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!!!!6.5.8. — Le Telharmonium (Thaddeus Cahill, 1897) * '''6.5.8.1 — (The first) Teleharmonium (or Telharmonium) — Art of and Apparatus for Generating and Distributing Music Electrically (US Patent 580,035)''' \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|tl ''« Art of and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically — Specification forming part of Letter Patent No. 580,035, dated April 6, 1897 — Application filed February 4, 1896, Serial No. 578,046. (No. Model.) — “To all whom it may concerns :” Be it known that I, Thaddeus Cahill, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of Now York, (residing temporarly at Washington, in the District of Columbia,) have invented a new and useful Art and Apparatus for Generating and Distributing Music Electrically, of which the following is a specification. In a former application of mine, filed August 10, 1895, Serial N° 558,939, an art and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically is described. The art described in this application is the same art described in the application of August 10, 1895, before mentioned, or, more correctly, the art described in the present case is a part of the art described in the former case, for some processes are described in the former case which are not described in this case. So, also, the apparatus described in this application is its most essential and fundamental features and combinations the same as the apparatus of the former case; but the apparatus of this application differs from the apparatus of the former application in being assimilated to a pianoforte, whereas the apparatus of the former is assimilated to an organ. In each case, indeed, the apparatus is wholly electrical and bears little, if any, real likeness, either in structure or mode of operation, to the instruments now known in the musical art as "pianofortes" and "organs"; but in the sorts of music which they are adapted to produce the apparatus of the present case and the apparatus of the case of August 10, 1895, before mentioned, may be properly said to resemble, respectively, a pianoforte and an organ. The apparatus illustrated in the case of August 10, 1895, being assimilated to an organ, is much more elaborate than the apparatus which I describe in this case. The former case is indeed quite complicated. It shows most of substance of this case and also much that, being peculiar to an organ, is not illustrated in this case. The two cases, it will be seen, with regard to what is shown and described in each, to a great extent overlap, and it becomes necessary to make a clear line of division between them. It is my intention to continue in this present application my claims to so much of the subject-matter of the original application, filed August 10, 1895, as is disclosed in the present case, and I have removed the claims for such subject-matter from the former case in order to prosecute in the original application, Serial N° 558,939, only that subject-matter which belongs peculiarly to it and which is not illustrated or described in this. In other words, the line of division which I draw between this case and the original application, Serial N° 558,939, filed August 10, 1895, is to cover in this case everything illustrated and described in it, asserting herein all claims for subject-matter disclosed alike in the original application and in this application only that subject-matter which is peculiar to it, being disclosed in it alone. The apparatus which I have figured in the accompanying drawings in illustration of my invention is, as above mentioned, in the nature of an electrical pianoforte, but the essential processes and combinations of my invention, set forth in the statement of claim at the end hereof, are equally applicable to electrical music-generating instruments, not being electrical pianoforte. They may be used, to mention one example only out of several, in an electrical music-generating apparatus to an organ. An apparatus of this sort, employing, as before said, the same essential processes and combinations described and claimed in this application, is fully described in the prior application above mentioned, Serial N° 558,939, filed August 10, 1895. The grand objects of my invention are to generate music electrically with tones of good quality and great power and with perfect musical expression, and to distribute music electrically generated by what we may term "original electrical generation" from a central station to translating instruments located at different points and all receiving their music from the same central point; and my invention consists in the parts, improvements, combinations, and methods hereinafter described and claimed. More particularly the objects of my invention are a) to generate by a practical and simple apparatus different styles of rhythmic ^[end of page 1^] electrical vibrations, answering to the different notes of music with great power; b) to produce pure electrical elemental tones, or at all events elemental tones free from harshness; c) to produce the notes and chords of a musical composition with any timbre desired out of their electrical elements; d) to afford facility to the performer to govern the expression perfectly, and e) to distribute music, produced as before mentioned, from