). On 8 June, Stowell wrote again to Edison indicating that “Your letter came in due time, well knew you were busy, never saw you when you were not. Still I felt anxious to see the light divided. All the world is astir now about light.” He also asked if Edison had a situation for his brother Edward. A marginal note indicates that Edison sent his standard reply: “havent got anything at present moment am quite full here but will keep him in mind” (DF [TAEM 17:490]).
To George Gouraud
ALS (telegram), NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:857). aWritten in unknown hand. bFollowed by several canceled illegible words.
1. On 5 June, Gouraud cabled back “accepted.” DF (TAEM 15:759).
Agreement with James Adams
Menlo Park, June 1, 1878a
This memorandum of agreement entered into this first day of June eighteen hundred and seventy eight by and between Thomas A Edison of Menlo Park NJ and James Adams of Menlo Park NJ
witness. The said Edison .has by the within contract of which it is a copy1 been given a Royalty of Six thousand dollars per year for seventeen years from the date hereof payable semi monthly in payment for the said Edisons inventions in Telephones as herein set forth and whereas the saidb Adams has given his time talents and attention in assisting the said Edison in bringing such inventions to practical uses therefore in consideration of such services by the said Adams to the said Edison the said Edison agrees to pay to the said Adams Six Hundred dollars in each and every year that the said Edison receives six thousand dollars from the first of June 1878 until the first of June 1895. If by any chance or process of law or otherwise the said Edison is not paid the said six thousand dollars then the said Adams shall receive nothing or if the sum be reduced the sum paid the said Adams shall be reduced in proportion This shall be binding upon my executors, assigns or legal representatives2
In witness whereof I have this day set my hand and seal
DS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 19:716). Written by William Carman. aPlace and date taken from document, form altered. bObscured overwritten letters.
1. This was probably originally attached to a copy of Edison’s 31 May contract with Western Union regarding royalties for his telephone inventions; a similar agreement with Charles Batchelor, giving him $1,200 per year from Edison’s royalties is attached to a copy of the Western Union agreement. Batchelor (TAEM 92:269–88).
2. After Adams’s death in 1879, Edison continued to pay royalties to Adams’s wife Ellen. See TAEM G-2–3, “Adams, Ellen.”
To William Preece
[Menlo Park,] Ju[ne]4 781a
Preece
I regard Hughes heat measurer & Direct Impact telephone as abuse confidence. I sent you & others Papers describing it also in Letter about trouble in expansion telephones if you do not set this thing right I shall with details
L (telegram), UkLIEE, WHP. Message form of Anglo-American Telegraph Co. Ltd. aDate from British Post Office Department handstamp.
1. This telegram as well as the one following to William Thomson (Doc. 1347) were published in the 4 June New York Herald, which contained an interview with Edison regarding his claim of priority for the use of the carbon principle in a heat measurer. “Edison’s Phonograph and Thermopile,” Cat. 1240, item 644, Batchelor ( TAEM 94:221).
To William Thomson
[Menlo Park,] Ju[ne] 4 781a
Sir Wm Thompson
Direct impact carbon telephones sent Preece two months ago also publications and letters describing its use as heat measurer great abuse confidence his part in Hughes matter I send you publications of proofs2
L (telegram), UkLIEE, WHP. Message form of Post Office Telegraphs. aDate from British Post Office Department handstamp.
1. Sir William Thomson initially thought this telegram was intended for Sir Henry Thompson because of the London address, the spelling of the last name, and the fact that the newspapers had recently reported on Sir Henry’s microphone experiments. After getting it back, William Thomson enclosed it in a 12 June letter to Preece, commenting
you will no doubt wish to let Edison know that you had no idea of doing him injustice. He does I think deserve the first place in respect to credit for the microphone on account of what you told us at Plymouth of what he had done, which involved the essentials and some of the details, of the affair, very clearly I think. I should think Hughes has worked out what he has done so well, quite independently. [WHP]
George Gouraud later sent Edison a copy of Thomson’s letter (see Doc. 1385 n. 1).
2. It is not known what publications Edison sent, but they probably included the 1 June 1877 Journal of the Telegraph article on his pressure relay (Doc. 926) and Prescott 1878b.
To the Editor of the New York Daily Tribune
Menlo Park, N.J, June 6, 18781a
Sir:
Allow me to make a few observations upon an editorial article which appeared in yesterday’s T ribune 2 upon the recent claims advanced by Professor D. E. Hughes, of London, to the invention of the leading features of my carbon telephone, and of my microtasimeter or instrument for the measurement of minute degrees of heat.
You have attributed to Professor Hughes two improvements upon my methods of preparing the carbon buttons for the telephone, namely: in the metalization of the carbon by plunging it in mercury, and in the division of the carbon into several pieces. Your supposition that the latter process is not identical with my use of gas retort carbon is perfectly correct, but the subdivision of the carbon had been repeatedly tested by me in my experiments on the telephone, especially in a series conducted at the special request of President Orton shortly before his death, of which the illustrative drawings were seen at the time by several persons, and are still in my possession. The metalization of the carbon by plunging it in mercury is also a process perfectly familiar to me, having been employed in many of my telephone experiments of last year, and, though mercury is not specially named, it is clearly included in the expression “finely divided metals” which occurs in the memoranda I furnished Mr. Geo. B. Prescott for his forthcoming work on “The Speaking Telephone,” as printed in The Journal of the Telegraph for the 16th of April Inst. Mr. Hughes seems to have been, so impressed with this phrase that he employs it repeatedly, speaking of “mercury in a finely divided state,” of “holding the mercury in a fine state of division,” of “metal distributed—in a fine state of division,” of “iron in a fine state of division;” again, of “the minute division of the iron,” and lastly of “a platinum surface in a finely divided state.”
The change of electrical resistance with enormous rapidity by plumbago under pressure was a discovery of my own, distinctly set forth in my application for a patent for an “improvement in speaking telegraphs,” dated July 20, 1877, as published at the time in The Philadelphia Press and The Scientific American (July 28, 1877). This discovery evidently covers the principle claimed as his own by Professor Hughes. He says: “It is quite evident that these effects are due to a difference of pressure at the different points of contact”—which is precisely the principle of my carbon telephone, thus set forth Page 329 months ago by Mr. Geo. B. Prescott in the above-mentioned volume: “By constant experimenting, however, Mr. Edison at length made the discovery that when properly prepared, carbon possessed the remarkable property of changing its resistance with pressure, and that the ratios of these changes, morever, corresponded exactly with the pressure.”
You consider as the most striking difference between my telephone and the instrument of Professor Hughes, that in the latter the diaphragm is dispensed with. In his own words: “It will be seen, however, that in the experiments made by myself, the diaphragm has been altogether discarded, resting as it does upon the changes produced by molecular action, and that the variations in the strengths of the currents flowing are produced simply and solely by the direct effect of the sonorous vibrations.”
The following extract from Mr. Prescott’s book, as given in The Journal of the Telegraph, April 16, 1878, will show that the discarding of the diaphragm is my own invention:
In the latest form of transmitter which Mr. Edison has introduced, the vibrating diaphragm is done away with altogether, it having been found that much better results are obtained when a rigid plate of metal is substituted in its place. With the old vibrating diaphragm the articulation produced in the receiver is more or less muffled, owing to slight changes which the vibrating disk occasions in the pressure, and which probably results from tardy dampening of the vibrations after having been once started. In the new arrangement, however, the articulation is so clear and exceedingly well rendered that a whisper even may readily be transmitted and understood. The inflexible plate, of course, merely serves, in consequence of its comparatively large area, to concentrate a considerable portion of the sonorous waves upon the small carbon disk or button; a much greater degree of pressure for any given effort on the part of the speaker is thus brought to bear on the disk than could be obtained if only its small surface alone were used.
The claim of Professor Hughes to the discovery, that a modification of his microphone can be used as a measure of minute degrees of heat is still more preposterous than the preceding. This is a discovery of mine, which was first announced in The Washington Star of the 19th of April last. A copy of that paper was sent by me to Mr. W. H. Preece, the co-adjutor of Professor Hughes in this pretended “invention,” and I have Page 330 positive evidence that it reached him before the presentation of the so-called “microphone” to the Royal Society, inasmuch as he has made an extract from it in his address of May before the London Society of Arts.
Mr. W. H. Preece, electrician to the London Post Office Department, was in this country in the early part of last year, and visited my laboratory. I freely showed him the experiments I was then making, including the principle of the carbon telephone and the variability of conducting power in many substances under pressure. I made him my agent for the presentation of this telephone, and subsequently of the phonograph, in England, and kept him informed, by copies of publications and by private letters, of my leading experiments, as he always manifested a great desire to be the means of presenting my discoveries to the British public.
I therefore regard the conduct of Mr. Preece in this matter as not merely a violation of my rights as an inventor, but as a gross infringement of the confidence obtained under the guise of friendship. Yours very truly,
PD, New York Daily Tribune, 8 June 1878, 5. In Cat. 1240, item 665, Batchelor ( TAEM 94:229). aDate not that of publication.
1. On 8 June, the day this letter was published, Edison and Charles Batchelor compiled a list of leading European scientific and technological figures to whom they then sent copies. Cat. 1308:282, Batchelor (TAEM 90:786).
