Edison Phonograph 1878
'the greatest invention of the present century'
Remarkably, within a year of Edison's invention of the phonograph, this new technology was on view in Jamaica.
"Of all my inventions, I like the phonograph best." Thomas Edison
'the greatest invention of the present century'
Remarkably, within a year of Edison's invention of the phonograph, this new technology was on view in Jamaica.
"Of all my inventions, I like the phonograph best." Thomas Edison
In a forgotten moment of Jamaican history, an equally forgotten American actor introduced Jamaicans to the most recent and remarkable development in 19th century technology. They were already familiar with the steam engine - at sea, on rails, on the road and in the sugar mill - and more recently with the electric telegraph; but Will E. Chapman demonstrated something previously impossible - recording and reproduction of the human voice.
Will E. Chapman, an actor, comedian and writer, wrote the play 'The New Detective' to show the possibilities of the phonograph and took it on tour in the USA in 1878. I have found little information on Chapman and any possible link with Edison. Possibly the play did not do as well as hoped, and late in the year he embarked on a tour of the Caribbean, starting it would seem in Jamaica, since the 'Claribel' on which he arrived in Kingston, had sailed from New York. So far I have found nothing further on Chapman's career.
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Daily Gleaner, November 30, 1878
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[It is not entirely clear that Edison received a medal at the 1878 Paris Exposition, as there was apparently some problem about his actually having the phonograph entered at the Exposition; nevertheless the new technology clearly made an impact.]
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Daily Gleaner, December 7, 1878
Mr. Chapman's exhibition of the phonograph is to take place this evening. The entertainment will be commenced by a short lecture, explaining the operation of the phonograph and of the scientific principles on which its construction is founded. After this, the powers of the instrument will be illustrated practically. This great invention, like most of the productions of genius, is marvellously simple, and the people who go to see it this evening will probably be as much astonished at this characteristic, as by the wonderful things it is capable of doing. A speech, a song, a piece of music - anything, which has been phonographed, can be preserved for an absolutely indefinite period, and then, by being operated upon in the instrument can be reproduced. If some philosopher of antiquity had invented the phonograph, we might now be able to hear Æschines, Demosthenes or Cicero, by simply turning a crank. Mr. Chapman's talent as a character artist will enable him to make his exhibition of the phonograph not only instructive, but highly amusing. |
Daily Gleaner, December 9, 1878
THE PHONOGRAPH. In consequence of the disgraceful state of the Theatre Royal. The rain having poured in on the North side every seat on that side of the Dress Circle, being thoroughly wet, Mr. W. E. Chapman reluctantly postponed the Exhibition of Mr. Edison's Marvelous Invention until Tuesday night, when weather permitting, the entertainment will take place. The Municipality will, we trust, at once set artisans on the roof to repair the leaks; for should an audience be assembled and it happens to rain, the loss will be large; for dearly they will have to pay for the damage done to ladies' dresses. A message was sent to his Excellency the Governor through the telephone intimating the postponement of the exhibition till Tuesday, to which his Excellency replied, acquiescing in the arrangement. Daily Gleaner, December 10, 1878 Mr. Chapman's exhibition of the phonograph, postponed last Saturday, on account of the rain, will take place this evening. |
'A demonstration of recording on a tinfoil phonograph, as invented by Edison in 1877. The phonograph seen here is an exact replica of an all-brass exhibition machine as made by Bergmann in late 1878. This replica was built by the late Bill Ptacek. It's a massive phonograph, weighing 125 pounds.'
This must be pretty much what people in Kingston saw and heard just before Christmas 1878. ['Mary had a little lamb' is said to be the first thing Edison himself recorded on his newly created phonograph.] The exhibition of the incredible new technology proceeded successfully, in spite of the inadequacies of the roof of the Theatre Royal. The reluctance of some church-goers to visit the theatre, even for such a respectable purpose, was overcome by putting on a programme at the Mico.
