oooooocoooccococcoooocccco
0 o
| HflanuTacturing |
| Phonograph |
1 Records. 1
8 8
oooococcoooooooooooocoocoo
THE phonograph has become
such a familiar object in our
modern home life, anil its
mechanism, in spite of its
marvelous ingenuity, is so straight for
ward and easily understood, that it is
difficult, in giviug a description of this
prince of toys, to tell the mullitu
dinous possessors of tliem anything
that they did not know before. If one
were asked to name the particular part
of the phonograph which possesses the
greatest interest and which is the most
essential to its success, he would have
MAKING ISAND RECOKDS.
to mention the cylinder of wax upon
which the waves of sound are cut b.v
the dainty little sapphire turning-tooi
known as the stylus.
The great growth in popularity of
the phonograph, and the necessity for
keeping the owners supplied with fresh
"literature," lias caused the mere work
of manufacturing the records to as
sume truly enormous proportions.
CASTING BLANK RECORDS.
The lirst process in the manufacture
of records takes place in the melting
room, where the proper constituents to
form the special grade wax em
ployed in making the records are
brought together and melted in several
large vats, each of which contains
about 1000 pounds. There are three
meltings in all, and between each the
fluid is carefully strained to remove
any hard or gritty impurities which it
might contain; for it is evident that
tho presence of foreign substances,
even a few particles of tine dust,
might easily produce fatal irregulari
ties in the grooves of the record. The
tirst two meltings take pi ce in the
molting room. On entering this room
the most conspicuous featrre is several
large, circular, rotating tables, set
around the periphery o f which is a
number of round, iron pins which
form the core of the mold. Concentri
cally around each of these pins is
placed a brass sleeve. The wax is
taken from the melting vats in a can
and poured into the molds iip the
manner shown in our illustration. The
tables are constantly rotated, thus
MAKING VIOLIN HOLO RECORDS
bringing the molds. Which cool very
rapidly, round to the workers on the
o t posile wide of 11n* tnhle, where the
win cylinders are removed. The mov
ing table briugs the empty moUlti
buck to the starting point, where they
ur.' aguln tilled from tbr pouring can
Tilt ef/Tluderr are caßt with sn Inter
lor spiral thread, which adds some
what to the strength of the cylinder
and forms the bearing surfacf
when the wax cylinder is placed
on the mandrel of the phono
graph. After they have cooled, the
cylinders are first reamed out to gage,
then edged and rough-turned, and
finally given a finishing cut, the finish
turning being done with a fine sap
phire knife.
One of the upper floors of a large
building in the record department is
divided into a number of rooms, in
which the specialists are kept steadily
at work speaking, playing or singing
into the recording machines. One of
our Illustrations shows the methods
adopted in producing solo records,
whether instrumental or vocal. In this
case the violinist stands with his in
strument immediately and closely in
front of three converging horns, each
of which connects with a recording
phonograph. The only difference be-
tween a recording and a producing
phonograph is in the nature of the lit
tle sapphire tool by which the dia
phragm rests upon tho wax ?coril. In
making the record, the "recording sty
lus" is used, and in reproducing the
record the "reproducing ball" is sub
stituted. The difference between the
stylus and the ball is that tho point
of the stylus is cup-shaped and ground
to a fine cutting edge, which, as it
travels over the surface of the wax
cylinder, is driven more or less deeply
info the material, and turns off a shav
ing which varies in thickness, accord
ing to the quality of the sound waves
which fall upon the diaphragm. One
of t-e tlrst things tlint strikes a visi
tor to the record room is the rapidity
with which the artists sing, the speed
being much greater than that to which
one is accustomed ill a music hall or
opera house. Moreover, the songs are
sung with the full power which would
be used before a public audience. As
soon as the record is made, it is taken
off the mandrel and placed in a phono
graph and reproduced to test its quali
ty. If there is the slightest defect, it
is, of course, rejected.