2. A copy of the editorial, titled “Telephone and Microphone,” is in Cat. 1240, item 656, Batchelor (TAEM 94:225).
From George Gouraud
London 6 June 1878.a
My Dear Sir,
I confirm your cable and my reply as per enclosed.1
I received also this morning, by accident, a cable from you to Bailey requesting that gentleman to call upon me here— I however put the same in train for delivery to Bailey—whose address is at Morley’s Hotel— I do not yet know the nature of the business in question—2
I await your advices by mail confirming by Power of Attorney the placing of telephones in my hands—3 The following extract from a further letter from Preece will interest you:
“Edisons transmitter is a good sound patent but the receiver Page 331 is a clear infringement of Bell’s British patent. Edison does not patent it but uses it—
“But there is a new telephone coming out which is quite independent of Bell’s or Edison’s and is going to be sold for half a guinea— However, I am sick of telephones, and wish that they were all at the bottom of the Atlantic—”
I am on the track of the half guinea telephone and will let you know what it is—4 One thing is evident in telephones— We are to get no immediate benefit from the post office or in connection therewith—but I have no doubt of organizing a good strong Company upon the basis of their protecting the patents and furnishing working capital—we having a share— possibly half the net proceeds— I am inclined to think that this would be the best nucleus of organization at least—and will submit your plans in a few days— Several very strong parties have signified their desire to cooperate—
Microphone— I learn incidentally, though [—]b confidentially, that you have cabled to the publishers of the paper announcing Prof. Hughes’s invention of this— Whereupon I have notified Nottage of your claims and asked him if he would like to negotiate for an interest in it in England— Send me without delay all you have to bear upon this question— If you have good grounds for your claims, we can easily hold the monopoly—as nobody would be likely to feel that he could make enough out of it to justify his contesting in the Courts the use of it—
Puscas— I find my correspondence with this gentleman most unsatisfactory— Indeed it can hardly be called correspondence—as he does not answer my letters half the time— He has only gone so far as to say as to he would like to sell a part or his entire interest in the phonograph in Great Britain— This does not look much like looking after your reserved interest— I trust you will act promptly in the matter of my recent suggestions in this connection and put me in a proper position toward Nottage— Repeat my request thatc you sendd me a copy of your contract with London Stereoscopic Coy. without delay—so that I may see whether you are not legally entitled to a share in receipts from exhibitions of phonograph— They promise, if properly handled, to be a source of large revenue— A nephew of mine who is now in Paris writes me that the exhibition receipts in Paris amount to fr. 600 or fr. 700 per diem— What I want Nottage to do, is to organize exhibition lectures all over the Country—but I Page 332 cannot get him to move in this— He even does not avail himself of the services of two gentlemen who offered to do the business on a share of the receipts—taking all the risks themselves— This sort of thing should be encouraged instead of ignored, as it is at present, by Nottage—
Electric pen— Let me know what your own interests are in this article [of?]b America, and precisely what your relations are with Mr Beetle—who gives me to understand that he has the control of the question on this side and am now in correspondence with him regarding assistance to him on the Continent— If you are interested in the European pats, send me at once half a dozen specimens pensc complete, including your new press , if you have it finished—and I will forward them to the very best people amongst my good acquaintances in as many of the principal towns in Europe—and I have no doubt that I can materially help Mr. Beetle or whoever may have the thing in hand, by this means— Very Truly Yours
LS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:756). Letterhead of Mercantile Trust Company. a“London” and “18” preprinted. bIllegible. cInterlined above by Gouraud. dObscured overwritten letters.
1. See Doc. 1344.
2. On 3 June, Bailey had cabled Edison about joining Edison’s British telephone interests with those of Elisha Gray: “Your combination with Gray secures Substantial monopoly England await letter before writing Preece.” According to his letter of 8 June, Edison had replied “call on Gouraud.” Bailey also stated that he then sent Edison a cable asking if he was “committed to Gouraud or were free to negotiate personally” to which Edison replied, “Gouraud has full power.” As a result, Bailey and Franklin Pope arranged an interview with Gouraud for the following week, but hoped in the meantime that Edison would name his “lowest selling price for your telephone patent, in case that form of the business should come up.” Bailey advised a modest price because
the telephone field is a good deal cut up, and any patent will be attended with a good deal of litigation if the attempt is to be seriously made to enforce it. The time for fancy prices has gone by, and I hope that you will take these suggestions as fairly representing the situation, and not as made for the purpose of “beating you down.” The situation is much muddled, and no one is going to pay a large price for any of the patents.
Gouraud wrote Edison on 25 June that Bailey had made an offer to combine the Edison and Gray interests. DF (TAEM 15:847; 19:857, 861).
3. See Doc. 1365.
4. Nothing is known of this instrument. A guinea was 5% more than one pound sterling, or 21 shillings; hence the amount mentioned was roughly equivalent to $2.50. See Doc. 1196 n. 5.
Charles Batchelor to James Adams
[Menlo Park,] June 6th 1878a
Dear Jim,
I had not time to giv[e]b you much in my last so put [it]b strong. This is the damnedst steal in the country and Pree[ce]b knew it all the time, dont let them get anything out of y[ou]b From your letter you dont thi[nk]b ( or seem not to) that it is a st[eal]b You must know that the microphone is only the telep[hone]b with different adjustment o[ur]b telephone has passed throug[h]b the microphone stage and nobody knows or ought to better than you of that.
Refresh your memory well now and remember you now hav[e]b a chance to distinguish yourself, defend it well and denounce Hughe’s arrangement as an imposition.1 We intend to go for them bad. I will keep you supplied with the papers and we are collecting our proofs in print and shall forward immediately Let me see if I cannot refresh your memory:—
—Do you remember that Edison took a sheet of plumbago paper while you were with him and laid it on top of the bind-posts of Rheostat and you could hear your own singing?2
Dont you remember our using our using carbon, plumbago, etc on discs of card, silk, and other things that is the microphone when not adjusted up enough for clear talking. We have used one of these discs on each side of our button almost ever since you went away and here you can stand 100 feet away from the transmitter and talk to it and in my house I can get it perfectly even with 1000 ohms resistance. I have heard the little music box over 1000 ohms resistance when it was played 10 feet away from the transmitter I being at my own house3 that is a true microphone but Hughes is nothing but bad connection and how ridiculous to think you can talk directly to the material itself without anything to shield it from moisture etc. Hughes says in his article that “It will be seen however in ‘my’ experiments the diaphragm has been discarded resting as it does on changes produced by molecular action and that the variations in the strengths of the currents flowing are produced simply and solely by the direct effect of the sonorous vibrations.
Now Jim I dont know whether you saw it or not but Edison gave an article to Prescotts book some time ago and it was published in the Journal of telegraph Apl 16 1878 This article says [ ]4c Dont you know or see from this that our plate is not a diaphragm but only a collector and that the sonorous vibrations make the change by direct impact? Page 334
Do you remember the springs you made of steel with cups on end to hold plumbago like this:5
I have them all here now— As for the heat measuring arrangement that is ours and we can prove that Preece did not think of that till after he had received a paper from us called the Washington star and from which he quoted when delivering his lecture on the Phonograph before the society of Arts.6 Dont you remember Prof Langley coming here and left Edison a small thermopile and Edison then promised to give Langley a heat measurer the principal of which was his carbon button some six months ago. 7 Oh it is the worst case of steal I ever saw. We have got magnificent proofs and records on it and we will make Preece so damned sick he will wish he had never been born. We will spend $5000 if necessary to expose it even if we lose our telephone there. Scientific American,8 Dr Barker9 andd many others see the ‘ steal’ and are going for him ‘red hot.’ Keep me posted as to where you are and I will send everything. If you had not have got ofut of the hospital I was going to pack Ellen off to look after you.
Look in Scientific Amn and you will see Edison mentions finely divided metals.10
Read up everything on the subject and when you think you can talk intelligently on anything go for [them]c like the devil. Hope you are better again. Take good care of yourself whilst in Paris and [recover?]’ Dont [ ]f first consulting us for we may have something for you to do in England yet again.
And now Jim let me tell you again that you have a first rate chance to distinguish yourself on this, tell them what you think even if you get your arse kicked for it, we have the proofs and they will have to take a back seat
Ellen is well and spend a great deal of time with us she worries a little but you ought to write her saying telephone is all right
Keep us posted From yours as ever
ALS (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Batchelor, Cat. 1238:276 (TAEM 93:197). aDate written in by Batchelor. bCopy ran off edge of page. cSeveral Page 335 blank lines follow. dRepeated at end of one page and beginning of next. eFaint copy. fFaint and missing copy. gCopy ran off bottom of page.
1. Adams replied from Paris on 19 June that he “did not feel like going for Preece direct” while testing Edison’s telephone with him in London. After finishing the tests, however, he “talked it up to Preece and everyone around him from the letter A. to Z. now I shall Publish what I know about Microphone in the French & English Press.” DF (TAEM 15:806).
2. A drawing of 21 June (labeled “Microphone”) may be related to this idea (Doc. 1362).
3. In a notebook entry of this date, Batchelor wrote:
Edison and myself with Proff Barker and Mr Robinson tried some experiments with regard to how far off sounds could be made that would so affect the plate on our transmitter as to send over 100 miles Proff Barker was at my house with me Edison stood 100 feet away and talked in his ordinary voice and we got it distinctly. The music box was played (15) fifteen feet away and heard distinctly. Our carbon button was pressed four times very delicate and had a silk disc on each side coated with plumbago. [Cat. 1317:61, Batchelor (TAEM 90:687)]
4. It appears that Batchelor pasted excerpts from the article on his letter, as the Letterpress copy has blank space here. The article (“Edison’s Carbon Telephone”) is in Cat. 1031:109, Batchelor (TAEM 27:800).
5. See Doc. 880.
6. Edison had announced his heat measurer in the 19 April issue of the Washington Evening Star (see Doc. 1289 n. 3). Preece’s formal paper, published in the 10 May issue of the Journal of the Society of Arts (Preece 1878b), contains no mention of the heat measurer, though he did mention Edison’s aerophone and Hughes’s microphone. There are missing letters from Preece to Edison and it is possible that he mentioned in one of these about reading from the Star article. It is also possible that an account of the meeting at which Preece demonstrated the phonograph appeared in another journal and mentioned his discussion of the heat measurer.
7. See Doc. 1367. Samuel Langley was director of the Allegheny Observatory and professor of astronomy at the Western University of Pennsylvania (which became the University of Pittsburgh). DSB, s.v. “Langley, Samuel Pierpont.”
8. The 8 June Scientific American Supplement (5:2024–25), which would have been published by the time of Batchelor’s letter, contains a reprint of Prescott 1878b preceding a reprint of Hughes’s 1878. In the 8 June regular issue, the journal’s editor compared Hughes’s claims and experimental results with those obtained by Edison during his carbon telephone research and concluded: “It is of course impossible, without much more evidence than is before us relative to Professor Hughes’ experiments, to reach any certain judgment as between him and Mr. Edison, but a prima facie case in favor of the priority of the latter seems to us pretty clearly made out.” “Electricity,” “Edison’s Carbon Telephone,” “On the Action of Sonorous Vibrations in Varying the Force Page 336 of an Electric Current,” “The Carbon Telephone,” Cat. 1240, items 634–37, Batchelor (TAEM 94:217–20).
9. For George Barker’s defense of Edison’s claims see Barker 1878 (Cat. 1240, item 758, Batchelor [TAEM 94:271]).
10. Batchelor is referring to the Scientific American Supplement reprint of Prescott 1878b (see note 8).
Charles Batchelor to George Bliss
[Menlo Park,] June 7th [187]8
Geo H. Bliss. Esq.