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Daily Gleaner, December 11, 1878
THE EXHIBITION OF THE PHONOGRAPH. Mr. Will. E. Chapman, according to announcement, exhibited the phonograph at the Theatre Royal, yesterday evening. The house was well filled by a very respectable audience. His Excellency the Governor, Hon E. H. Walker and General Mann were present. The entertainment was begun by Mr. Chapman's reciting a humorous piece entitled "The Stranger"; after which Mr. E. Tudor recited "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and then Mr. Chapman appeared in costume as "The Vagabond." His performance of this part was an admirable piece of acting and received the vigorous applause of the audience. The phonograph itself was then brought forward, and its construction and modus operandi were briefly and lucidly explained by the exhibitor. The instrument is very simply constructed. It consists of a cylinder of brass, about four or five inches in length and something less in diameter, spirally grooved, which is rotated by turning handle, at one end of its axis. The other end of the axis of the cylinder has grooves exactly corresponding to the grooves on the cylinder. Above the cylinder is an adjustment for holding a needle. The needle is in the centre of a metal diaphragm and the diaphragm is fixed in a small framework on the end of a moveable armature, so arranged that the needle can be placed in contact with the cylinder or rather with the tin foil which is wrapped around the cylinder, and on which the registrations are made. By turning the handle spoken of, the cylinder is rotated, and the spiral grooves on one end of its axis, cause the cylinder to travel in its frame-work to the right or to the left according as the handle is turned forward or backward. - When it is desired to phonograph a number of words, a piece of tin foil is wrapped about the cylinder; the needle is adjusted in contact with the foil; a mouthpiece screwed into the framework of the diaphragm, the words are spoken in a loud tone into the mouthpiece, and at the same time the cylinder is rotated by turning the handle. diaphragm. The vibrations of the voice are communicated to the diaphragm which moves the needle, and as the needle moves it indents the tin foil. It is thus that the sounds are registered. They are reproduced by a reversal of the process. The cylinder is turned the other way, and each indentation of the tin foil as it meets the needle, gives to the needle the same movement that it (the needle) had when it made the indentation; the diaphragm is in turn thrown into the same state of vibration that it was in when it moved the needle; and as that state of vibration corresponded to the sound communicated through the mouthpiece, it follows that that sound must, by this reversed process, be reproduced. Mr. Chapman began his illustrations, by saluting the instrument thus "Hilloa, Mister phonograph, how do you do?'' He then turned the handle the other way, and the words came out pretty distinctly, but in a low tone. Still the effect of hearing a man's voice reproduced in such a marvelous way was startling, and the audience greeted this first manifestation with loud applause. The second experiment was better, Mary had a little corn, Upon her little toe. And every place that Mary went That corn was sure to go. was repeated by the instrument with astonishing fidelity; every emphasis and inflection being correctly reproduced. The only difference between Mr. Chapman's voice and the phonograph's imitation of it, seemed to be in the quality and volume of the tone; in otber respects the reproduction seemed to be exact. And so the exhibition went on until about a quarter to ten; Mr. Chapman producing more startling effects at nearly every successive experiment. Miss Florence Ellis' "Tom Cat's lament," did not come out very well. A cornet player from the orchestra, played a few bars from "Yankee Doodle" into the instrument, and the music was correctly brought out. He also played a few bars from "Britannia the Pride of the Ocean," but the imitation was not so good. Mr. Chapman explained that it was necessary that the foils should be kept perfectly dry and that he had found it very difficult to keep them so in weather like that of the last few days. "I had been tempted he said "to get water proof cloaks for them, having kept them in the Theatre." It took the audience a few moments to realize the significance of Mr. Chapman's quiet remark, and when they did so, they applauded it lustily. The performance was evidently enjoyed by all present. Mr. Chaprnan has a peculiarly attractive style as a lecturer - if that term may be employed to designate the capacity in which he appeared last night, and none of the slight derangements which occurred from time to time caused him any embarrassment. He kept the audience continually interested, either by the operations of the instrument, or by his pleasantry. An invitation to visit Spanish Town, an invitation to give a representation in a private hall here, from clergymen and others who have religious scruples about visiting a theatre, and another invitation to visit Santiago de Cuba have induced Mr. Chapman to postpone his projected departure by the next steamer. He will give another performance in a hall in this city on tomorrow evening, |
It is perhaps, however, not surprising that some people did not believe their ears when they seemed to hear human voices proceeding from a machine. For us, who have had over a hundred years of human voices on telephones, records, radios, tapes and discs, and films and television, there is nothing unlikely about a human voice coming out of a machine, but for our ancestors of the 1870s this was something entirely new and probably impossible to believe. Recorded music was perhaps less unbelievable, since musical boxes had been around since the 18th century, and in the late 1870s a hand-operated music machine, the organette/orguinette/roller organ, was being introduced, which used paper sheets or rolls, cardboard disks, or pinned wooden cylinders to reproduce recorded music; this was a forerunner of the gramophone. As was the Polyphone, introduced in the 1890s (or may be earlier) which was a music box which played metal discs and looked in some versions like the later gramophone. But the human voice was different, and was being reproduced for the first time in recorded history, about the same time that the telephone was transmitting the human voice across space. Although both these technologies took some time to develop, by the 1890s they were becoming a virtual commonplace in many places, including Jamaica.