one central station to many translating instruments located in different places, so that many persons, each in his own places, so that many persons, each in his own place, can enjoy the music produced by a distant performer. Music as ordinarily generated exists first in the vibrations of tuned sounding-bodies. Thus in an organ the music exists first in the vibration of the elastic columns of air confined in the pipes, from which it is communicated through the external atmosphere to the auditory apparatus of the listener. So the music of a pianoforte or violin exists first in the vibrations of the strings, then in the vibrations of the sound-board, and finally in the vibrations of the air. Such vibrations of material substances, cognizable byt the sense of hearing when air is interposed between the sounding-body and the ear of the listener, constitute music in the ordinary sense of that word. Such musical vibrations of the air, it is well known, can be copied electrically by suitable telephonic apparatus and transmitted from one point to another; but the electrical vibrations thus produced by copying with telephones the musical vibrations of the air are, it is well known, almost infinitely weak. I produce by my system musical electrical vibrations of as good quality and of enormously greater power. Mine is a system of producing what may be called emphatically termed “electrical music”, in contradiction to the music produced mechanically by the vibrations of sounding bodies, as above mentioned, for by my system I generate, in the first instance, electrical vibrations corresponding to the different elemental tones desired. These elemental ealctrical vibrations are readily made to be of great power. Out of them I synthesize composite electrical vibrations answering to the different notes and chords required. The amplitude of these electrical vibrations as electrical vibrations is governed at will by the performer, so that any expression desired is given to the music, and the electrical vibrations thus produced and governed, circulating through coils of wire surrounding magnets lying adjacent to sound-board-attached armatures and sound-board with a constantly-varying force , so that the soundboard and the surrounding air are set in vibration. The music, it will thus be seen, is by my invention first generated and controlled in the form of electrical vibrations, and these electrical vibrations, constituting, as we may say, electrical music, are then translated into audible aerial vibrations, or music, in the common sense of the word. The tones which I this produce are of excellent quality; they are perfectly sustained; their power is completely controlled by the touch upon the keys, so that the performer has ample facility for expression, and - most important of all - the music is produced not only by an instrument or instruments at the place where the performer is, but also by other instruments at other places suitably connected with the central vibration-generating device, which constitutes the electrical pianoforte proper. I generate, as before said, electrical tones corresponding to the various notes of music. By “lectrical tones” I mean electrical undulations corresponding to those vibrations are known and any suitable mode my be used in carrying out my invention. Among the suitable ways of generating electrical vibrations I will mention a few. The vibrations a a string or of a pipe actuating a telephonic or microphonic apparatus produce electrical vibrations which, when translated into aerial vibrations, are recognized by the ear as tones of good quality; but these tones, though of good quality, are weak. On the other hand, by rotating an electric circuit in the presence of a magnetic field, ot a magnet or magnetic field in the presence of a circuit, or by interrupting an electric current wholly or partially, electrical vibrations are readily produced of great power; but the electrical tones produced in these ways, though powerful, are not well suited for musical purposes. They are apt to be either positively bad, musically considered - that is, harsh and disagreeable - or, when not harsh, poor and insipid. It is a fact well known to physicists that the quality ofa tone depends upon the particular tone partials entering into it and their strengths with relation to each other. A pure tone is a sine function. It is an elemental tone non-composite and irreducible. A pure tone, particularly in the lower and middle range, is always poor and insipid. It is wanting in color and effectiveness. It makes little impression upon the ear. Every tone, except a pure tone, is composed of or reducible to a plurality of pure tones and sine-function vibrations bearing certain mathematical relations to each other. The different pure tone or elemental tones entering into the composition of a single musical note, considered by the ear and by musicians as a single sound, are called its “partial tones”, “tone-partials”, or, more shortly, its “partials”. The first partial by way of distinction is called the “fundamental” or “ground” tone and the other partials are caleld “overtones”. A tone is agreeable when it is formed of accordant partials. It is disageeable when formed of discordant partials. It is colorless and insipid when overtones are wanting. It is a known ^[end of page 2^] fact that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth partials are harmonious, and in the tones of a good pianoforte, particularly in the middle and lower range, all these partials are strong. On the other hand, the seventh, ninth, and other odd-numbered upper partials are disagreeable and need to be eliminated or suppressed. ^[p.1, lines 1 to 104; p.2, lines 1 to 134; p.3 lines 1 to 8^] ^[...