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Endless Marvels of tlie Phonograph.(New York Stm.lI Th:e writer visited Menlo Park, New Jersey, on Saturday, to chat with Prof. Thomas A. Edison. Mr. - Edison** manufactory stands forty rods wiest of tfie depot. The building is a long Wooden structure. Nine lightning-rods pjerce the sky above it. , The writer] entered* A man sat at a table studying a mechanical drawing. An inquiry for Mr. Edison drew from him the words: “ Go right up stairs, and you*li find him singing into some instrument.”The stairs were climbed, and the writer stepped into a long room forming the second story. It was an immense laboratory, filled with electrical instruments.; A thousand jars of chemicals wdre ranged against the wa’ls. Prof. Edison was seated at a table near the center of the room. He looked like anything but a professor, and reminded me of a boy apprentice to an iron-mojder. His hands were grimy with soot and oil; his straight dark hair stood nine ways for Sunday; his faee was entirely beardless bdt sadly needed shaving; hjs black clothes were seedy, his shirt dirty and collar less, and his shoes ridged with red Jersey mud; but the fire of genius Shane lb his keen gray eye and the clear ciit nostrils and hroadi forehwia tntttrratcd strong mental activity. He seemed to be always lookingjfor something of great value,, and to be just on the; point of finding it. Unfortunately he is quite deaf, but this infirmity seems to increase his affability and playful boyishness. A man of common sqnse woqld feel at hdma with him in a impute ;j but a snob or prig would be sadl-y out of place. Though but thirty-one jyears old, the occasional gleam of a silvery hair tells the story of his application. :The Professor was manipulating a machine upon the table before him. He had; something resembling a gutita percjha mouthpiece of a speaking-tube shoyecL against a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil, which he turned with a crank. The Small end of a tin, funnel was clapped .t over the mouthpiece, aiid strange Ventriloquial sounds were issuing from it. He shook hands, and pointing to the instrument said: “ This as my ^peaking phonograph. Hid you ever jsee it and hear it talk?”The reply was a negative. Thereupon
Newspaper Details
Angelica Advertiser
Angelica, New York, US
Wed, Mar 28, 1877
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Kyle G.
USA 08 Mar 2024
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