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Show Invention Edison Valued Most Megaphone, the Wizard Eelieved. Would Ee More Profitable to Him Financially Than Talking Machine, Ma-chine, Gut Was Deceived. Recently 1 toid the story of the late Charles A. Dana's doubt of Edison's good faith in claiming that he had in-Vented in-Vented a talking machine after the late Amos J. Cummings and myself had reported to Mr. Dana that Edison had demonstrated the machine to us, even going so far as to m?ke it reproduce Mr. Cummings' own voice, inflection and all, with distinction. After he had shown us the talking machine, explained its mechanism and made it perform for us, Mr. Edison went on to say that he got the idea for the machine while he was at work perfecting his microphone transmitter, extensively employed in the earlier telephones. "One invention almost invariably suggests another," he went on. "Ail sorts of notions came to me while I was working out this talking machine. One of them you will see in that big funnel up there." He pointed to a shelf upon which rested, or hung, a curious-looking object resembling a gigantic gi-gantic funnel of about tall man height. 'And I'm inclined to think," be went on, "that there's going to be more profit in that thing than in this talking machine here. I have about made up my mind that I won't work on anything unless it seems to me to have some commercial practicability. I can make hundreds of toys, but any fellow with a little ingenuity and patience pa-tience can do that. Maybe this talking talk-ing machine is going to be not much more than a toy, after all, but that thing over there well, I'll show you how it works." He called two of his assistants to his side and directed them to take their station on the crown of a hill about half a mile away. While they were doing so, Mr. Edi-eon Edi-eon had the big funnel shaped thing taken out in front of his shop. Then, when the men had posted themselves on the hill and stood facing us, an assistant, as-sistant, getting under the big end of the funnel, hp'id it up while Edison called through the other end. From time to time the men upon the hill made gestures to indicate that they had heard and understood what Edison Edi-son was saying. Finally, Edison beckoned beck-oned to taem to report in, and when they had done so they repeated practically practi-cally word for word what we had heard their employer say to them j through the funnel. Mr. Cummings and I were almost as much astonished over this demonstration demonstra-tion as we had previously been over the talking machine. "What do you call the thing?" I asked Mr. Edison. "Well, it makes a big sound, and I think I'll call it the mogaphone," replied re-plied Mr. Edison. "As'l have already told you, I sometimes think there will be a great deal more in it for me financially than in the talking machine. ma-chine. It wiil be a great thing on ships; with its aid one ship at a distance dis-tance can hail another ship easily, and a captain can shout his orders clearly and distinctly through it to the uttermost utter-most ends of his vessel. It can be used on land, also, for conversing at great distances. In short, this megaphone mega-phone of mine enlarges the zone of action of the human voice, and for this reason I am inclined to think at times that it will be a more profitable invention than the talking machine. You have seen what it can do, and it does it just as easy as rolling off a log." 1 presume that this was the first public demonstration of the Edison invention that has passed into universal univer-sal use under the name megaphone a contribution of human progress that has brought its father cents where the phonograph has added to his wealth by the hundred thousands of dollars. (Copyright, 1910, by E. J. Edwards. All Rights Reserved.) |