^] Now I have found a practical way by which electrical tones of the best quality and of great power can be produced, which is briefly as follows: I first produce in any suitable way (as, for example, by interrupting electric circuits) periodic electrical vibrations or frequencies corresponding to the fundamental tone and to certain agreeable overtones of the composite one ort note desired. I then purify these vibrations by suppressing their harsher components, (such as the seventh and ninth partials), and I combine the vibrations thus purged of their disagreeable elements into composite vibrations answering to notes and chords. Thus I obtain electrical tones of good musical quality and of great power. ^[p. 3, lines 28 to 43^] ^[...^] For converting or translating the electrical tones or electrical tone-undulations, produced in the manner above described, into audible aerial vibrations I empty preferably an apparatus having a sound-board with a bridge, one or more soft-iron armatures attached to or connected with the bridge, and one or more magnets (but preferably a plurality of them) lying in proximity to the armature attached to the bridge and pulling upon it, said magnets being wound with coils of insulated wire, through which the electrical undulations corresponding to music, and which I frequently term herein “electrical” music, circulate. The vibratory currents in the coils produce vibratory changes in the pull exerted by the coil-wound magnets upon the sound-board, and so set it in vibration. A number of these vibration-translating devices, situated in different places, are connected with the same electrical tone-producing arrangement, so that the music produced by one artist is distributed to many hearers in different places. ^[p.3, lines 54 to 77^] ^[...^] Any suitable form of receiving-telephone whatever might be used to some extent as a vibration-translating device in the carrying out of my invention. Receiving-telephones are made in a great variety of forms and upon principles somewhat different. In some the vibration-translating action is due to the development of heat, varying with the periods of the current, in a fine-strained wire of high resistance, which, as it preiodically expands and contracts under the influence of the varying currents, sets a sound-board with which it is connected in vibration. In others, as in the well-known device of Professor Dolbear, the line-circuit is nerver closed, but the development of the aerial vibrations depends upon the changes in the electrostatic attraction between two small diaphragms placed in close proximity to each other, well insulated from each other, and connected one with the line-wire and the other with the ground or with a return-wire. In the forms of telephonic receiver which have come into practical use a magnet is wound with a coil near one of its poles, so that the attraction of this pole upon a small soft-iron diaphragm varies with the currents that vibrate through the coil. Any of these devices might no doubt be used to some extent in the carrying out of my invention, particularly the sort last named; but they all produce weak tones. In order to produce powerful tones, I have contrived a special form of vibration-translating device, which consists, essentially, of (a) a good wooden sound-board, well constructed and braced and furnished with a bridge - a sound-board of a pianoforte; (b) a plurality of soft-iron armatures attached to the bridge; (c) a plurality of soft-iron cores lying each with one pole close to one of the bridge-carried armatures before mentioned; (d) coils magnetizing these cores, se that the necessary fields is provided, which coils I sometimes term “sustaining-coils”, and (e) coils of fine wire wound around the eneds of the soft-iron cores that pull upon the bridge-carried armatures before mentioned. This device, when supplied with the necessary currents, produces tones of great power. ^[p. 12, lines 15 to 64^] ^[...^] I use the terms “common receiver” and “common-receiver vibration-translating device” synonomously ^[sic^] in this specification. By a “common receiver” or a “common-receiver vibration-translating device” I mean a “device capable of translating electrical vibrations of different pitches into audible vibrations”. I use the term “common receiver or “common-receiver vibration-translating device” by way of contradistinction to tuned or monotonoe receivers, which are capable only of translating each the note to which it is tuned. Various forms of common-receiver vibration-translating devices are known to electricians. All receiving-telephones capable of translating electrical vibrations corresponding to speech into audible speech-vibrations are common receivers, and a device may be a common receiver so far as translating musical electrical vibrations is concerned, though it be not sufficiently sensitive to properly translate speech-vibrations. ^[p. 19, lines 4 to 25^] ^[...