Among the most popular records are
TESTING THE RECORDS.
those of band music, and for making
these the company maintains a full in
strumental band, which Is occupied
steadily, under the baton of a conduc
tor, in playing popular airs, marches,
waltzes, etc.
The testing of the phonograph rec
ords is done In a separate room by a
corps of experts, who are careful to
throw out every record that Rives th?
slightest suggestion of a defect. Long
training In this work has made them
sensitive to irregularities in tone and
quality which would scarcely he no
ticed by the uverago listener.—Scleu
title American. ——
New Rifle " |
| Finest Ever Madejj
Formidable as the Emperor "Wil
liam's army is as a lighting machine,
it will be even more formidable when
equipped with its new magazine rifle,
which in many respects is doubtless
the finest. ever made. In recent num
ber, the London Daily Graphic, which
has several naval and military expert*
among its contributors, Rave an inter
esting description of the new weapon,
the product of three y< irs' work by an
imperial commission, and known its
Model '9B. The writer says:
"There is about the new model noth
ing of that clumsy appearance so char
acteristic of earlier magazine rifles. It
Is as neat and as compact as a single
loader. The projecting magazine of
the model of 1888 has gone, and its
place has been taken by a much han
dier contrivance, in which the cart
ridges are packed zig-zag fashion,
three on the left and two on the right.
The clip or box formerly used to carry
the cartridges has been replaced by
a "charger," consisting of a strip of
thin steel, the edges of which fit into
the extractor groove at the base of
the cartridge. In loading the maga
zine n slight pressure of the thumb Is
all that is necessary to force the cart
ridge into the desired position, and as
the bolt is pushed forward the empty
charger is dropped.
"The extractor is larger and more
powerful than the one formerly used,
and, like other parts of the rifle, has
been designed to save the soldier from
the consequence of his mistakes, or,
rather, to put it absolutely out of his
power to make a mistake. The Ger
man experts declare that a man labor
ing under excitement cannot be safely
"n •' (ImM )• M« aitn,
il «!»•» Wy«M» kUCI. MflMMl
• i | K IM «w,Onlil tUMUmt »■ to d
<|3|> y-_ •
gro«3 ■
km m trot Tin tt »jua
--
AttMtau&t if Ufostt WIU4
I—l I ■ I ■ Ml■ IIII■ gf II I I I IMI
MEW MAGAZINE RIFLE E°R THE GEPMANABMY
trusted to perform any complex action
calling for coolness and discretion. The
commonest blunder is to double load a
ritle—that is, to attempt to convey a
cartridge into the tiring chamber before
its predecessor has been got rid of.
With the new extractor this will be im
possible. The cartridge in the tiring
chamber, whether flrcd or unflred,
gripped by the claws of the extractor,
moves backward with it. Thus it is
impossible to double load.
"As far as actual shooting goes, the
new model does not differ much from
the model it supersedes. The range
is about the same, and the weight and
composition of the bullet and charge
are almost identical. But in the sight
ing a great change for the better has
been made.
"In view of the opinions expressed
in some quarters iu disparagement of
the bayonet as an effective weapon, it
is interesting to note that the Ger
man army administrators have re
stored till" arm to its former imposing
dimensions. In place of the exaggerat
ed knife that the German soldier lias
carried since 1871, he will iti future
have a handsome and truly formida
ble looking sword bayonet, twenty-six
inches in length.
"Taking the new model as a whole,
it cannot be denied that those respon
sible for its production have done their
work thoroughly and well. Its authors
claim—and apparently with a fair
amount of justification—that by its in
troduction "the German soldier has
been armed with the best military rill"
that modern science has as yet pro
duced.' "
During the past century American
commerce Increased from less than
$200,000, (tOO to over *2,000, 000,000.
The population of Zurich, Switzer
land, consists of 70,012 females and
71,210 males.
