The Cass County Sun (Linden, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 30, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 24, 1928 Page: 2 of 8
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IMeetMr.TeleVox., ti
Mechanical "Man A
TALKING
WITH MR.TEXEVOX
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••• •:
MR.TEIEYOX, 7>}E DRIUt-MASTE*,
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By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
HERB Is an old story
about a man who went
to a circus, and when
lie saw a giraffe for
the tirst time In Ills
life, exclaimed: "There
ain't no such animal.
A few years? ttj". if
you had told the aver-
age American that
there could be devel-
oped a mechanical "man" of steel
and Iron who could be told to per-
form certain tasks and would do
them, his reply would probably be
similar to the exclamation of the old
fellow who saw his first giraffe. And
yet the ingenuity of an American in-
ventor has developed such a man, but
what is more remarkable still is the
fact "that he has given his automaton
a "voice," and it can now "talk back!"
If you nre Inclined to say "There ain't
no such man '."—meet "Mr. Televox"
and his Inventor, It. J. Wensley of the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufac-
turing company!
When Mr. Wensley first brought his
mechanical "man" into being, all that
"he" could do was to obey certain
commands to accomplish certain speci-
fied results. "He" could be culled up-
on the telephone and would open and
close switches and record the condi-
tion of instruments or mechanisms with
which "he" was connected. But now
Mr. Wensley has given him a "larynx,"
and the process can bo reversed, so
that If a report becomes necessary
"Mr. Televox's" mechanical arm lifts
the receiver of a telephone and his
"voice" snys "This is Televox calling
Main 0100." After the telephone con-
nection la made, the "conversation"
(albeit a prearranged one) Is contin-
ued until certain information Is con-
veyed.
As to how "Mr. Televox" has "found
his voice," It cnn best he explained In
the words of Mr. Wensley himself,
who says:
To give the mechanism means for
omitting; articulate speech of good
quality, use Is made of development*
in the "talklnir movie" industry. A
piece of moving picture film about 15
or 20 feet long Is spliced to make an
endless loop. In the present model
two sentences are Hpolcen. These are
photographed near the two edges of the
MR,.TELEVOX'S! .LARYNX
Above: Mr. Wensley speaks with
"Mr. Televox!" Like a perfect gentle-
man, the Westinghouse automaton re-
sponds in a smooth, well-articulated
voice. The ability to talk is newly ac-
quired, for "Mr. Televox" is less than
a year old. Unlike human beings, he
has an external "larynx," which is the
large box a^ the right. The "vocal
chord" is composed of voice oscilla-
tions recorded on a movie film in the
box.
Lower left: (International News-
reel Photo) "Mr. Televox" further
demonstrated his manifold uses when
he put a section of the First battalion,
Sixteenth infantry, stationed at Gov-
ernors island, New York city, through
a portion of the manual of arms re-
cently.
Lower right: f-lere is the "larnyx"
of "Mr. Televox," the Westinghouse
mechanical man. Mr. Wensley, inven-
tor of the automaton, ssems puzzled
as he looks over the "vocal chord,"
which Is nothing but a movie film of
voice oscillations. Perhaps he won-
ders whether the language is absolute-
ly fit and proper for reproduction be-
fore ladles. Or maybe he merely is
wondering how he can get this huge
"vocal organ" into the windpipe of
"Mr. Televox." Unlike human beings,
Mr. Televox never suffers from colds.
O
the meajitlme the person at the distav.
end has heard tlie number of the tele-
phone to which he has been connected
and should it be a wrong number, will
be able to hang up and signal the op-
erator again to get the correct num-
ber However, should the dispatcher
have made this call with the expec-
tation of operating something In the
substation, he listens for the voice and
as soon as ho lias verified the correct-
ness of the nun:her of the substation
as Indicated by the telephone number,
he blows a blast on the proper whistle
and the voice ceases and the machine
Is then In condition for further opera-
tion by means of the whistle notes.
Should a circuit breaker open auto-
matically, the Televox is put into ac-
tion and lifts the receiver of the tele-
phone and immediately begins saylnK
at intervals, "This is the Televox call-
ing for Main 5000." This will be con-
tinued at Intervals until the central
operator Is able to complete "the con-
nection to the dispatcher's telephone.