In manufacturing the telephones it will be necessary to observe the following instructions:— 1
1 Case must be japanned, and the words “edison’s carbon telephone” cast on top round the base of mouthpiece where it can be plainly seen
2 The glass in the brass tube on diaphragm must be ground perfectly flat and must be put in, in the following manner:— After the brass tube is soldered on, all the solder must be got out of the inside of the hole, and when glass is put in be careful that it goes to the bottom and fits in the brass tight, after this is done drop a single drop of pure shellac softened by heat into the bottom of the brass to hold it. Dont [use]1 ordinary sealing wax for this purpose as the telephone with continual talking gets a little warm and it might soften it
3 The screws that hold the telephone together must be nickelplated and polished at both ends
4 In boring out the rubber that holds the carbon button be careful that the guage does not go tight into it, and also that the shape of the hole does not alter when you take the rubber out of the chuck; as our carbons are so delicate that they will not allow of crowding in , but must drop in perfectly free, but without shake.
5 The two platina surfaces must be perfectly flat
6 The diaphragm must have a coat of japan or varnish to protect it from moisture from the mouth.
By attending to the following above instructions we shall have no difficulty in adjusting the telephones when they come here for their carbon buttons Very respty yours
ALS (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Cat. 1238:280, Batchelor (TAEM 93:201). aFaint copy.
1. These instructions were intended for the Western Electric Manufacturing Co., which had just been given an order by Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. to make “six Edison carbon telephones with Morse key Page 337 and sounder and induction coil, the same to be delivered to and tested by Mr Edison.” If these trial instruments proved satisfactory, Gold and Stock planned to order 250 additional telephones. Western Electric apparently made at least one trial instrument by 31 May and sent additional instruments to Gold and Stock during the last two weeks of June. By the beginning of August, Western Electric had made 350 transmitters for Gold and Stock. G&S Executive, 186; George Scott, “Memo of dates, showing when the Edison Carbon Transmitter was first used,” Box 1093, NjWAT; Enos Barton to TAE, 8 Aug. 1878, DF (TAEM 19:740).
Technical Note. Telephony
[Menlo Park,] June 10th 1878
Speaking telephone receiver1
Crank to keep it electrified all the time
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 14:111 (TAEM 4:259). Written by Charles Batchelor.
1. This drawing and the one that follows are designs for telephone receivers worked by electrostatic charge rather than by electromagnetism. A measured drawing of this design was made by John Kruesi on 11 June and the instrument was available for experiments a few days later. This design was apparently used in connection with the experimental program laid out in Doc. 1215, which commenced on 2 June. On 15 June, Batchelor indicated that they wanted to try it as a transmitter Page 338 using diaphragms of different substances. On 17 June it failed to work as either a receiver or transmitter. The following day, Batchelor tried some additional experiments with different materials—copper, steel, iron, and lead—in place of the rubber core. Though he obtained no results with either mica or copper foil diaphragms, Batchelor found that he got some results when using it as a receiver with an iron diaphragm. He then found that it worked “without any core just with a diaphragm.” There are no further records of experiments with this design. Vol. 14:113, 120, 122, 125, Lab. (TAEM 4:261, 275, 277, 280).
Frotn Gardiner Hubbard
Washington, D.C. June 12 1878a
Dear Mr. Edison
I understand that at Mr. Prescott’s request, you wrote a chapter on your Telephone for the book recently issued by him on the Telephone & Phonograph.
Mr. Painter informs me that in this article you repeated the fact which you have so freely expressed to me and others— that you regarded Mr. Bell as the original inventor of the Telephone—& that this sentence was eliminated by Mr. Prescott.1
I will be much obliged if you will allow me to publish this fact under my own signiture.
You have made so many inventions that this acknowledgement of the originality of Mr. Bell’s invention invention of the Telephone adds luster to your name.
I trust you will go on making still further inventions & receive the reward of renown and pecuniary profit you richly deserve I am Truly your friend
〈When I see you again I want to have a talk with you on the subject Bell in conjunction with P[reece] has done me a very great injury nevertheless I will do what you desire〉 2b
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:783). Letterhead of Bell Telephone Co. a“Washington, D.C.” and “187” preprinted. bWritten by Stockton Griffin.
1. During his testimony in the Telephone Interferences, Edison stated, “I did most emphatically give Mr. Bell the credit of the discovery of the transmission of articulated speech by that principle [of induction currents] in this article, but it was scratched out by some person unknown to me after it had been delivered to Mr. Prescott, and it was not published” (TI 1:115 [TAEM 11:78]). The statement in question concerns the first full paragraph on page 22 of Prescott 1878c which was substantially changed to remove all references to Bell. The draft version reads Page 339
It will be noticed that the receiving instrument which I use contains the diaphragm magnet & chamber of the magneto telephone of Prof Bell, and I believe myself to be the first to use it In Acoustic telegraphs but I distinctly disclaim having discovered that conversation could be carried on between one receiver and the other upon the magneto principle by causing the voice to vibrate the diaphragm. This I concede to Prof Bell as it never occurred to me and I was as much astonished as anyone when I heard in April 1876 of his discovery of the fact, and the practical demonstration of it in June 1876 at the Centennial Exposition Although I believe Mr Bell used parchment diaphragms with small iron armatures up to 1877. [DF ( TAEM 17:184–85)]
2. On 17 June, Stockton Griffin composed a letter based on these notes. TAE to Hubbard, Box 1198, NjWAT.
From Uriah Painter
W[ashington, D.C.]— 6–12-78
My Dr E
I think you are in error if you think Bell would himself have anything to do with any attempt to filch from you one iota of your honors— I know he told Mr H. that before he left for Europe that there was only one man in the world that he feared would be able to make another Telephone & that was Edison— I know his letters home have been full of admiration of your genius in the Phonograph & full of anticipations of a personal acquaintance on his return this summer— He had to sell a large share of his Telephone Patents here to get money to take out Patents in Europe & to get fundsa go over himself & introduce them— He lost the control of his Telephone in England by being overreached & frozen out by these identical men who are now trying to steal yours— All these facts I have gathered from time to time & they are not consistent with his aiding to strip you of your honor & your property— I met Mr Bell here several times in 77b & was very much impressed with his candor his simplicity & his conscientiousness— I hope you will go slow in making up any adverse opinion on him— I cant see, how Hughes & Preece dare c to put in any such claim! They are men of intelligence & must know a lie cannot live! I think the papers must have got it wrong somehow— Dont let any new thing out till I get over next week— Keep quiet, till we see the whites of their eye!
P.S— Since writing the above Mr Hubbard stopped in my office & I read him your letter! He says “Tell Edison that as Preece has served him precisely as he served Mr Bell, & Mr Bell feels very hard against Mr Preece & Mr Hughes— I Page 340 rather guess that Preece is the Prescott of England— “A sucker”! & “a fraud”—
I will be over next week & have full talk with you over all these things! Congress adjourns on 17th & then I’ll be foot loose for a while—
We find Cheever has no idea of the value of money & wont do for a business manager & will make other arrangements.
I’ll get you some data for your pamphlet on Preece as to his trying to & coming1 the Prescott over Bell
I see in Prescotts book2 he treats of the “Quadruplex as used by WU”—and evidently trys to leave the impression that it is his! combination!!
Suppose you put another chapter in, & give him a lively turn!
Do you want any more money before I come over about 18th? We have about $1000. more ready for you [most?]d in Phono’.
Phono’ show keeps up pretty well here— Barker & Bently ruined Phila’ as a “pay town”—3
Do you want any more Stars Those cost 35 cts a piece— I may squeeze out some more if you do— Its [ducer?]d how soon a whole edition of a paper disapears!4
You ought to close your doors at Menlo to all strangers, & only show your hand when you are ready for the market & then its too late for thieves to get your things— Yrs
Do you want any more Photographs? UHP
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:785). a“get funds” interlined above. b“in 77” written in left margin. cUnderlined twice. dIllegible.
1. Acting the part of. Farmer and Henley 1970, s.v. “come.”
2. Prescott 1878c, chap. 11.
3. Painter wrote Edison on 19 June that George Barker “is a fearful man after money & never says divide to you, or gives you the credit you are entitled to.” He complained that Barker’s and Henry Bentley’s lectures had “ruined our show biz in Phila’! There was a fearful amount of Barker & Bentley on the Phono’ but very little of Edison!!” DF (TAEM 15:804).
4. In an undated letter Painter noted that he had sent Edison “two hundred stars with yesterdays article in it is impossible to get any number of stars of nineteenth April. I cleaned out the star office and every other place for you in April I will advertise for copies and offer 8 cts for them and may get a few that way.” Edison answered “We require 4 or 5 stars of nineteenth of April.” That issue contained Edison’s claim that he had used his carbon principle to measure heat. This was one of the main points of his dispute with Preece and Hughes. In an Page 341 undated telegram, Edison thanked Painter for sending him copies of the 5 June issue of the Washington Star and indicated that the copies he had sent of the 26 April issue of the Washington Weekly Star would “suffice.” This issue probably contained a reprint from the 19 April issue of the daily paper and Edison sent copies to several people. DF (TAEM 17:129–30); Cat. 1308:282, Batchelor (TAEM 92:786).
Charles Batchelor to Partrick & Carter
[Menlo Park,] June 12 1878
Messrs Partrick & Carter
Telephone—1a
1 Box finished like the Phelps instruments2b
2 Transmitter Japanned and screws blue[d?]c an lacquered6
3 Transmitter top to have ‘edison’s carbon telephone’ in raised letters of cast iron round base of mouthpiece15
4 Magnet to be made 1½ wide by ½ inch thick and when magnetised should lift six (6) poundsb
5 Spools to be 50 ohms eachb
6 Ear pieces of rubber with flexible tube long enough to reach to the ear, the tube to be thin but covered with silk (red or green)3b
The ear pieces must have a hook to hook on to on the corner piece 7[ ]d
7 [ ]d
8 Make ear pieces I think suitable ones can be boughtc must come to the ears well and not be too short6
9 Larger size bindpostb
10 Coil must be wound with four layers of No 17f seventeen silk covered wire for primary and 9f nine layers of No 32f thirty two silk covered wire with a sheet of paraffined paper between each layer
| Resistance of primary | .34 ohm |
| Resistance of secondary | 150 ohm4 |
II
ALS (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Lbk. 3:267 (TAEM 28:716). aUnderlined twice. bFollowed by centered horizontal line. cFaint copy. dSeveral lines of copy illegible. e“I think ... bought” interlined above. fCircled. Page 342
1. This same day, Edison wrote to George Walker, vice president of Gold and Stock Telegraph Co., that he had “given Pa[r]trick & Carter of Phila an order for 25 Telephones for my own use— If they prove satisfactory and you wish to have them I will turn them over to you.” These combination instruments consisted of Edison’s carbon transmitter and his receiver, a slightly modified version of Bell’s design. Edison apparently wanted to use these combination instruments in foreign countries, where he did not have rights to the Phelps magneto receiver. He may also have wished to impress Gold and Stock with his combination device and ultimately persuade Western Union to adopt it, rather than just his transmitter, in the United States. He wrote Enos Barton of Western Electric on June 21 that the telephones “will be ‘bang up’ and I think Mr Walker will order a hundred more.” Lbk. 3:266, 294 (TAEM 28:715, 740).