The King; and Queen of Sarawak, Borneo
A certain adventurous Euglishmnn
about, sixty-two years ago procured a
yacht and sailed for Borneo, where hp
Ingratiated himself into me favor of
tlu* Sultan to such an extent that the
latter made him a present of the entire
province c ' Sarawak, some 3000 miles
in extent, with the sole proviso that he
should coi quer the people. Tliey were
such troublesome subjects that the
Sultan could do nothing with them ut
all, but Mr. Charles Johnson Brooke
not only brought them under subjec
tion, but set up a little kingdom for
himself, over which he reigned during
the rest of his natural life, and after
him his nephew, the pr<~ ~nt monarch'
of Sarawak.
The kingdom of Sarawak now com
prises about ">O,OOO miles of territory,
with a coast line of 400 miles, rich coal
mines, vast resourcees and an annual
income of several million dollars. Its
king is Sir Charles Johnson Brooke,
nephew and successor of the original
rajah, and Us Queen is Lady Brooke,
who together, rule this semi-cannibal
country of .100,000 Asian subjects and
are the nearest civilized neighbors to
the south of the Philippines.
Liquid Tnsect Catcher and Tree Guard.
The increased destruction of city
trees by insects during the past few
years has caused the iuventor to de
sign a number of devices to prevent
the pests from crawling up the tree
trunk and depositing eggs in the
branches as well as eating the leaves.
Hitherto the guards have consisted of
bauds of loose fabric, cotton wadding,
etc., being generally treated with a
chemidtal and bound tightly on the tree
trunk. His invention, whicli we show
herewith, however, is a radical depar
ture from former ideas, inasmuch as
HOLDER FOB DKSTBOYIXU INSECTS.
the chemical is in liquid form and
is contained in a circular pocket sur
rounding the tree, with a layer of
packing beneath the guard and the
bark to form a tight joint. The circu
lar gutter Is provided with two separ
ate circles of liquid to insure the death
of those Insects which might possibly
survive a single bath iu the polsouous
fluid. Kola ml Forrest, of this city, is
tin inventor.
The number of horses killed iu Span
ish bull tights during 1000 was ."VISO.
.More than 11<)<> bulls were sl«>n during
the Mine period.
Dl). TALMAGFS SERMON
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BR THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: With Silken Cords—So Should
the Fitthorn of Men Mend Their Nets
Christians Warned Against Harsh
Criticism—Gospel Strife Deplored.
[Copyright 19fi. i
WASHINGTON, 7). C.—ln this discourse
Dr. Talmage describes the gospel net and
how it is to he repaired after being dam
aged; text, Matthew iv, 21, "James, the
son of Zebedee. and John, his brother, in
a ship with Zebedee, their father, mend
ing their net:;."
"' l go a-fishing!" eried Simon Peter to
his comrades, and the most of the apos
tles had hands hard from fishing tackle.
The fisheries of the world have always at
tracted attention. In the third century
the Queen of Egypt had for pin money
>470,000 received from the fisheries of Lake
Moeris. And. if the time should ever
come when the immensity of the world's
population could not be fed by the vege
tables and meats of the land, the sea has
an amount of animal life that would feed
all the populations of the earth and fat
ten them with a food that by its phospho
rus would generation brainy and
intellectual 4>eyond anything that the
world has ever imagined. My text takes
us among the Gallilean fishermen. One
day Walter Scott, while hunting in an old
drawer, found among some old fishing
tackle the manuscript of his immortal
book, "Waverley," which he had put
away there as of no worth, and who knows
but that to-day we may find some un
known wealth of thought while looking at
the fishing tackle in the text.