^] In various places in this specification I speak of a “keyboard of pitch-keys”. By a “keyboard of pitch-keys” I mean a “keyboard whose keys serve to control the production of tones of different pitches belonging to a musical scale and to afford facility to the performer to produce a tune by their manipulation”. I prefer to use a keyboard like that of a pianoforte, but any suitable form of keyboard whatever may be used. ^[p. 19, lines 49 to 56^] ^[...^] What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is — 1) In an electrical music-generating system, the method of producing composite musical sounds electrically, which consists in (a) producing by induction, in different closed circuits, electric-current undulations corresponding to different component sounds of the composite musical sound desired; (b) synthesizing in a conductor resultant undulations out of the undulations produced, as above mentioned, in a plurality of closed circuits; and (c) translating the built-up electrical undulations into composite aerial vibrations of similar wave form. — 2) In an electrical music-generating system, the method of producing composite musical sounds electrically, which consists in (a) producing by induction, in different circuits, electric undulations corresponding to different component sounds of the composite musical sound desired; (b) producing in a conductor resultant undulations out of the undulations ^[end of page 25^] produced, as above mentioned, in a plurality of circuits; and (c) translating the built-up electrical undulations into composite aerial vibrations of similar wave form. — ^[etc.^] ^[p. 25, lines 112 to 134; p. 26, lines 1 to 4^] ^[...^], — 42) In an electrical music-generating system, and in combination, (a) a plurality of common-receiver vibration-translating devices; (b) a multiplicity of electrical vibration-circuits; (c) a multiplicity of rotatory rate-governors, serving by their rotations to cause electrical vibrations, of different frequencies, to be produced in the circuits before mentioned; (d) driving mechanism for said rotatory rate-governors, whereby different rate-governors are given different angular velocities; and (e) a keyboard of pitch-keys, controlling the action of the vibration-generating devices upon the vibration-translating apparatus. ^[p. 30, lines 27 to 41^] ^[...^] — 48) An electrical music-distributing system, having a plurality of common-receiver vibration-translating devices, disposed in different places, in combination with an electrical music-generating apparatus, serving to supply music electrically to the various common-receiver vibration-translating devices aforesaid, said electrical music-generating apparatus including (a) electrical vibration-generators, serving to produce electrical vibrations answering to the notes of a musical scale,by induction, and each, in general including a rotatory rate-governor; (b) driving mechanism for said rotatoty rate-governor; and (c) a keyboard of pitch-keys, controlling the action of ^[end of page 30^] the electrical vibration-generators upon the vibration-translating devices aforesaid. ^[p. 30, lines 120 to 134; p. 31, lines 1 to 2^] ^[...^] — 56) In an electrical music-generating system, and in combination therein with one or more common-receiver vibration-translating devices, an organization serving to produce electrical undulations corresponfing to the notes of a musical scale and including a multiplicity of current)-mundulation circuits,serving for tones of different pitches; the current-undulation circuits serving for low tones having relatively large amounts of self-induction; the current-undulation circuits seving for tones of mediumpitch having less amounts of self-induction; the current-undulation circuits serving for tones of high pitch, having relatively small amounts of self-induction; such varying amounts of self-induction being given to the different current-undulation circuits that in general each circuit tends strongly to suppress the higher overtones and harsher components of the electrical tone or tones for which it serves, without injuriously weakening the ground tone or ground tones thereof; and inductional undulation-generating mechanism, serving to produce the requisite electrical undulations in the various circuits before mentioned, such undulation-generating mechanism including an organization of rotatory rate-governors, with suitable driving mechanism therefor. ^[p. 32, lines 10 to 38^] ^[...^] — 75) In an electrical music-generating system, a composite-tone-generating device including, in combination, a circuit, and a plurality of vibration-generating devices, having vibration frequencies corresponding to different partials of the same composite tone, serving to produce vibrations in the circuit before mentioned; and a key, controlling the vibration-generating devices before mentioned. ^[p. 34, lines 112 to 121^] ^[...^] »'' (Art of and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically — Specification forming part of Letter Patent No. 580,035, dated April 6, 1897 — Application filed February 4, 1896, Serial No. 578,046. (No. Model.))