Edison had started making arrangments with Partrick & Carter in mid-May. Work could not begin, however, until Edison provided a model telephone, which he had ready on 10 June. On 17 June he told the shop, “Please do your best on the twenty five telephones, get them up in good shape and good appearance I shall probably order as many more when these are completed.” The instruments were not finished until 19 July, when Stockton Griffin telegraphed Edison in Wyoming that Partrick & Carter had shipped them. Partrick & Carter to TAE, 13 May 1878; TAE to Partrick & Carter, 10 June 1878; Griffin to Partrick & Carter, 19 July 1878; all DF (TAEM 19:704, 719; 15:972); TAE to Partrick & Carter, 17 June 1878, Lbk. 3:279 (TAEM 28:727).
2. Batchelor probably meant a box similar to one he had drawn on 27 May. He made that sketch for John Kruesi, whom he told: “I want to make a telephone like Phelps arrangement, that is a bracket box like this.” He asked Kruesi to have a workman begin making such a box because “Edison wants this bad but I do not want to bother you with it until I get the shape of box I want.” NS-Undated-006, Lab. (TAEM 8:510).
3. Partrick & Carter wrote on 20 June that they had been waiting seven days for the rubber tubing but “we found that it does not come ready made of the suitable size” and had not yet arrived. Edison evidently suggested instead that they substitute a type of tube commonly used in theaters. The shop replied on 24 June that although this was readily available it was too large and inflexible. They still hoped to find the specified material, but suggested they might use “the rubber tubing same as you have on your Telephone [see headnote, TAEB 3:590], we have can have it covered with silk or worsted, the latter more durable & less expensive and looks equally as well.” Partrick & Carter to TAE, 20 and 24 June 1878, DF ( TAEM 19:723, 726).
Charles Batchelor’s sketch of 27 May 1878.
4. This was the standard coil design Edison chose after a series of tests in March (see Doc. 1241 n. 4). On 19 June, Partrick & Carter asked Batchelor to clarify the design of the coil; his marginal notes on the back of that letter indicate his reply: “You are right it is a simple Induction coil of 150 ohms 4 layers of No 17—9 layers of 32.” Miller (TAEM 28:1122–23).
Technical Note: Phonograph
[Menlo Park,] June 14th 1878
Speaking Phonograph
Experiments to get the hissing consonants reproduced better
1 Mouthpiece used at first [sh?]a and hisses no good 1
2 Made mouthpiece like this better hisses but not good
3 put watch spring crossways in No 1 mouth piece2 not no better than No 2
34 put in 5 springs like this:—no better
5 Made mouthpiece with larger hole and steep incline No better ‘ hishes’b than No 2c
6d Took mouthpiece No 5 and pasted card on bottom and talked to it got it good but too low
7 Perforated card put uon in No 6; perforatedc with pin a number of times (about 25 holes) and talked through it. It gave the ‘ishes’ very plainly and I got excellent talking without any dampening of the diaphragm3
8 Made double diaphragm of Ferrotype plate but see nothing in it Diaphragms 1/16 apart.
9 Perforated a number of small holes in the one nearest the mouth but it gave no better talking and nothing like experiment No 7f
10 Fastened a number of wires on bottom of mouthpiece so:— Page 344
but no better result
11g Put solid piece of rubber on bottom of mouthpiece with number of perforated holes in so:—
This does not work as well as the cardboard in No 7 perhaps it was because the cardboard had the burrs sticking up toward the mouth
12. put on bottom of mouthpiece discs with slot in so
and finally filed the 3 slots to an bevill edge so
and turned it round and both sides to mouth no better
13h Try a number of mica discs 1 /100 inch apart with hole in middle Result 4i
14 Try dampening the diaphragm when point is ridgid on diaphragm Resulti
Charles Batchelor s drawing of a mouthpiece arrangment using mica and rubber diaphragms (see n. 4).
X, NjWOE, Lab. Vol. 17:119 (TAEM 4:984). Written by Batchelor; multiply signed and dated. Each numbered paragraph separated by line drawn across page. aIllegible due to overwritten letters. bUnderlined twice. cFollowed by “turn over 2 pages” to indicate page turn. d“6” also written at top of page. eInterlined above.’ fFollowed by “over” to indicate page turn. gFaint sketch overwritten by this paragraph. h“13” also written at top of page. iSeveral lines of blank space follow. Page 345
1. In a separate notebook of his own, Batchelor discussed these “Experiments to get clearer articulation in regard to the hissing consonants” and noted that they were the result of “our mouthpiece being deficient in this respect.” In this entry, Batchelor also included a more detailed drawing of the mouthpiece they had been using. Cat. 1317:63, Batchelor (TAEM 90:688).
2. In his own notebook (see note 1), Batchelor drew a mouthpiece that he described as having “pieces of watch springs placed edgeways across the whole to increase the’s,’ ‘sh,’ etc.”
3. In his own notebook (see note 1), Batchelor noted that he had tried “two iron diaphragms with the one nearest to the mouth perforated with a number of holes but the plainest talking is to be got by an ordinary diaphragm with a piece of thick card perforated with a large number of holes in its centre and fastened to the end of the mouthpiece the burrs on the card turned to the mouth this without any dampers is the best talking for plainness I ever heard.”
A more detailed drawing of the mouthpiece arrangement used in experiment number 1.
4. In his own notebook (see note 1), Batchelor indicated that he had “tried two Iron diaphragms and also 2 Mica diaphragms als[o] a very small rubber one and a mica one larger behind so:—”
Technical Note. Telephony
[Menlo Park,] June 15th 1878
A New Telephone Receiver1
A and B polesa of battery with spermaciti inserted between—with mica diaphram treated with sulphate murcuryb
The above is fair to loud—and a little louder than with mica diaphram with platina pointa
No apparant change when spermaciti is outa
With diaphram without any sulphate of mercury but a very small amount of vibration can be detecteda
X, NjWOE, Lab. Vol. 14:117 (TAEM 4:270). Written by Charles Edison. aPreceded by canceled letter. bFollowed by horizontal line drawn across page.
1. Text is “mica Diaphagm treated with Sulphate mercury.” These experiments continue the effort to use chemical cores in telephone receivers (see Doc. 1215). A drawing of 12 june shows this design with the statement, “A and B with space between and insulated by with differant chemicals inserted bet. A & B.” There follows a list of chemicals and results that are similar to those listed in connection with an alternative receiver design of 10 June. On 11 June, Charles Edison also made experiments with a “diaphram of mica rubbed with Emery paper until gloss is gone Sulphate Murcury rubbed on rough side.” This worked “fair” but was “not quite as loud as carbon telephone.” On 15 June he tried an experiment using two mica diaphragms treated with sulphate of mercury which worked “very good—about half as loud as the viberations of the Telephone.” Vol. 14:115–17, 219, Lab. ( TAEM 4:263–69, 272–74).
2. Charley had just returned to the laboratory at the beginning of June. He had been working at the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad ticket office in Port Huron. Pitt Edison to TAE, c. April 1878; and Antoine Marontate to TAE, 23 May 1878; both DF (TAEM 19:395, 397); Vol. 14:103, Lab. (TAEM 4:248).
Frotn Lemuel Serrell
New York, June 18th 1878.a
My Dear Sir
I am sorry to hear of your being sick,1 there are several matters needing attention: The following is the condition of these items: If you need me to come down relative to any matter let me know, and I will do so: The following are the items.—
Ist I gave McLaughlin & Hickling letters of introduction to Brewer & Jensen and letters will go to their care:
I want your instructions as to the arrangements with them: The sale is to be for $17,500. to you: the money to be paid in England before July 31. May the same amount be paid in Australia? If not paid in England shall Brewer send assts. to a banker in Australia to be handed over in payment of the sum? Are you to have the sum named in one payment or is it to be divided up and apportioned to the different Australian countries? Do you want papers prepared for Tasmania, South Australia, New Zeland and Queensland, so that they will be ready for consumating purchase, when the proper party is found?—2
2nd Testimony on DeZuccato interference has to be taken before 28th ins. Who are the witnesses and when can they be produced? I wrote you 12th ins. and have not received any word as yet.—3 Page 347
3rd Shall you be able to get together the facts relative to Acoustic interferences in time for preliminary statements?
4th The foreign patents are going on all correctly. I have no word from Mr Puskas, have kept him advised, have you any word from him?
5th The caveat on Micro Tasimeter will be sent down down as soon as it is complete: probably tomorrow.4 I have been very busy and expected the pleasure of seeing you, or this would have been ready for today.
6th A Mr Warren Hidden5 from Constantinople has been in and wants to see you, he thinks he has some great improvement to communicate to you, shall I advise him to come down and see you, or do you desire rest for a while so as to recuperate?— 〈Have seen him〉6 Yours truly
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 18:712). Letterhead of Lemuel Serrell. a“New York,” and “187” preprinted.
1. This same day Serrell telegraphed Edison, “Shall I see you today about Australian agreements,” to which Edison replied “Mr. S. L. Griffin my secretary is a notary and can attend to Australian papers. Please send by mail I am quite sick.” DF (TAEM 18:711).
2. On 21 June, Serrell sent Edison the assignments for Victoria and New South Wales. Edison was to sign these and send them to Brewer and Jensen who would be instructed not to deliver them to McLaughlin and Hickling until they paid the $17,500. Serrell also asked again about instructions for the other Australian countries. Serrell to TAE, 21 June, with unsigned assignment papers, DF (TAEM 18:716–20).