It is not a good day for fishing, and
three.men are in the boat repairing the
broken fishing nets. If you are fishing
with a hook and line, and the fish will
r jite, it is a good time to put the ang
-1 apparatus into better condition, l'er-
L s the last fish you hauled in was so
H ;e that something snapped. Or, if you
\\ 'e fishing with a net, there was a
m floundering of the scales or an ex
posed nail on the side of the boat which
broke some of the threads and let part or
all of the captives of the deep escape into
their natural element. And hardly anv
thing is more provoking than to nearly
land a score or a hundred of trophies from
the deep, and when you are in the full
glee of hauling in the spotted treasures,
through some imperfection o? the net
they splash back into the waves. That is
too much of a trial of patience for «iost
fishermen to endure, and many a man or
dinarily correct of speech in such circum
stances comes to an intensity of utterance
unjustifiable. Therefore no good fisher
man considers the time wasted that is
spent in mending his net. Now, the
Bible again and again represents Christian
workers as fishers of men, and we are all
sweeping through the sea of humanity
some kind of net. Indeed there have
been enough nets out and enough fisher
men busy to have landed the whole hu
man race in the kingdom of God long be
fore this. What is the matter? The gos
pel is all right, and it has been a good
time for catching souls for thousands of
years. Why, then, the failures? The
trouble is with the nets, and most of them
need to be mended. I propose to show
you what is the matter with most of the
nets and how to mend them. In the text
old Zebedee and his two boys, James and
John, were doing a good thing when they
sat in their boats mending their nets.
The trouble with many of our nets is
that the meshes are too large. If a fish
can get his gills and half his body through
the network, he tears and rends and
works his way out, and leaves the place
through which he squirmed a tangle of
broken threads. In our desire to make
everything so easy we relax, we loosen, we
widen. We let men after they are once
in the gospel net escape into the world,
and go into indulgences and swim all
around Oallilce, from north side to south
side, and from east side to west side, ex
pecting that they will come back again.
We ought to make it easy for them to get
into the kingdom of God. and, as far as
we can, make it impossible for them to
get out. The poor advice nowadays to
many is: "Go and do just as you did be
fore you were captured for God and heav
en. The net was not intended to be any
restraint or any hindrance. What you
did before you were a Christian do now.
Goto all styles of amusement, read all
the styles of books, engage in all the
styles of behavior as before you were con
verted." And so, through these meshes
of permission and laxity they wriggle out,
through this opening and that opening,
tearing the net as they go, and soon all
the souls that we expected to land in
heaven before we know it are bark i:i the
deep sea of the world. Oh, when we go
a-gospel fishing, 'et us make it as easy as
possible for souls to get in and as hard
as possible to get out.
Is the Bible language an unmeaning ver
biage when it talks about self denial, and
keeping the body under, and about walk
ing the narrow way. and entering the
straight gate, and about carrying the
cross? Is there to be no way of telling
whether a man is a Christian except by
his taking the communion chalice on sac
ramental day? May a man be as reckless
ahout his thoughts, about his words, about
his temper, about his amusements, after
conversion as before? Alas, the words of
Christ are so littls heeded when He said.
"Whosoever doth not bear his cross and
come alter Me cannot be My disciple."
The church is fast becoming as bad as the
world, and when it gets as bad as the
world it will be worse than the world by
so much, as it will add hypocrisy of a
most appallin; kind to its other defects.
Furthermore, many of our nets are torn
to pieces by being entangled with other
nets. It is a sad sight to see fishermen
fighting about sea loom, and pulling in
opposite directions each to get his net,
both nets damaged by the struggle anil
losing all the fish. In this land, where
there are more than 70,000,000 people,
there are at least 30,000,000 not in the
Sunday-schools and churches. In such an
Atlantic Ocean of opportunity there is
room for all the nets and all the boats and
all the fishermen and for millions more.
There should be 110 rivalry between
churches. Each one does a work peculiar
to itself. But there are cities in this coun
try where there is now going on an awful
ripping and rending and tearing of fishing
nets. Indeed, all over Christendom at
this time there is a great war going on be
tween fishermen, ministers against minis
ters.