\| * '''6.5.8.1 — Le Second Telharmonium (1906)''' \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|tl ''The New York Electric Music Company and The Second Telharmonium (or Dynamophone) — The first performances of this Telharmonium (or as Cahill called it the Dynamophone) were made from the Cabot Street Mill workshop and were transmitted to the Hotel Hamilton about a half-mile away. Later, in 1904, Cahill made a transmission from Holyoke to New Haven Connecticut. In 1905 Crosby established another corporation, this one in New York City (the New England Electric Music Company was established in New Jersey). He made a deal with the New York Telephone Company to lay special lines so that he could transmit the signals from the Telharmonium throughout the city. By 1906 the new Telharmonium was beginning to take shape. 50 people were now working in Holyoke to build this massive machine. Four years and $200,000 later, it was now 60 feet long, weighed almost 200 tons and incorporated over 2000 electric switches. The newer model featured 145 gear driven alternators (or dynamos). These provided more accurate intonation than the previous design and produced 36 notes per octave with frequencies between 40 - 4000 Hz. Also, the custom receivers were improved to eliminate some of the inconsistencies of the earlier models, which tended to "shout" some notes out more than others. In the summer of 1906 the Telharmonium was dismantled and loaded onto thirty railroad cars, and moved to New York City. It was assembled in the Broadway building at Broadway and 39th Street, in New York's theater district, across the street from the Metropolitan Opera House and the Casino Theatre. The machinery, the dynamoes and switching system, were very noisy. They were installed in the basement, while the performance console was installed in the newly built Music Hall at street level. Not only could the music be piped throughout New York, but there were also speakers installed at Music Hall for the public to hear. The New York debut of the Telharmonium (or Dynamophone as it was sometimes called) was on September 26th, 1906. Oscar T. Crosby gave a speech and a concert was performed for the public and potential customers. Music was usually played by two people (4 hands) and consisted of mostly classical works by Bach, Chopin, Grieg, Rossini and others. The company had boasted that the Telharmonium had enough power to supply "fifteen or twenty thousand subscribers" and that they had plans to have four separate circuits with different music on each line. A few weeks later, on November 9th, the first subscriber to the piped in music was the Café Martin, a large restaurant on 26th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway. But trouble soon erupted when patrons of the New York Telephone Company complained of music bleeding into their telephone conversations. Although the Telharmonium had separate cables, they were laid right next the phone company cables and, due to the strength of the Telharmonium's signal, there was significant crosstalk. The telephone company notified Crosby that they intended to terminate their agreement to supply cables for the Telharmonium. Crosby scrambled to find a way to lay their own cables. The winter of 1907 proved promising for the New York Electric Music Company. New subscribers included the very well know restaurant, Louis Sherry's, the Casino Theatre (which was across the street), the Museum of Natural History on 81st Street, the Normandie Hotel and the prestigious the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. They even had a few wealthy subscribers who had the music piped into their private homes. A series of public performances (eventually, 4 a day!) were also given on location, at what was now called Telharmonic Hall. The music was piped out into the streets for passers-by to hear. They secured glowing testimonials from celebrities who came to hear, including Walter Damrosch and Giacomo Puccini. The Telharmonium was even transmitted through the air using Lee De Forest's new audion wireless transmitter. However the static and the interference from wireless telegraphs made the signal less than desirable. Not to mention, the Navy complained that their wireless transmissions were being interrupted by the sounds of Rossini Overtures. Crosby, meanwhile had secured a franchise to lay their own cables for the Telharmonium. This involved going as far as Albany, the state capital, to get a bill through the legislature permitting a New York State corporation to "be formed for transmitting music." Although these and many other hurdles were overcome, the New York Electric Music Company still didn't have enough subscribers to make their business profitable. When Crosby could not get support for the project (even AT&T had declined) he left the company. It was now in the hands of Frederick C. Todd. But the general financial troubles of the time (including the "Panic of 1907") drove away investors, as well as subscribers. By February, 1908, the public concerts stopped. And in May the New York Electric Music Company collapsed. The Telharmonium was shut down and the doors to Telharmonic Hall were locked. -- The Third Telharmonic — Cahill dismantled the Telharmonium and shipped it back to the workshop in Holyoke. He then began working on a third Teleharmonic. Of course, this instrument was even bigger than the previous two, with newer and more powerful alternators which eliminated some of the bass and volume issues of the previous model. In 1910, Cahill demonstrated the new Telharmonium in Holyoke, Massachusetts