3. Later this same day, Edison replied to Serrell asking that the taking of testimony be postponed and suggesting that one of his claims might have to be withdrawn. He also indicated that his witnesses would include Charles Batchelor and James Adams. Serrell had first asked Edison how he should handle the interference with Eugenio de Zuccato in a letter of 12 June. The interference concerned Edison’s patent application for an addressing machine filed 10 May 1877, which finally issued as U.S. Patent 230, 621 in August 1880. After Edison filed the original application, the patent examiner had declared that both claims were anticipated Page 348 by prior patents. After Edison amended his application, however, the examiner found it to be anticipated by other patents and declared interferences that were subsequently decided in Edison’s favor. Then, in March 1878, Serrell learned that de Zuccato’s patent might anticipate Edison’s and asked that this interference be declared. Testimony was to be taken in July, but was postponed again because of Edison’s trip west. In November, Serrell arranged a conference to settle the matter. Edison subsequently had to amend his application twice, in May and December 1879, before it finally issued after he withdrew the second claim. Pat. App. 230, 621; Serrell to TAE, 19 Mar., 12, 20, and 21 June, 10 and 13 July, 10 Oct., 7 and 11 Nov., 12 Dec. 1878, DF (TAEM 18:639, 710, 712, 714, 715, 725, 731, 772, 793, 802, 836).
Edison’s patented design for an addressing machine using perforated paper strips.
4. Though this caveat (apparently numbered 81) has not been found, there appear to be draft drawings in NS-Undated-005, Lab. (TAEM 8:512–13). Edison never received a U.S. patent for the tasimeter, but three designs like those in the draft drawings (figs. 1, 4–5) are included in his British Patent 2, 396 (1878, figs. 22, 42–43), including one modified for use as a telephone transmitter. A bill from Serrell dated 1 Sept. 1878 included charges for the week of 8–15 June for preparing and filing Caveat 81. Its subject was listed as “weight & pressure indicator” (DF [TAEM 18:741]).
5. Unidentified.
6. Edison wrote this across the paragraph regarding Hidden. Nothing is known about their meeting.
These three designs from Edison’s tasimeter caveat draft became part of his British Patent 2, 369 (1878).
Technical Note: Telephony
[Menlo Park,] June 18th 1878
Speaking telephone
New Receiver Make receiver of spool of and core of small discs of ferrotype plate punched out (Given M Force)1a Page 349
Make receiver of two diaphragms platesb with spirals of tin foil in order to see if there is any thing for us in parallel circuits Gave to Carman to makea
Make receiver
New Receiver
Take some of the ½ inch tissue paper and paste a thin strip of tinfoil on it so sas to make a long metallic band. This is to be laid [her] so as to make a number of parallel circuits to use as a receiver—2a
Charles Batchelor’s drawing for Martin Force of a new receiver with a “core made up of a number of discs of ferrotype plate,” all insulated from each other.
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 14:126, 124 (TAEM 4:281, 279). Written by Batchelor; multiply signed and dated. aFollowed by centered horizontal line. bInterlined above.
1. Batchelor’s drawing and instructions for Force are dated 19 June (Vol. 14:131, Lab. [ TAEM 4:287]). Other receiver designs from that day include one with “Iron wire wound with copper and the end of wire fastened to a diaphragm” and another in which two steel bars were placed “in a spool with the ends magnetized so as to neutralize each other” (Vol. 14:128, 130, Lab. [TAEM 4:284, 286]). These designs are probably related to the experimental program laid out in Doc. 1215; they appear to mark the end of that line of work.
2. The following drawings may have been made by Carman as they are in a darker pencil that matches his signature.
From josiah Reiff
New York, June 21 1878a
My dear Edison
Griffin called today & has gone to Brooklyn to see a pair of ponies. If they are not satisfactory we shall look farther.1
It is an infamous shame that the man James for whom you have done so much for nothing, should hound E.H.J., sue him & finally compel him to pay an unjust debt2 or allow his little Phonograph interest to be confiscated.
E.H.J., had to borrow $230 today to pay it or lose his stock—
By the way I read your criticism on Preece & Hughes—3 The conduct of Preece as you state it, is quite consistent with what Morten4 wrote, when he said Preece told him you had no interest in Quadruplex there, that it was Stearns & Prescott. You remember you laughed at Morten & said you were in correspondence with Preece who wrote you differently— I think the newspapers sympathize with you in the controversy. I want to see you, shall I come out or will you call. Yrs
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 15:821). Letterhead of J. C. Reiff. a‘New York,” and “187” preprinted.
1. Reiff began helping Edison find ponies for sale in May. This may be the subject to which Reiff referred on 9 May when he asked to see Edison about his “pet project.” In an undated letter from about this time, Edison’s brother Pitt wrote that Thomas ought to get “a pair that is a little stylish and good drivers and not afraid of the cars as you use them close by the RR I will see what I can buy in that line and let you know.” By the end of May, Reiff had found three ponies that the seller described as “the handsomest team in Brooklyn” and asked Edison to come look at them, but he also continued to make inquiries. On 29 June, Edison purchased a pair of ponies and harness from the Brooklyn Riding Academy for $350. Reiff to TAE, 9 and 31 May, 8 June 1878; Pitt Edison to TAE, n.d.; receipt of payment; all DF (TAEM 15:633, 722, 765; 19:412; 17:286).
2. James James had loaned money to Johnson and attempted to collect it in March. Johnson did not reply to James’s March letter, which he sent to Edison with the note, “this is simply a threat.” James died suddenly on 23 June 1878. James to Johnson, 28 Mar. 1878; Johnson to TAE, 28 Mar. 1878; Felix Brown to TAE, 23 June 1878; all DF (TAEM 15:414, 831).
3. Reiff probably read Doc. 1348.
4. It is unclear whether Reiff is referring to Alexander Morten, who had been involved in Edison’s work on the electric pen and domestic telegraph systems in the mid-1870s, to Henry Morton of the Stevens Institute, or to some other person.
Technical Note: Auriphone
[Menlo Park,] June 21 18781
Auruphone
15 drawings.2 Auriphone Page 352
Megaphone3 or rather Aurophone boquet of funnels
Resonator4
X, NjWOE, Lab. NS-78–002 (TAEM 7:759, 761). Document multiply signed and dated.
1. The first drawings labeled “aurophone” were made on 19 June. On 22 June, Edison drew additional designs labeled “Auruphone for the deaf.” NS-78–002, Lab. (TAEM 7:756, 762).
2. The drawings numbered 1–15 may have been intended for a caveat.
3. Edison initially invented the term megaphone to refer both to his telephonoscope and to the auriphone (also called aurophone or auruphone), though it was the former that came to be known by this word (see Doc. 1326 nn. 2–3; OED, s.v. “megaphone”; Prescott 1879, 561-63). The New York Herald of 8 June reported that Edison had just filed a megaphone caveat and described his plan to adapt the device for use as a hearing aid.
By applying it to the ear at a high rate of adjustment a whisper can be distinctly heard 300 feet away. Already the professor has tested it sufficiently to be satisfied of its entire practicability. It is to be of small size and have attached to it a rubber tube. In the inventor’s own words, “It can be taken to a theatre by a person hard of hearing just as a person near sighted now takes an opera glass. All you do is place it on your lap, let the tube touch your ear and all sounds come to you magnified fifty times if necessary. The loudness can be regulated for the ear as you regulate a telescope for the eye.” [“The Megaphone,” Cat. 1240, item 661, Batchelor (TAEM 94:227)]
4. The 22 June auriphone drawings (see note 1) include what appear to be Helmholtz resonators (see TAEB 2:723 n. 5).
Technical Note: Miscellaneous
[Menlo Park,] June 21 1878
Telephone
Receiver worked by mutuala attraction of coils one fixed & the other on the diaphragm both in same circuit.
I will also mention that the fixed one may be placed in a local circuit
Chemophone2
Suction or axial magnet1
Copperb
Zincc
Leadc
Tinc
Cadmiumd
Platinac
Ironc
Silverc
Aluminumc
Nickeld Page 354
Microphone3
Fig 14a
Hydrogen pistol
Des[ign] Ic May arrangef it to let H pass in B & Oxygen in A & use X for pistol.
This will dispense with diaphragm and cylinder Page 355
Fig 25
Des 2g Fog signal siren using explosion gases in chambers The chambers are filled automatically & explode by hot spir[al]h as they come opposite funnel like colts revolver=
Narrow aperture leading from a continuous source of sound & expansion of rubber closes aperture to greater & lesser extent6
The Slot may be the same as a spectroscope and may be opened & closed by a magnet galvanometer needle etc or by a strip deriving motion from a diaphragm, having a cone mouthpiece=
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 14:132; NS-78–004; NS-78–002; NS-78–012 (TAEM 4:288; 7:799, 760, 758, 933). Document multiply signed and dated. aInterlined above. bFollowed by “x.” cFollowed by check mark. dFollowed by canceled mark. eLine drawn around following two sentences to designate as encompassing “Des 1.” fObscured overwritten letter. gLine drawn around following two sentences to designate as encompassing “Des 2.” hDocument damaged.
1. Text is “iron tube.”
2. A measured drawing of this device was made by John Kruesi the same day (NS-78–004, Lab. [TAEM 7:801]). This appears to be an attempt to use the electromotograph principle in a telephone receiver circuit. An electromotograph testing device with a similar group of metals (it has brass but no cadmium or iron) is owned by Charles Hummel.
3. Text is “Resonant Case,” “plumbago paper or cloth,” and “guards to keep paper or cloth on.” Edison also drew other microphone designs on 19 June. Vol. 14:129, Lab. (TAEM 4:285).
4. Text is “platinum spiral Red hot” and “Hydrogen & Oxygen.” This and the following drawing are alternative designs for Edison’s aerophone. Charles Batchelor made a measured drawing for an aerophone the same day (NS-78–002, Lab. [TAEM 7:757]), and two days later, Edison drew an idea for a telephone worked by compressed air like an aerophone (Vol. 14:138, Lab. [TAEM 4:295]). Page 356
Edison’s design for an aerophone telephone.
5. Text is “clockwork,” “oxygen,” and “Hydrogen.”
6. Text is “Listen.”
Technical Note: Telephony
[Menlo Park,] June 23 1878
Telephone
E.M.G 1
EMG
Expansion & contraction of cylinders in an Electric field They are connected to a diaphragm & serve to give motion to it= Page 357
Multiple Aluminum Platina polarizers for telephone ckts=2
X, NjWOE, Lab., Vol. 14:136 (TAEM 4:293).
Edison drew on his summer 1876 electromotograph designs for this telephone receiver design.