Now, I have noticed a man cannot fish
and tight at the same time. He either
neglects his net or his musket. It is
amazing how much time some of the fish
ermen nava to look after other fishermen.
It is more than I can do to take care of
my own net. Von see the wind is just
right, and it is such a good time for lisli
ins, and the fish are coming in so rapidly,
thr.t I have to keep my eye and hand
busy. There are about 1200,000,000 suula
wanting to get into the kingdom of (iod,
and it will require all the nets and all the
fishermen of Christendom to safely land
them. Oh. brethren of the ministry, let
us spend our time in fishing instead of
fighting. Hut if I angriiv jerk my net
across your net, an you jerk your net an
grilv across mine, we will soon have two
broken nets and no fish, 'l'he French
revolution nearly destroyed the French
fisheries, and ecclesiastical war is the
worst thing possible while hauling suuls
into the kingdom. My friends, I notice
in the text tliat James, the son of Zehe
dee, and John, his brother, were busy not
mending somebody else's nets, but mending
their own nets, and I rather think that
we wlio are engaged in Christian work in
this opening century will require all out
spare time to mend our own nets. God
help us in the important duty!
In this work of repair we need to put
into the nets more threads of common
sense. When we can present religion as
a great practicality we will catch a hun
dred srmis where we now catch one. Pre
sent religion as an intellectuality, and wa
will fail. Out in the fisheries there are
set across the waters what tre called gill
nets, and the fish put their heads through
the meshes and they cannot withdraw
them, because they are caught by tha
gills. Hut gill nets cannot be of any serv
ice in religious work. Men are never
caught for the truth by their heads; it is
by the heart or not at all. No argument
ever saved a man, and uo keen analysis
ever brought a man into the kingdom ol
God. Heart work, not head work. Away
with your gill nets! Sympathy, helpful
ness, consolation, love, are the names ol
some of the threads that we need tc
weave in our gospel nets when we are
mending them.
Do you know that the world's heart is
bursting with trouble, and if you could
make that world belie**.- that the religion
of Jesus Christ is soothing omnipotence
the whole world would surrender to-mor
row—yea, would surrender this hour. The
day before James A. Garfield was inaugu
rated as President I was in the cars going
from Richmond to Washington. A gentle
man seated near to me in the cars knew
me, anil we were soon in familiar conver
sation. It was just after a bereavement,
and 1 was speaking to him from an over
burdened heart about the sorrow I wa»
suffering. Looking at his cheerful face I
said: "I guess you have escaped all trou
ble. I should judge from your counte
nance that you have come through free
from all misfortune." Then he looked at
me with a look i shall never forget and
whispered in my car: ".Sir, you know noth
ing about trouble. My wife has been in
an insane asylum for tifceen years." Ant}
then he turned and looked out of tho
wir low and into the night with a silence
1 as too overpowered to break. That
wa another illustration of the fact that
110 one escapes trouble.
Why, that man seated next to you in
cliurch has on his soul a weight compared
with which a mountain is a feather. That
woman seated next to you in church has
a grief the recital of which would make
your body, mind and soul shudder.
When you are mending your net for this
wide, deep sea of humanity, take out that
wive thread of criticism and that horsehair
thread of harshness and putin a soft
silken thread of Christian sympathy. Yea,
when you are mending your nets tear out
those old threads of gruffness and weava
in a few threads of politeness and genial
ity. In the house of God let ail Christian
faces beam with a look that means wel
come. .Say "Good morning" to the stran
ger as he enters your pew, and at the
close shake hands with him and say, "llow
did you like the music?" Why, you would
be to that man a panel of the door o(
heaven; you would be to him a note
the do;:ology that seraphs sing when a
new soul enters heaven. 1 have in other
days entered a pew in church and the
woman at the other end of the pew looketj
at me as much as to say, "How dare you':
This is my pew and 1 pay the rent for
it!" Well, 1 crouched in the other coiner
and made myself as small as possible and
felt as though I had been stealing some
thing.