Because of scepticism about the sound of a human voice emerging from a machine, further attempts were made to convince those sceptics:
Daily Gleaner, December 12, 1878
PHONOGRAPH. We give publicity to the following certificate addressed to Mr. Chapman in consequence of very many persons yesterday, asserting that Mr Chapman was a clever ventriloquist, and that the words were not reproduced by the machine. Mr. Chapman allowed the gentlemen to examine the machine thoroughly and reproduced their voices. An exhibition of this marvellous invention will take place at the Mico Institution tonight, Mr. Martin having very kindly loaned the room for the occasion. The exhibition is under the distinguished patronage of Lady Musgrave who will honor Mr. Chapman by her presence. This will enable the clergy and parties having scruples about visiting the theatre, an opportunity to hear the wonder of the 19th century. Its success at the theatre on Tuesday evening, will be sufficient inducement to crowd the Mico. The Box Sheet will be opened at 10 o'clock this morning, for reserved seats at this office: W. E. Chapman, Esq. Sir, - We, the undersigned, beg to assure you that after the exhibition of the phonograph yesterday, we hereby certify that the voices we were permitted to throw into machine were accurately reproduced, and that we consider it a marvellous invention. J. P. DaCOSTA G. C. H. LEWIS J. J. G. LEWIS DAN. E. DaCOSTA Daily Gleaner, December 16, 1878 A committee of scientific gentlemen, the Hon. Col. Hackett, commanding the forces in this island and Dr Allan of the Lunatic Asylum, among the number, are so pleased with the extraordinary character of Professor Edison's Phonograph and what it has been doing in Jamaica, that they have urged its more public exhibition, that every family in Kingston may aee it. Arrangements has been accordingly made for Professor Chapman's doing this at Wallack's Gallery of Illustration, which will be available for the purpose during race week. Thousands will now have an opportunity of witnessing the most wonderful discovery of the age. |
Daily Gleaner, December 18, 1878
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The long advertisement set out in considerable detail the significance of this new invention:
Prof. Edison's Phonograph
The Most Wonderful Discovery of the Nineteenth Century By which sound is materialized - Permanently Recorded - Locked up in Metal - Preserved for ages, and may be transmitted in a letter to any part of the World. A Grand Public Exhibition of this almost incomprehensible Machine, The Phonograph which will speak, laugh, sing, whistle, scream, sneeze, groan, shout, call in the actual and recognizable tone of the original speaker or performer. Professor Chapman OF NEW YORK, Having exhibited this Instrument before a number of scientific gentlemen in this island, who at the solicitation of the respective assemblages personally inspected the Instrument and its working, we have the authority of Dr. Allen for stating on behalf of this Committee of which he was one - that
☞The Phonograph is a genuine reality perfectly capable of performing all that is said of it, and that he regards it without exception, the most wonderful discovery and invention of the present century, and it is absolutely impossible to say to what uses it may not yet be applied or to what it may not yet develop itself. Every man, woman and child ought to see it and hear it, for [it] is almost an impossibility to realize its capabilities. Daily Exhibition
During the Race Week AT THE Gallery of Illustration In East Harbour Street, nearly opposite the General Post Office and Court House,
UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF A COMMITTEE The Hon Cl. Hackett - Commander of the Forces Dr. Thomas Allen - Lunatic Asylum. William Lee, Esq., J. P. - Member Municipal Board Joseph Reid, Esq., - St. Catherine. Programme
I. Professor Chapman will explain the Phonograph, its construction, its uses, its capabilities. II. Exhibition of Illustrations - how the voice is caught - Sterotyped - and reproduced. III. How the voice may be folded up and transmitted to any part of the world in an envelope. IV. How some of these pieces can be reproduced over and over again. Backwards, forwards or vertically, producing the most ludicrous and laughable results, three or four different voices being heard at the same moment. V. How the same man can by the Phonograph, speak, laugh. sing, shout, cheer, cry at the same instant of time, make a medley of them, and turn them upside down. VI. The Phonograph will read Private Letters, Poetry, Leading Articles, and crack Jokes. VII. The Phonograph will speak in any Language under the Sun: English, German, French, Patois, Spanish, Italian, Broad Scotch, and Dutch, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Hindustani, Gugerati, Madras, Gaelic, Negro tongue. For the general amusement and information of the public, any person desiring to have his own voice recorded on a metal plate, and reproduced through the Phonograph, and to carry it away with him as a memento of this great discovery, can do so on payment of One Shilling, and this voice will be reproduced on some other day during the week when desired on payment of another Shilling. Admission will be by Ticket to be had at the following places :- DeCordova and Gall's - 131, Harbour Street. The Gleaner Office, Harbour Street. The Model Grocery, King Street. John MacDonald's, Harbour Street. H. W. Cody's, Hanover Street. The Queen of the Phonograph!