1. On 19 June the laboratory staff first returned to the use of an electromotograph receiver when Batchelor drew a circuit arrangement employing one with instructions to “try it this way first.” These first designs used the wet-paper electromotograph receiver of 1877, but on 29 June, Edison drew receivers incorporating an electromotograph in which a needle pressed on a chalk cylinder similar to designs from summer 1876. Vol. 14:128, 139–40, Lab. (TAEM 4:284, 296–97); Docs. 781, 784, 787, 792, 873, 888–89, 918, 917, 932, 962, 973, and 980; see also a 23 November 1877 design shown in Prescott 1879, 549–50 (fig. 286).
A November 1877 electromotograph receiver.
2. Two days earlier Edison had designed another “Apparatus for Polarizing a Telephone line.” An account entry for this apparatus is dated 28 June. Vol. 14:134 and NS-78–001, both Lab. (TAEM 4:291, 7:723); Cat. 1185:231, Accts. ( TAEM 22:660).
Technical Note: Tasimeter
[Menlo Park,] June 23 18781
Some experiments with vulcanized hard rubber in the tasimeter 2 Page 358
Paper2 soaked in oil mirbane & held within ½ of inch from strip causes g[alvanometer] to deflect from 45 to 47 (note O Mirbane softens hard rubber in 3 weeks)
Creosote, d[itt]o from 45 to 46½
Carbolic Acid, no effect
Benzine, Contracts owing to cold produced by evaporation
Cyanide Potassiumb expands it from 45 to 47
Chloral Hydrate on end glass rod makes it go up ½ degree
Tungstate Soda end glass rod 1 deg— tried it after being exposed to air 20 minutes so it must be at same temperature
X, NjWOE, Lab., NS-78–009 (TAEM 7:893). aObscured overwritten letter. bUnderlined twice.
1. These experiments were apparently made with the original tasimeter arrangement (Doc. 1316). Though Edison had designed a new tasimeter arrangement in May and a measured drawing of the design had been made on 12 June, the first instrument was not finished until 25 June. This was sent to astronomer Charles Young at Princeton. The one Edison took with him to Rawlins, Wyo., was finished on 11 July, two days before he left. Docs. 1316, 1329, and 1401; Batchelor to Kruesi, n.d., NS-78–009, Lab. (TAEM 7:895).
2. Text is “1 Callaud” and “Brad[ley] telg 2-e No 3 coil.” A 10 July note indicates that the laboratory staff was planning some experiments that replaced the rubber with other materials, including aluminum, cadmium, copper, german silver, iron, nickel, lead, silver, zinc, platinum, and mica. NS-78–009, Lab. (TAEM 7:894).
To George Gouraud
[Menlo Park,] June 24 1878a
My dear Gouraud
I see by “Iron” that Mr W. H. Preece appears in the lists of patentees as an inventor of [a?]b Telephones;1 You might see Brewer and Jensen Chancery Lane, and get an abstract of his provisional specification= I might give you some information and then you could give me a copy= Bailey= B appears to be a smart fellow but a diplomat 2 For the life of me (notwithstanding Popes letter)3 I cannot see what Gray has in England= You will see by Pope’s letter that he claims that Bells patent is no good If it is Grays aint any good because Grays is precisely like Bells except put in a different shape= They may talk and blow about the working of the Gray Telephone, but Bells is better and Bells will work any where that Grays will and many places where it will not= Preece If the [receiver?]1 ’ is free nothing can touch us in England= No matter how many telephones come out there my complete apparatus will give more satisfaction, last longer and can be sold cheaper—besides it will work where no other telephone can work= We have greatly improved them since Adams left and the 6 that wec are going to send you will if the sea air dont hurt them prove perfectly satisfactory= My telephones unlike any other cannot be demagnetized by lightning= Preece has undoubtedly played a fine game with Adams; Adams writes that he has had no show, and that he thinks Preece is hostile to our telephone, underground wires have been given him at all times, he has had no assistance4 My opinion is that nothing can be done with the Post office pirates.
Remember that the phonograph & Telephone is in one patent. Hence I had to make the contract with Nottage in the form of a Licence. With the telephone the same arrangement will have to be made= The parties make a contract with me for [arranging?]6 the sale and exclusive right during the life of the patent to make and sell telephones= I will have a copy of Nottages contract made and sent you so you will see the nature of the contract that must be made with other [parties on telephones?]d I send you a provisional power of attorney= which will serve your purpose for a while=
I have written Adams to do what you require do not let him go near the P.O. people= See if you can get Clarke5 or some one to set the Hughes steal right before the Society of Telegraph Engineers, or through the columns of some paper= I am preparing a pamphlet in which the whole steal is exposed= Page 360
Puskas never writes me; But you better see him He is a good fellow nevertheless= Is Nottage making any money6 exhibiting receipts here so far $13 000. clear profit. & thats only 25 per cent of what was taken in at the doors= I will take $5000 for ⅕ of my interest in phonographs in England. My new phonograph patent there is secure and will be a clear one & voluminous7 I may in the course of time take out others= The Toy talking Box here is a success We have made .6. of them & they work nicely— The Toy Co proposes to sell them for $3. each if they can do it. They will sell by the thousands= The toy business I going to be immense=8
Do things up well and I will let you bring out the new things Theres lots coming In haste
10 July I will probably ship you the telephones=9
P.S. My telephone big success on Western Union Lines= 10
ENCLOSURE
I Thomas A Edison of Menlo Park state of New Jersey U.S.A. do hereby appoint Col George E Gouraud of London England my agent for negotiating a contract to cover the sale and exclusive licence to make and sell my Speaking Telephones in Great Britain.
ALS (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Lbk. 3:300 (TAEM 28:744). aDate written in pencil, rest of letter in ink. bObscured overwritten letters. cFaint copy.dCanceled.
1. The 8 June 1878 issue of Iron (11:723) identified William Preece as having filed for British Patent 2, 202 (1878). Preece’s amplifying receiver consisted of a polarized relay which, when actuated by current from the transmitter, conveyed its vibrating motion through a rigid wire to a diaphragm stretched across the narrow end of a conical tube. Although the receiver could be connected with any transmitter, “the patentee proposes in general to use the instrument known as Hughes’ microphone.” “Preece’s Improvements in Telephones,” The English Mechanic, Cat. 1241, item 1112, Batchelor (TAEM 94:453); reprinted in Sct. Am. Supp. 7 (15 Feb. 1879): 2591.
2. See Doc. 1349 n. 2.
3. Gouraud had apparently seen Franklin Pope’s 22 March letter to William Preece, which discussed Elisha Gray’s claims to priority on the telephone and asserted that Gray’s English patent would stand against Bell’s (WHP).
4. This letter has not been found. However, in a 19 June letter to Charles Batchelor, Adams reiterated that he had been “depending on Page 361 him [Preece] for wires and assistance to carry out my experiments.” DF (TAEM 15:806).
5. Edison probably meant Josiah Latimer Clark.
6. On 25 June, Gouraud wrote to Edison regarding the phonograph, “I am afraid Nottage is not making the most of his material” (DF [TAEM 15:847]). Press reports available to Edison indicated many exhibitions were being held; for example, a clipping apparently from the Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review of 15 June 1878 states, “The phonograph is being exhibited daily in action at the various establishments of the London Stereoscopic Company, who are sole licensees of Mr. Edison’s patent” (Cat. 1030:18, Scraps. [TAEM 25:265]).
7. The preliminary specification for Edison’s British Patent 1, 644 (1878), covering phonograph developments, had been filed on 24 April. The full specification, filed in October, was very similar to Doc. 1341.
8. On 6 July, Charles Harris reported to Edison that “Numerous experiments have been made to perfect the Phonograph for toys &c, but (as you are aware) without complete success as yet. therefor there has not been any sales.” This state of affairs continued through the summer. Harris to TAE, 6 July, 6 Aug., and 14 Sept. 1878, DF ( TAEM 19:95, 103, 118); see also Doc. 1321 n. 2.
9. On 8 August, Edison sent two boxes, each containing four complete sets of telephones, by which time Gouraud had sent several anxious inquiries. TAE to Gouraud, 8 Aug. 1878, Lbk. 3:334 (TAEM 28:775); Gouraud to TAE, 25 June, 15 and 31 July, and 2 Aug. 1878, all DF (TAEM 19:847, 872, 884).
10. In a telegram dated only June, George Walker reported: “We are working your transmitter to our twenty third street of[fice]s over heavy induction and speaking in a low tone to the entire satisfaction of Mr Prescott and myself.” DF (TAEM 19:733).
To the Editor of the Scientific American
[Menlo Park,] June 24, 781
To The Editor of the Scientific American
In reply to the communication of Messrs Pitt and Dopp 2 which appeared in your issue of June 29th under the heading of “The Microphone” I wish to say that had the above named gentlemen read carefully what I have said in regard to the variation in the electric conductivity of carbon and other semi-conductors when subjected to pressure, they would have saved themselves the trouble of writing you. I stated, and proved nearly two years ago that conductors of electricity when finely divided and moulded in the form of buttons varied their resistance by pressure and subsequently3 that the whole effect was due to surface contact and not to intermolecular action. Mr M Richards, of the Colt Arms Co3 also came to the same conclusion over [a year]b ago. The explanation offered by Prof Hughes [which]b your correspondents referred Page 362 to is capable [of being]b shown as absurd, and only tends to prove [that]b he did not gain his information by experimental research but simply by piracy Respectfully
ALS (letterpress copy), NjWOE, Lbk. 3:298 (TAEM 28:743). aInterlined above. bFaint copy; text from printed letter.
1. This letter appeared in the 13 July 1878 issue of Scientific American (39:20). Cat. 1240, item 729, Batchelor (TAEM 94:255).
2. The letter from W. H. Pitt and W. H. Dopp, of the Central School Laboratory in Buffalo, New York, was published in the 29 June issue of Scientific American (38:404).
3. Edison meant Charles Richards (see Doc. 1045 n. 3). In July, Edison told a reporter for the New York World that he had just received a letter from “Mr. Bradford, of the Colt’s Fire-Arms Works, in Hartford, in which he says he made experiments in 1877 to determine if the variation in the electrical conductivity of graphite under change of pressure is due to changes in the interior of the material or to variations of the battery contacts. He found that it was the latter—that is, the changes were all on the surface” (“Edison’s Anger Excited,” New York World, 9 July 1878, 1).
