Whistling Buoys

1900

Valuable Aids to Navigation and Repairers Keep Them In Tune

One of the most interesting aids to navigation is the whistling buoys. There are several of them off the cape, and their dull, hoarse groaning may often be heard for miles.

They are clumsy affairs of steel, ranging in length from 30 to 35 feet, with an air tank shaped like a pear about 10 feet high and 9 feet in diameter from which an 18 inch pipe 20 feet long protrudes.

These buoys may be seen at the lighthouse department storehouses on Diamond island, where buoys of all kinds and shape are kept ready to be placed over some rock dangerous to navigation or to replace any which may be damaged or adrift.

This long pipe which runs down into the water is what furnishes the power for the whistle.

When the buoy is in the water, the rolling of the waves up through pipe and the pressure on the air in the tank forces it out through the whistle, and the well-known dismal sound is the result.

Whistle buoys in different ports of the coast are given a different pitch in order that the mariner may, on a thick night be able to know his locality by the difference in the sound.

It is the duty of the officers to adjust the pitch of these whistles when they get out of tune, And they have become so expert at it that they can detect and remedy the slightest variation from the correct pitch.

The adjustment of these whistles must be made while they are in place, and sometimes the great necessity of the marks on dangerous rocks obliges the men on the buoy boats to make these repairs in very rough weather.

The repairing crew usually includes the mate and one man, who are rowed up to the buoy until they are able to grasp the rings on the side and clamber up over the side to the cage which protects the whistle.

Perhaps the most dangerous duty which falls to the lot of the buoy tenders is that of replacing the heavy buoys during a storm or while a heavy sea is running.

With the steamer rolling her rails under the greatest care must be taken to avoid accident, and many are the stories of narrow escapes related by strong, rugged men who perform this dangerous work. — Augusta (Maine) Journal.

The Kaiser's Voice

1906

His Words Preserved on First Permanent Roll in Phonetic Archives

One of the novelties of the last few years is the establishment of phonetic archives, in which the voices of noteworthy persons are to be preserved.

The first record actually taken for such a permanent archive in America was that of a European. Through the American Ambassador Charlemagne Tower, I applied for a "record of the voice of the German emperor, for preservation in durable material in Harvard University, the National Museum at Washington, and the Library of Congress at Washington. The record is to be kept as a historical document for posterity. The Phonetic Archives at the institutions mentioned are to include records from such persons as will presumably have permanent historical interest for America. The importance of the undertaking can be estimated by considering the present value of voice records by Demosthenes, Shakespeare, or Emperor William the Great."

The Emperor consented, and the apparatus was set up in the palace. I asked for four records, one for each of the institutions mentioned and one for my own scientific investigation. The Emperor, however, made only two records, designating one for Harvard University and the other for other purposes. The two records were made by a phonograph (with specially selected recorders) on wax cylinders. Such cylinders are of no permanent value, because they are often injured by mold, and sooner or later they always crack, owing to changes in temperature.

From each original "master record" a metal matrix was made by coating it with graphite and then galvanoplating it. The wax master record was then removed (being destroyed in the process), leaving a mold from which "positives" — that is copies of the original — could be cast in a hard shellac composition and in celluloid. Some casts were also made in wax, and new metal matrices were made from these. In this manner the following material was obtained: (1) A metal matrix and positive of Record No. 1, deposited in the National Museum at Washington; (2) a similar set of Record No. 1, deposited in the Congressional Library at Washington; (3) a similar set of Record No. 2, deposited in Harvard University; (4) a complete set for both records (a metal matrix and a positive of each), which I presented to the Emperor; and (5) a reserve set of both. These are the only records of the German Emperor's voice which exist at the present time. — The Century.

Uses of the Phonograph — Backmasking, Mashups Foretold In 1878

1878

Uses of the Phonograph.

For public uses we shall have galleries where phonograph sheets will be preserved as photographs and books now are. The utterances of great speakers and singers will there be kept for a thousand years. In these galleries spoken languages will be preserved from century to century, with all the peculiarities of pronunciation, dialect, or brogue. As we go now to see the stereopticon, we shall go to public halls to hear these treasures of speech and song brought out and reproduced as loud, or louder, than when first spoken or sung by the truly great ones of earth. Certainly, within a dozen years, some of the great singers will be induced to sing into the ear of the phonograph, and the electrotyped cylinders thence obtained will be put into the hand-organs of the streets, and we shall hear the actual voice of Christine Nilsson or Miss Cary ground out at every corner.

In public exhibitions, also, we shall have reproductions of the sounds of nature, and of noises familiar and unfamiliar. Nothing will be easier than to catch the sounds of the waves on the beach, the roar of Niagara, the discords of the streets, the noises of animals, the puffing and rush of the railroad train, the rolling of thunder, or even the tumult of a battle.

When popular airs are sung into the phonograph, and the notes are then reproduced in reverse order, very curious and beautiful musical effects are sometimes produced, having no apparent resemblance to those contained in their originals. The instrument may thus be used as a sort of musical kaleidoscope, by means of which an infinite variety of new combinations may be produced from the musical compositions now in existence.

The speaking phonograph, will, doubtless, be applied to bell-punches, clocks, complaint boxes in public conveyances and to toys of all kinds. It will supersede the short-hand writer in taking letters by dictation and in taking testimony before referees. Phonographic letters will be sent by mail, the foil being wound on paper cylinders of the size of a finger. It will recite poems in the voice of the author, and reproduce the speeches of celebrated orators. Dramas will be produced in which all the parts will be "well spoken — with good accent, and good discretion;" the original matrice being prepared on one machine provided with a rubber tube having several mouthpieces; and Madame Tussaud's figures will hereafter talk, as well as look like their great prototypes! — Scribner.

—Daily Star, Marion, OH, April 22, 1878, p. 2.

A Musical Chord That Shattered a Huge Glass Bowl

1914

FORCE OF VIBRATION.

A Musical Chord That Shattered a Huge Glass Bowl.

Discussing the proposition that a wineglass can be broken or shattered to pieces by a musical chord, Edgar Lucien Larkin in the New York American says:

"I had a huge glass bowl one foot in diameter resting on its glass stand. The flint glass was from one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch thick. I rosined a violin bow, drew it across the edge, and the entire hemisphere of solid glass disintegrated into hundreds of small pieces. The sound of breaking into fragments was entirely unknown to me, a crackling or grinding, and the bits of glass flew far apart.

"I had used this same bowl before classes for several years with violin bows. But on this particular day the students as well as I were surprised at the breaking and unearthly noise.

"The fact is I happened to vibrate the bowl with its key note — that is, set harmonic rate, which means the precise rate with which it was able to vibrate to send forth that note, for notes are rates of vibration, and they all obey rigid and beautiful harmonic mathematical laws, and these agree with other set and fixed laws."