to 200 interested people from New York, Boston, and other Cities. Cahill, along with his brothers, George and Arthur, reformed the company as The New York Cahill Telharmonic Company, renegotiated a franchise with the city of New York, and, in August 1911, installed the new Telharmonium in a building at 535 West 56th Street, New York City. In February 1912, the new Telharmonium was demonstrated at Caregie Hall. However, the public had grown tired of it. The novelty had worn off. The press were unimpressed. The new Wurlitzer organ had stolen much attention away from the Telharmonium, as did the growing popularity of wireless transmissions. The company fell into debt and in December 1914 the New York Cahill Telharmonic Company declared bankruptcy. No recordings of the Telharmonium have survived. In 1950 Arthur T. Cahill, Thaddeus's brother, tried to find a home for the only remaining instrument, the first prototype. But nobody was interested so he sold it for scrap. But the technology, the ideas of tonewheels that Cahill originated, still lives on. Many of the concepts from the Telharmonium were later incorporated into the Hammond Organ. But by the time Hammond was developed, electrical amplification was a fact of life, so the tonewheels could be much smaller, making the Hammond at least a little bit more portable. (Jay Williston, "Thaddeus Cahill's Teleharmonium") — An Electrical Machine for the production of music and the system of distribution — In the new art of telharmony we have the latest gift of electricity to civilization, an art which, while abolishing every musical instrument, from the jew's-harp to the 'cello, gives everybody cheaply, and everywhere, more music than they ever had before. There are so many fundamental and revolutionary ideas embodied in the invention that it will be a long time before we grasp or grow accustomed to them all and only one or two can now be accentuated. Electricity has been the greatest centralizing, unifying, force these hundred years, and the "tie that binds" is distinctively made of wire. The art of telharmony pushes one degree further the dominant principle of current-production embodied in the telegraph office, the telephone exchange, the electric-light plant, and the trolley power-house ; and it emphasizes just a little bit more the practice of drawing out from the circuit, at the point of consumption, just what is needed for intelligence, communication, illumination, heat, traction, and what not. For such service the American people spent, last year, one billion dollars, and now it is going to add its music bill to that modest sum, because there will be economy and gain in it. That the sounds of music can be transmitted over a line wire is nothing novel. In a rudimentary way, the systems of harmonic telegraphy based on tuned "reeds" point the way ; and the very earliest work in telephony in Europe and America dealt rather with music than with speech. Many of us have laid our ear-flaps over a telephone receiver and listened to music transmitted from a distant opera house or concert hall or church ; and some of us have even seen a rollicking phonograph cylinder, in New York, sing songs and "A Life on the Ocean Wave" with the purpose of dispelling the dull gloom in distant Philadelphia. All of this was excellently well ; but in each instance the music received and delivered came, triturated and emasculated by the trip, from an instrument. In the Cahill telharmonium we have changed all that, and we enter a pure democracy of musical electrical waves from among which, at will, those that please us best can be selected, to give us any tune or tone or timbre that we want. ^[...^] The new system of telharmony has need neither of sounding brass nor of twanging string. Whether piano, violin, pipe organ, or flute, all are alike and indifferent to it, because along time lines that Helmholtz laid down, and that the foremost electrical invention of our time has been following, Dr. Thaddeus Cahill has devised a mechanism which throws on to the circuits, manipulated by the performer at the central keyboard, the electrical current waves that, received by the telephone diaphragm at any one of ten thousand subscribers' stations, produce musical sounds of unprecedented clearness, sweetness, and purity. In the future, Paderewskis will not earn their living by occasional appearances in isolated halls, but as central-station operators, probably in obscurity and seclusion, but charming a whole cityful at the same instant. ^[...^] The Cahill telharmonium may be compared with a pipe organ. The performer at its keyboard, instead of playing upon air in the pipes, plays upon the electric current that is being generated in a large number of small dynamo-electric machines of the "alternating-current" type. ^[...^] In each alternator the current surges to and fro at a different frequency or rate of speed,--thousands and thousands of times a minute ; and this current as it reaches the telephone at the near or the distant station causes the diaphragm of that instrument to emit a musical note characteristic of that current whenever it is generated at just that "frequency" or rate of vibration in the circuit. ^[...