To the Editor of the New York Daily Tribune
Menlo Park, N.J., June 26, 1878.1a
Sir:
In reply to the card of Messrs. Preece and Hughes, regarding the piracy by the latter of my carbon telephone,2 as contained in your paper of this date, allow me to refute their statements by their own words, and by extracts from the English scientific papers. I quote from their card:
Hughes has not brought out any thermopile.”
W. H. Preece.
I emphatically indorse every word of the above message.
D. E. Hughes.
From the Engineer, May 17, 1878.
Professor D. E. Hughes’s telephone, microphone, and thermopile— * * * A discovery not made till after Professor Hughes’s paper was read before the Royal Society, points out another field of usefulness for this instrument. We all know what excellent service the thermopile has done in the hands of Professor Tyndall and other investigators of heat, but we think we may safely describe another kind of thermopile, as sensitive and far less complicated, less difficult to construct and less expensive than that compounded of zinc and antimony in the usual fashion. Page 363 Instead of the glass tube as described, Professor Hughes was experimenting with a quill, and found that the instrument was exceedingly sensitive to heat. On the approach of a warm hand the galvanometer needle swings violently in one direction; on cooling the tube swings in the other.
Again I quote from the article on the telephone and phonograph from The Washington Star, April 19, 1878:3
My carbon telephone may be used as a heat measurer (thermopile). It will detect the 50,000th part of a degree Fahrenheit, etc
This paper was mailed to Mr. Preece April 20, 1878, and I prove that he received it by quoting from the same article the following:
The phonograph will preserve the exact pronunciation. The president of the Philological Society means to travel with it amongst all the North American tribes.
I quote from a lecture delivered by Mr. Preece before the Society of Arts, May 10, 1878, and published in their journal, page 537:
The phonograph will preserve the exact pronunciation. The president of the Philological Society means to travel with it amongst all the North American tribes.
To set at rest the claims of Hughes on this subject, I quote from a letter received by me a short time since from Professor Langley,4 the eminent astronomer:
Allegheny Observatory, June 4, 1878.
In response to your inquiry, I may state that, to the best of my recollection, in October, 1877, at your laboratory in Menlo Park, on my telling you that an instrument more sensitive to radiant heat than the bismuth-antimony linear pile was desired by me for certain researches in the spectrum, you suggested the use of carbon, of which you were showing Professor Barker and myself specimens. As well as I remember, the idea you gave me was that the common small thermopile was capable of developing little energy. The variation of resistance of the carbon under the influence of pressure or traction from a small heated adjacent body might be made to control the energy of a Page 364 battery of any size, and thus multiply the sensitiveness of the pile almost without limit.
Mr. Preece, in his card, says:
His (Hughes’s) microphone is quite a different instrument to Edison’s telephone.
Hughes, in his original paper of May 8, 1878, after summing up the labors of others, says:
It will be seen, however, that in the experiments made by myself, the diaphragm has been altogether discarded, resting as it does upon the changes produced by molecular action, and that the variation in the strengths of the current flowing are produced simply and solely by the direct effect of its sonorous vibrations.
I quote from The Journal of the Telegraph, April 16, 1878 (of which paper Mr. Preece is a subscriber), an article taken from the proof sheets of Mr. Prescott’s book on the telephone and phonograph, which reads as follows:
In the latest form of transmitter which Mr. Edison has introduced, the vibrating diaphragm is done away with altogether.
From this book, which is now published, I quote from page 226:
I (Edison) discovered that my principle, unlike all other acoustical devices for the transmission of speech, did not require any vibration of the diaphragm. That, in fact, sound waves could be transformed into electrical pulsations without the movement of any intervening mechanism.
This statement by myself, for publication in Mr. Prescott’s book, was written over four months ago.
I quote from a letter from Preece to myself dated London, May 23, 1878:5
Hughes’s doings border very closely upon yours, and it is difficult to distinguish between what you have done and what he has done.
Again, Mr. Hughes, after describing a number of experiments, sums up and says: Page 365
Carbon is used in preference to any other material.
* * * It is quite evident that these effects are due to a difference of pressure at the different points of contact.
I quote from The Journal of the Telegraph, April 16, 1878:
By constant experimenting Mr. Edison at length made the discovery that, when properly prepared, carbon possessed the remarkable property of changing its resistance with pressure, and that the ratios of these changes, moreover, corresponded exactly with the pressure.
The same discovery was published in The Scientific American of July 17, 1877, Journal of the Telegraph, July 15, 1877, Harper’s Magazine, December, 1877, and many other papers, both in this and other countries.
I quote an extract from a letter addressed to Sir Henry Thompson,6 the eminent surgeon, a copy of which was kindly sent to me by the writer:
Hotel Chatham, Paris, June 7, 1878.
My Dear Sir Henry: * * * It is certain that at the meeting of the British Association at Plymouth last September, a method of magnifying sound in an electric telephone was described as having been invented by Edison, which was identical in principle and in some details with that brought forward by Hughes.
[Signed] William Thomson.
Finally, Mr. Preece had ample knowledge, through my correspondence with him, of all I had been doing since he left America, and had my telephones in his possession at least a month before the alleged discovery by Hughes, and it is almost impossible to attribute his failure to defend me (as he was bound to do) against the piracy of Hughes, to his not understanding so simple an instrument, and the principle involved therein.
Mr. Preece says in his card of yesterday:—
I am in no way whatever a coadjutor of Hughes.
I quote from Hughes’s original paper announcing his alleged discovery:
My warmest thanks are due to Mr. W. H. Preece, electrician of the Post Office, for his appreciation of the importance of the facts I have stated, and for his kind counsel and aid in the preparation of this paper. Page 366
In closing this letter, allow me to mention that Mr. Hughes has addressed a communication to the French Academy of Sciences, in which he adds to his pirated telephone the induction coil, which I have always used in combination therewith, and which alone makes it a practical instrument, thinking perhaps that under cover of a foreign language and before a society whose proceedings are not generally known in this country, he would gain for himself the credit of this combination. He makes no mention of this all-important factor in England, where it would be at once known, and in which country it has been patented nearly a year. Yours truly,
PL, New York Daily Tribune, 27 June 1878, 5. In Cat. 1240, item 707, Batchelor ( TAEM 94:246). aPlace and date not those of publication.
1. Two drafts of Edison’s letter exist. One is in his hand and the other is a revised copy made by Stockton Griffin. The latter version is substantially the same as that which the New York Daily Tribune published on 27 June, except that Griffin left blank spaces for the long quotations; it also lacks the concluding paragraph. Edison’s letter also appeared in the New York Herald of 27 June. DF (TAEM 17:122, 116); “Edison and Hughes,” Cat. 1240, item 699, Batchelor (TAEM 94:241).
2. Earlier in the day, the Tribune’s editor, Whitelaw Reid, had wired Edison, “Card from Preece and Hughes of today requires a letter from you imperatively necessary. Can you send it soon, will send out Reporter if necessary” (DF [ TAEM 17:115]). This “card” was a cable to the New York Associated Press:
Pray give the most absolute and unqualified denial to the statements made by Edison respecting me. Hughes has not’brought out any thermopile. His microphone is quite a different instrument to Edison’s telephone. It was worked out without any communication with me or information imparted by me in any way whatever. I knew nothing of it until it was shown to me, together with Professor Huxley and Mr. Norman Lockyer. I am in no way whatever a coadjutor of Hughes. W. H. Preece [“Edison and Hughes,” New York Herald, 27 June 1878, Cat. 1240, item 699, Batchelor (TAEM 94:241)]
Hughes’s emphatic indorsement, quoted in full by Edison, followed.
Unlike other New York papers, the New York Daily Tribune had reacted temperately to the microphone controversy and did not rush to take Edison’s side. In its editorial on Edison’s 8 June letter to the editor (Doc. 1348), the Tribune stated: “It must be granted on all hands that the discoveries of Mr. Edison suggested the line of experiment which led to the microphone, and it may prove difficult to draw the exact line at which the English instrument can claim any originality. As a whole, however, it is of simpler construction than previous telephones, and it seems, according to the accounts furnished, to have more remarkable powers.” Cat. 1240, item 665, Batchelor (TAEM 94:229). Page 367
3. “National Academy of Sciences,” Cat. 1240, item 537, Batchelor (TAEM 94:171).
4. Langley had written this letter at Edison’s request (Langley to TAE, 7 and 11 June 1878, DF [TAEM 15:760, 776]). Edison replied to Langley on 13 June: “Please accept thanks for the statement. It will form an important factor in my forth-coming pamphlet which I am at present compiling— I will endeavor to show up Messrs Hughes Preece & Co in a manner, which to gentlemen will not be gratifying. This pamphlet will be soon broadcast on both sides of the ocean” (Lbk. 3:271 [TAEM 28:719]). See Docs. 1095A and 1135.
5. See Doc. 1339 n. 3. Transcriptions of this letter give its date as 22 May.
6. Sir Henry Thompson, emeritus professor of surgery and pathology at University College Hospital, London, was a noted amateur astronomer. DNB, s.v. “Thompson, Sir Henry”; see also Doc. 1347 n. 1.
To James Redpath
[Menlo Park,] June 27 78
Jas Redpath
Referring to the Palmieri1 matter—let Mr Ρ see Mr Cheever about British Guiana— 2I do not wish to change existing arrangements with Mr Ρ let him go and exhibit and not sell insts—
Please inform me when you close matters as I have other applications for that territory
L (copy), NjWOE, DF (TAEM 97:681). Written by Stockton Griffin.
1. Henry Palmieri had written Edison on 12 June, identifying himself as a “brother inventor” and asking for an agency for the phonograph. Nothing further is known about him apart from his letterhead, which identified him as connected with the Palmo Sun Shade Co. of New York. DF (TAEM 19:258).
Edison answered Palmieri on the 13th and suggested he go see Red-path, who indicated that the West Indies were the only territory still available. Redpath apparently settled on a $1,000 royalty for Palmieri to exhibit the phonograph and indicated to Edison that Palmieri also wanted to exhibit the speaking and musical telephones. Edison indicated that he would be willing to provide speaking telephones at a low price, but that he would have to see Edward Johnson about the musical telephone. Palmieri to TAE, 14 June 1878; Redpath to TAE, 17 and 22 June 1878; all DF (TAEM 19:260–61, 268); TAE to Redpath, 18 June 1878, Lbk. 3:280 (TAEM 28:728).