The Phonograph was first exhibited before Her Majesty the Queen at Osborne House, when it was demonstrated that The Telephone, an instrument by which sound can be conveyed to, it would appear, unlimited distance, by which conversation can be carried on between persons separated by many miles of sea and land is unquestionably one of the most marvelous of modern adaptations of scientific knowledge to practical use. The discovery and successful working of the electric telegraph has familiarized us with achievements of science which fifty years ago would have been considered miraculous, and a bare intimation of the possibility of which might, two or three centuries previously, have led the unfortunately ingenious speculator to the stake as a wizard. We can, and daily do, transmit messages to and fro between almost every part of the habitable globe, messages which are not only read off by skilled operators as easily as the pages of a printed book, but are printed by the telegraph itself and to that really amazing command of the forces of nature we now add to printed transmitting, by the Telephone, the tones of the human voice, distinct articulations, perfectly pronounced words, and musical sounds, to any distance to which the necessary wires may be extended, and by the most recent adaptation of the instrument, the Phonograph, a message of any length can be spoken on to a plate of metal, that metal sent by post to any part of the world, and the message absolutely re-spoken in the very voice of the sender. President Orton and others tested the instrument's powers of repeating spoken words. On one occasion three gentlemen spoke in succession - the first in English, the second in Spanish and the third in Hungarian - and the machine repeated the words so as be heard distinctly by a dozen persons standing around the apparatus. "Old Uncle Ned" and a verse of a Spanish love song were next sung, and reproduced by the instrument to the satisfaction of all. As to the extent to which the Phonograph can be made available, it is not easy to keep on the safe side of exaggeration. Many people keep old letters - lovers, we have heard, delight to read tender epistles over and over again. Now, they can treasure up old voices ! - preserve the little metal slip, and hear again and again the words so dear, and the tones still dearer. The last utterances of a dearly loved parent, child or friend may be treasured and listened to, though continents and oceans intervene. Will phonographic slips be used as Christmas and New Year cards ? or -- how charming the idea ! - as Valentines ? It may be; and, if so, a new style of verses may be required - something of this kind: - "Will you, dearest, be my own ? Tell me through the Tell-e-phone." Or, more sentimentally: "Speak but one word; and bid my heart rejoice, One little word, of all words loved the most; Let me but hear in my darling's voice - And please transmit it by this evening's post. I cannot see you smile, but if you laugh, Shall hear the merry tones by Phonograph." |
Daily Gleaner, December 24, 1878
Mr. Will E. Chapman will leave in the French Steamer for St. Jago de Cuba, where he has been invited to give an exhibition of the Phonograph. We trust that he may meet with better success in the other West Indian Islands than he met with here, where the patronage bestowed upon his exhibitions was wholly disproportionate to their merits. His Exhibition at the Theatre Royal gave great satisfaction to everyone who saw it, and although His Excellency honored the entertainment with his presence, financially it was far from being a success.
Daily Gleaner, April 7, 1879
Professor Chapman has been exhibiting the Phonograph in Barbados. The performance of the instrument is described by the West Indian as extraordinary.
Mr. Will E. Chapman will leave in the French Steamer for St. Jago de Cuba, where he has been invited to give an exhibition of the Phonograph. We trust that he may meet with better success in the other West Indian Islands than he met with here, where the patronage bestowed upon his exhibitions was wholly disproportionate to their merits. His Exhibition at the Theatre Royal gave great satisfaction to everyone who saw it, and although His Excellency honored the entertainment with his presence, financially it was far from being a success.
Daily Gleaner, April 7, 1879
Professor Chapman has been exhibiting the Phonograph in Barbados. The performance of the instrument is described by the West Indian as extraordinary.
The Gleaner writer clearly felt that Kingstonians had not fully appreciated the remakable equipment they had been privileged to have exhibited in their midst, and I have found no references to how well Chapman did in other Caribbean islands and territories. It is perhaps understandable that there was little comprehension of where this new technology could lead; Edison himself seems to have seen it as primarily a business dictation machine. However, as his work, and that of many others, showed by the century's end, this primitive piece of equipment was the starting point and inspiration for all the technologies involving the reproduction of the human voice that have evolved since.
Kingstonians, in 1878, were therefore, largely unwittingly, involved in one of the major technological turning points of recent times. |