^] The performer at this keyboard has a receiver close at his side, so that he can tell exactly how he is playing to his unseen audience ; and it is extraordinary to note how easily and perfectly the electric currents are manipulated so that with their own instantaneity they respond to every wave of personal emotion and every nuance of touch. It is, indeed, this immediateness of control and the singular purity of tone that appeal to the watchful listener. A musician will readily understand how the timbre is also secured from such resources, for with current combinations yielding the needed harmonics, string, brass, and wood effects, etc.; can be obtained simply by mixing the harmonics,--that is, the current,--in the required proportions. ^[...^] Such music can obviously be laid on anywhere,--in homes, hospitals, factories, restaurants, theaters, hotels, wherever an orchestra or a single musician has served before, or wherever there is a craving for music. The dream of Bellamy in "Looking Backward" is thus realized, and beautiful music is dispensed everywhere for any one who cares to throw the switch.'' (Thomas Commerford Martin, April 1906)\| \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|tl ''« Music-Generating and Music-Distributing Apparatus —Specification of Letters Patent : 1,107,261, Patented Aug. 18, 1914 — Original application filed August 10, 1895, Serial No. 558,939. Divided and this application filed February 10, 1902, Serial No. 93,433. Renewed January 10, 1914. Serial No. 811,497. — ^[...^] Attempts have been made to distribute music heretofore, by a) first producing, with the usual instruments of music, vibrations of the air; b) translating these vibrations into electrical vibrations by means of microphones or other similar devices; and c) transmitting these electrical vibrations from the central station to a plurality of places simultaneously and there translating the electrical vibrations into aerial vibrations by means of receiving telephones of the well known kind. The practical difficulty with this method of generating and distributing music electrically, lies in the fact that the aerial vibrations produced in the first instance, measured dynamically, are of little power and the electrical vibrations produced from them, by means of microphones, are usually of much less power, so that the sounds produced by the receiving instruments are feeble - so feeble that ordinarily it is necessary to hold the receiving telephone to the ear to hear the music. And if a loud-sounding telephone apparatus be used by microphone transmitters, then the sounds produced are usually harsh. Another method of generating and distributing music electrically has been contrived, which consists in producing the requisite electrical vibrations at the central station, by means of rheotomes. » ^[p.1, lines 22 to 52^] »'' (Music-Generating and Music-Distributing Apparatus —Specification of Letters Patent : 1,107,261, Patented Aug. 18, 1914 — Original application filed August 10, 1895, Serial No. 558,939. Divided and this application filed February 10, 1902, Serial No. 93,433. Renewed January 10, 1914. Serial No. 811,497.)\| \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|tl ''« Art of and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically — Specification of Letters Patent : 1,213,804, Patented Jan. 23, 1917 — Continuation of applications Serial No. 43,944, filed January 19, 1901; Serial No. 145,197, filed February 26, 1903, and Serial Nos. 194,112 and 194,113, filed February 17, 1904. This application filed April 27, 1015. Serial no. 24,190. — ^[...^] In Letters Patent of the United States to me No. 580,035, dated April 6, 1897, is described an art of and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically. My present invention consists in certain improvements in that art and in the apparatus for practising the same, which are herinafter described, by means of which improvements certain new and useful effects are produced, which have never, so far as I am aware, been produced before. More particularly, the objects of my invention are to improve the character or quality of music that is produced electrically; to increase the facilities for expression, afforded to the performers; to increase the number of subscribers’ instruments that can be supplied with musical electrical vibrations for a single central-station instrument and to enable the individual subscribers to regulate the power of the musical sounds produced upon their premises by the electrical vibrations transmitted from the central station, each subscriber independently of the others. ^[p. 2, lines 5 to 29^] ^[...^] — Part Three — The producing of music electrically in many places from one central station or the producing of music in any manner by means of alternators is, so far as I am aware, wholly new; and I have had no precedents to aid me an no experience to go by, save that derived from my own experiments. The apparatus is necessarily complicated and many features enter into the problem, each of which is more or less important in producing good results. A poor musical effect is produced comparatively easily, but a thoroughly artistic musical effect or even good commercial music involves close attention to many things. For attaining the best effects, the following points may be mentioned in addition to those explained above, namely : First) By using for each order of harmonics, a line of its own, as illustrated in Fig. 92, with one or more