2. This letter is written on the back of Redpath’s letter to Edison of 22 June in which he had enclosed Palmieri’s letter regarding an agency for the West Indies. Palmieri had requested that British Guiana be included in his territory and Redpath told Edison, “Cheever suggested that it might, some time since. As I do not know who has the right of supplying the machines to go to the West Indies, I put in in that sentence Page 368 about your indicating the price of them.” On 28 June Redpath replied that “I think I had better refer Mr Palmieri to you direct. You can get 25 per ct from him. But he is an interrogation point in breeches & I can’t answer all his cunundrums about protection, patents & the like.” As there is no further correspondence with or about Palmieri, it is possible that no arrangement was finalized. DF (TAEM 97:680–81, 19:271).
NEW HAND-CRANK PHONOGRAPH Doc. 1369
This is the second of Edison’s phonograph designs to incorporate a flywheel. The flywheel used in this design was much larger and heavier than those Edison had used earlier in the year (Doc. 1166). In an April amendment to a patent application filed in March 1879, he described the reason for adopting this new flywheel.
In experimenting with my phonograph I discovered that the reproduction of the sound was imperfect if the slightest variation occurred in the speed, hence the combination with the cylinder of a very heavy fly wheel in proportion to the cylinder, rendered perfect and reliable the action of the instrument in receiving and reproducing the sound, by equalising the speed.
The “abnormally heavy fly-wheel” enabled Edison “to insure great uniformity of speed and prevent irregularity in the movement by inaccuracies of work, dust, lack of oil, or any other source of local friction or resistance.” By turning the cylinder at a uniform speed, he improved “the accuracy of reproduction, especially in musical sounds, that depend for their tone upon the number of vibrations per second.” 1
This phonograph also incorporated other improvements. It had a modified version of the “throw-out” mechanism first introduced in April. This device projected from the end of the stanchion on the side opposite the flywheel. It had a grooved face that engaged the thread of the shaft when pressed against it by the clamp. After recording, the clamp was released, which allowed the shaft to be disengaged, and when the mouthpiece was also withdrawn, the shaft and cylinder could be quickly slid, rather than turned, back to the starting position. The sound could be reproduced once the device engaged the thread on the shaft again.2 As in the first flywheel model, the mouthpiece was placed on an arm that could be swung out and away from the cylinder when changing foil or preparing to Page 369 reproduce sound. 3 Fastening the tinfoil smoothly and securely was made easier by having a bar on movable slides crimp the tinfoil firmly into a slot on the cylinder, which also simplified the foil’s removal.4
Edison had begun working on this design in May and had at least one prototype completed by early June, when Alex Pool examined a sample machine.5 Edison arranged for Pool to manufacture ten machines for forty dollars apiece and intended to order another hundred if the design proved satisfactory. They were intended for exhibition and sale in those countries where Edison retained control of the phonograph business.6 Some minor changes were made to the design while the patterns were being drawn, and at least one more feature, the modified throw-out, was incorporated into the finished machines.7 The relation between this design and the “new instrument supplied by Mr. Edison” that was exhibited in New York in June and referred to in the press as the “musical phonograph” is not certain.8 In any case, the new design differed significantly from the hand-powered phonographs then being operated in most commercial exhibitions around the country, which lacked the flywheel and other modifications.9 The phonographs were finished by 16 August and arrived at Menlo Park by 21 August, when Doc. 1369 was photographed.10
1. Although Edison described the use of the heavy flywheel in a March 1879 patent application, which issued in May 1880, he was not allowed to include it in his claims because it “did not require invention” (H. C. Townsend to TAE, 19 May 1879, Pat. App. 227, 679). The large flywheel first appears in a full-size measured drawing (later divided and damaged) of 15 May (Vol. 17:98–99, NS-Undated-004, both Lab. [TAEM 4:966–67, 8:199–200]). By the end of June, Sigmund Bergmann began including a flywheel on some of the exhibition phonographs his shop made for the company (Doc. 1419).
2. The throw-out on the finished machine matched the revised design of 23 June (Vol. 17:126, Lab. [TAEM 4:991]). In this design the grooved tooth slides to and from the shaft from the (rear) side while a collar remains unbroken around it. In previous designs the tooth was brought down to the shaft by a lever from above, which in some versions was also the top portion of the collar (see Vol. 17:75, 78, 97, Lab. [TAEM 4:942, 945, 965]); see Doc. 1310 for the original design. The earliest indication of such a projection is a drawing from 4 May; a measured drawing for the basic horizontal support piece is dated 13 May (Vol. 17:88, NS-78–007, both Lab. [TAEM 4:957, 7:874]). The general principle of using smooth journals and bearings, with the threaded portion of the shaft removed from the stanchions and otherwise engaged, was variously shown in earlier drawings; Doc. 1311 may indicate that it had already been put into practice in some way by the beginning of May. Another improvement may have been one described in the 15 July Telegraphic Page 370 Journal and Electrical Review: “Edison has improved the phonograph so that if spoken to at a distance of 13 feet it will intelligibly reproduce the speech. This increased sensitiveness is largely due to steel bearings having been supplied to the cylinder, so as to give it unvarying uniformity of motion” (Cat. 1030:20, Scraps [ TAEM 25:266]).
The 23 June design for the throw-out mechanism.
The crimp-bar connections Edison designed on 10 May.
3. The particular shape of the arm on this machine, like that of the stanchions, does not match that on any other known phonograph. A measured drawing for the stanchions is on the back of a 3 April 1878 telephone design. Vol. 14:81, Lab. (TAEM 4:225).
4. This crimping arrangement first appeared in a drawing of 10 May (NS-78–007, Lab. [ TAEM 7:873]). Edison also considered several alternative designs (Docs. 1310 and 1341; Vol. 17:85–87, 105–6, 110–11, Lab. [TAEM 4:954–56, 972–73, 977–78]).
5. Early in May, Edison told Theodore Puskas he intended to make a new type of hand-powered phonograph and two weeks later indicated that he was making such machine. An account record for the “New Hand Phonograph” was begun on 20 May. Docs. 1317 and 1332; Cat. 1185:61, 202, Accts. (TAEM 22:637, 647).
Alex Pool & Co. was a Newark machine shop that manufactured to order various small products such as patented machinery and special tools. It was one of several shops responding to word that Edison was considering an order of one hundred phonographs. Edward Bullard to TAE, 17 May 1878; James Partrick to TAE, 21 May 1878; Pool & Co. to TAE, 5 June 1878; V. H. Ernst to TAE, 14 June 1878; Hope Machine Works to TAE, 27 June 1878; all DF (TAEM 19:68, 72, 80, 87, 90).
6. See, e.g., Doc. 1372.
7. Modifications to the mouthpiece were mentioned by Edison in a 14 June letter to Pool & Co. (Lbk. 3:273 [TAEM 28:721]) before all the patterns were sent, and the throw-out used in this phonograph first appears in a measured drawing of 23 June (Vol. 17:126, Lab. [TAEM 4:991]). The ten phonographs manufactured by Pool & Co. also differed from the original prototype in using brass rather than steel for some of the nuts as well as a less expensive grade of steel for the shaft. Some changes were apparently made just before Edison told a reporter on 8 July that he had finished a new phonograph the night before
and everybody in Menlo Park came in and sat until 1 o’clock in the morning listening to it. It is perfect in its construction and its singing is delightful. You should hear it give music backwards. We get lots of new tunes that way. I’ve sent it to Newark [presumably to Pool], and, if they can make any as good as it, I’m going to have a hundred. [“Edison’s Anger Excited,” New York World, 9 July 1878, 1]
Pool & Co. also reported on 18 July that they had “received again the sample Phonograph.” TAE to Pool & Co., 10 and 11 June 1878, Lbk. 3:261, 265 ( TAEM 28:710, 714); Pool & Co. to TAE, 5 and 10 June 1878; Pool & Co. to Batchelor, 18 July 1878; all DF (TAEM 19:80, 85, 98).
8. Edison, rather than Edward Johnson or others in the phonograph company, provided a machine on 3 June (apparently from Menlo Park) for a company-arranged exhibition concert that opened that evening at Page 371 Irving Hall in New York. That phonograph apparently reproduced complex music more accurately than any previous machine. Stockton Griffin to Charles Cheever, 3 June 1878, DF (TAEM 19:79); exhibition ticket and reception invitation, Edison Speaking Speaking Phonograph Co., PPC (TAEM 96:518); “The Phonograph Wins a Victory,” Set. Am., 22 June 1878, Cat. 1030:28, Scraps. (TAEM 25:271); “The Musical Phonograph,” New York Herald, reprinted in Set. Am., 38 (1878): 405; also cf. “Edison.” The Chicago Tribune, 12 July 1878, 3.
An advertising flyer for the final concerts in the exhibition series asserted:
The Phonograph used at these Exhibitions embodies the latest improvements made by Mr. Edison, and clearly demonstrates that under his wonderfully fertile brain and persistent energy this—his most marvelous invention—is rapidly approaching perfection in all its detail, thus substantiating the claim that human speech may henceforth be permanently retained. [CR (TAEM 96:518)]
9. For accounts of phonographs then being exhibited see “The Phonograph,” Toledo Blade, 15 May 1878; “The Modern Miracle,” Chicago Evening Journal, 21 May 1878; and “Edison’s Phonograph,” San Francisco Chronicle, 28 May 1878; Cat. 1029:59, 99, 136, Scraps. ( TAEM 25:190, 214, 233); cf. Docs. 1276 n. 1 and 1397 n. 1.
10. Pool & Co. notified Batchelor on 8 August that the first phonograph was “completed & ready for your inspection— we have proved it & find it works well— please call & examine.” Batchelor apparently visited the Pool & Co. shop by 15 August, when he recorded the decision to move the threaded part of the throw-out from the back of the shaft to the bottom. The machines were ready the next day and were probably at Menlo Park by 18 August, when Batchelor listed five items “To be altered from Pool & Co Model.” These included bearings of “antifriction metal” in adjustable housings and a new mounting for the mouthpiece. He also considered sliding the shaft through a sleeve in the cylinder and attaching it with screws. The Deutsches Museum in Munich has a machine with those modifications on a base from the 1880s. Pool & Co. to Batchelor, 8 and 16 Aug. 1878, DF (TAEM 19:104, 106); Vol 17:132, 135–38, Lab. (TAEM 4:996, 999–1002); Deutsches Museum Inventory No. 2463.
This hand phonograph, with shaft, cylinder, and flywheel as in the June design, includes modifications decided upon in August.
Production Model: Phonograph1
[Menlo Park, June 1878?]
M (historic photographs), NjWOE, Album 76.015, p. 13.
1. See headnote above.
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
Buy This Book in Print