So there are people who have a sharp
edge to their religion, and they act as
though they thought most people had been
elected to be damned and they were glad
of it. Oh, let us brighten up our manner
and appear in gentlemanlincss or lady
hood.
The object in fly fishing is to throw the
fly far out, and then let it drop gently
down and keep it gently rising and falling
with the waters, and not plunge it like a
man-of-war's anchor, and abruptness and
harshness of manner must be avoided in
our attempt at usefulness.
I know a man in New \ ork who is
more sunshiny and genial when lie has
dyspepsia than when he is not suffering
from that depressing trouble. I have
found out his secret. When he starts out
in the morning with such depression he
asks for special grace to keep from snap
ping up anybody that day, and puts forth
additional determination to be kindly and
genial, and by the help of God he accom
plishes it. .
Many of our nets need to be mended in
these respects, the black threads and the
rough threads taken out, and the bright
threads and the golden threads of Chris
tian geniality woven in.
In addition to this we need to mend out
nets with more threads of patience. It is
no rare thing for a fisherman to spend one
whole day before he can take a St. T.aw
rence pike, or an Ohio salmon, or a Long
Island pickerel, or a Cayuga black bass,
or a Delaware catfish,and he does that day
after day without any particular discour
agement. Hut what a lack of patience i(
we do not immediately succeed in soul
catching. We are apt to give it up and
say. "I will never try again."
These dear brethren of all denomina
tions, afflicted with theological fidgets,
had better goto mending nets instead o£
breaking them. Before they break up tha
old religions let them go through somo
great sacrifice for God that will prove
'.hem worthv of such a work, taking th»
advice of Talleyrand to a man who wanted
to upset the religion of Jesus Christ and
start a new one, when he said, "Go and
be crucified and then raise yourself from
the grave the third day!"
Those who propose to mend their nets
by secular and skeptical books are like a
man who has just one week for fish ins
and six of the days he spends in reading
I/.aak Walton's "Complete Angler." and
Wheatley's "Hod and Line," and Rett's
"Fishing in Northern Waters," and Put
nam's "Vade Mecum of Ply Fishing for
Trout," and then on Saturday morning,
his last day out, goes to the river to piy
his art; but that day the fish will not bite,
and late on Saturday night he goes to his
home with empty basket!
Alas! alas! If, when the Saturday night
of our life drops on us, it shall be found
that we have spent our time in the libra
ries of worldly philosophy trying to mend
our nets, and we have only a few souls to
report as brought to God through our in
strumentality. while some humble gospel
fisherman, his library made up of a Bible
aii(l an almanac, shall come home laden
with the results, his trophies all the souls
within fifteen miles of his log cabin meet
ing-house.
In the time of the great disturbance in
Naples in 1049, Massaniello, a barefooted
fishing boy, dropped his fishing rod, and
by strange magnetism took command of
that city of 600,000 souls. He took of?
his fishing jacket and put on a robe of
gold in the presence of howling mobs. He
put his hand on his lips as a signal and
they were silent. He waved his hand
away from him and they retired to their
homes. Annus passed in review before
him. Ho became the nation's idol. The
rapid rise and complete supremacy of that
young fisherman. Massaniello, nave no
parallel in all history. Hut something
equal to that and better than that is an
everyday occurrence in heaven. God takes
some of those who in this world were
fishers of men and who toiled very hum
bly. but because of the wur they mnM
their nets and employed their nets after
they were mended, He suddenly Imists
them anil robes them, and scenters them
and crowns them and makes them rulers
over many cities, and He marches "armies
of saved ones before them in review—
Massaniellos unhonored on earth, but ra
diated in heaven. The fisher boy of Na
ples soon lost his power, but those people
of God who have kept their nets inemled
and rightly swung them shall never lose
their exalted place, but i*»ll reign for
ever and and ever. Keep that reward
in subt.