receivers on each subscriber’s premises, connected with each line circuit, a louder and more brilliant musical effect can be produced, than with the system illustrated in Figs. 3, 3A, 5, 6, etc., in which a single receiver is used to translate electrical vibrations, corresponding to all the harmonics and notes, into audible music. But the greatly increased cost of the numerous lines and vibration-translating devicess necessitated by this plan is a serious drawback and quite prohibitive in many cases. The matter of line circuits and receivers is a somewhat complicated one and ^[end of page 56^] various other arrangements of line circuits and receivers are illustrated and described in detail in my other pending applications No. 436,013, filed June 1, 1908; No. 485,645, filed March 25, 1909; No. 513,961, filed August 21, 1909; and I consider it sufficient to refer here to the descriptions contained in the above-mentioned applications, and do not consider that it is necessary to repeat in this place the lengthy and detailed descriptions of apparatus for the purpose which are given in the above applications. - Second) In central-station plants and even with small, isolated plants, it is deisrable to separate the performer spacially from the alternators and running machinery, preferably by placing the alternators and machinery in one room and the keyboards in another room, which is separated from the first and is, as far as practicable, insulated acoustically therefrom. The room in which the keyboards are placed (which we may call the music-room) is furnished with receivers or vibration-translating devices which are connected electrically with the lines or mains, so that the performer hears the same music, as he plays, which the subscribers hear, in their more or less distant houses. The switchboards and inductoriums or transformers may be placed in the music-room, of that be large enough; but there are sounds in the switchboards and inductoriums, resulting from the operation of the switches, and from the magnetic changes that go on in the inductoriums; and for this reason, it is preferable to keep them out of the music-room and to place them either in the same room with the alternators or in a third room. ^[p. 56, lines 95 to 130; p. 57, lines 1 to 39^] ^[...^] — 15) An electrical music-generating and distributing system, including, in combination, A) a vibration-generating plant, loacted at a central station; B) a plurality of telephonic receivers, located respectively on different premises more or less remote from said central station; and C) lines or mains electrically connecting the telephonic receivers, located on different premises as aforesaid, with the central station, so that said telephonic receivers are affected simultaneously by the electrical currents sent out from said central station; the central-station music-generating plant aforesaid including, a) electrical vibration-generating devices, having frequencires corresponding to the notes of a musical scale; b) switches, whereby said vibration-generating devices are caused to act, each as required, on the lines or mains aforesaid, to produce their respective vibrations therein; and c) an expression-device, whereby the intensity of the vibrations transmitted from the central station to the telephonic receivers, located on different premises as aforesaid, is controlled at the will of the performer ^[p.69, lines 50 to 74^] ^[...^] »'' (Art of and apparatus for generating and distributing music electrically — Specification of Letters Patent : 1,213,804, Patented Jan. 23, 1917 — Continuation of applications Serial No. 43,944, filed January 19, 1901; Serial No. 145,197, filed February 26, 1903, and Serial Nos. 194,112 and 194,113, filed February 17, 1904. This application filed April 27, 1015. Serial no. 24,190.)\| * '''6.5.8.3 — Telharmonium concert (1906)''' \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|t \|tl ''« First ^[sic^] Public Cahill Telharmonium Concert — 261st Meeting of the New York Electrical Society — September 26, 1906 — PROGRAM — Examples of some of the tone qualities made possible by the instrument : Flute, Cornet, Clarinet, Oboe, French Horn. — (by Mr. Carl Schulz :) Rossini, “Oboe solo from Overture of William Tell”; Mendelssohn, “Song Without Words”, Op. 102 no. 3; Schumann, “Träumerei”; Grieg, “Humoresque”, Op. 6 no. 3; (by Mr. Henry W. Geiger :) Haydn, “Rondo”; (by Miss Florence Fiske, accompanied by Mr. Franklin Harris :) McDowell, “Thy Beaming Eyes”; Burleigh, “Jean”; Jamison, “Lullaby”; (by Mr. Harold Smith :) Illustrations : Dixie, with fife and drums, & Scotch Air, with bagpipes; (by Mr. Edwin Pierce :) Thomé, “Under the Leaves”; Beethoven, “Trio”, Op. 55; (by Messrs. Pierce and Geiger :) Godard, “Berceuse”; (by Messrs. Pierce and Schulz :) Old songs : “Ave-Maria”, Bach-Gounod; (by Messrs. Schulz and Harris :) Goltermann, “Andante from Cello Concerto”. »''\| {br}{br} ---- ---- ---- {br}{br} {html} <TABLE BORDER="0" WIDTH="100%"> <TR> <TD ALIGN="center"> <b><A HREF="index.php?page=PubliTelemusC2010"><<<<<<<< chapitre précédent</A>   —   <A HREF="index.php?page=PubliTelemusE2010">chapitre suivant >>>>>>>></A></b> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> {/html} {br}{br} {br}{br} {br}{br} ---- {plugin:FOOT_NOTES} {br}{br}
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