Ah soon as he hears this voice, he will
step It by a blast of the proper whistle
and then proceed to question the ma
chine by further whistles as to whnt
<ias happened. The answers to these
questions will be in the buzzer code
which the dispatcher understands.
As soon as the whistle stops the
/olce, the motor is also stopped and
the lamps extinguished ao that the
film is in use onl^ a very short time.
standard film, the rest of It being left
blank. The sound appears In the form
of cloudy spaced lines of various
nhn.de* nnd widths and frequency. In
dividual lamps with spe'lal straight
filament sre arranged w(th lenses to
concentrate the light en a very nar-
row portion of the film at any one
time.
A small motor drives the film when-
ever the voice Is required. A selecting
mechanism In the televox lights either
one of the two lamps depending upon
the sentence desired. The Image of the
filament Is projected through a nar-
row slot onto the speech record through
which It passes to a photo-cell. A photo,
cell posses current directly in propor-
tion to the nmount of light falling on
It. As the lines on the film pass In
front of the light, the corresponding
change of currents which take place
In the photo-cell are amplified through
a special, shielded three stage ampli-
fier to a volume sufficient to operate
a small loud speaker. This speaker Is
placed In front of the telephone trans-
mitter nnd Is heard by the person at
the other end of the telephone line ex-
actly as though a human being were
speaking the words Into the trans-
mitter.
When a call Is put through to a sub-
station equipped with a Televox hav-
ing this voice attachment, the person
at the remote end will hear a voice
saying, "Televox speaking at RandoUh
6400." This will repeat a second time
and If the proper signal is not given
by means of whistles or other musical
devices, the Televox will then hang uj>
the receiver upon the assumption that
the call is a wrong number call. In
While the usefulness of "Mr. Tele-
vox" Is ut present restricted to oper-
ation In the field of telephony, this
newest development has great sig-
nificance. For, as Mr. Wensley says,
4> "The udditiott of this uutomatlc volca
considerably broadens the possible
Held of application for the Televox.
It Is not limited to the speaking of
the two sentences but may be made
to answer quite a number of questions
correctly when necessity for such an-
swers has been determined in advance.
For instance, where It is not desired
to use code signals Indicating the
amount of water In the reservoir, this
mechanism can be made to state the
height of water in feet, or it can be
made to say that machine is cool or a
machine is hot, or a machine is dan-
gerously hot. It can be made to re-
peat any port of routine report that
can be selected by electrical circuits."
Considering what has already been
accomplished in the development of
this automaton, it would be a rasti
person Indeed who would venture to
prcdlct now what the future limita-
tions In other fields of usefulness for
"Mr. Televox" and his "children" will
be. For, more and more, we are learn-
ing how foolish Is any declaration of
"It can't be done!" when American In-
ventive genius sets about to prove that
It can, no matter what "it" may
kr Ginghams or Organdies
^ useFAULTLESS STARCH
NO better evidence that FAULT-
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starch—that, it needs, nothing
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FAULTLESS STARCH is a complete
product To add anything to FAULTLESS
STARCH would spoil it.
It has cxactly the right con-
sistency, is free from lumps, is
velvety and han no "specks".
It is a clean starch. Your irons
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clothes will be soft and pliable
and have a beautiful gloss.
Clothes starched the FAULT-
LESS WAY look better and
wear longer as Faultless
Starch penetrates every thread
and fibre of the fabrics.
For 40 years in more than a
million homes, housewives have
found that the "Faultless way
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FAULTLESS STARCH CO,
Kansas City, Missouri.
QauJtless Starch is Sold Sv&rywher&
Something Wrong?
A teacher In one of the city schools
told her four-year-old son, Freddie,
Jr., that he was to go to school with
her the following day. The mother
explained to her son that boys and
girls do not talk in school and that
he should not talk.
Freddie .Tr. Inquired: "What's the
matter with them?"—Indianapolis
News.
No Wonder
Judge—You were going sixty miles
an hour.
Autoist—I couldn't help It. Tills po-
liceman was chasing me!
Easy Enough
Every day Is tag day for the father Sickness never makes any explana-
of a large family. tions. It just arrives.
Kill the Poisonous Mosquito!
£
THEY are annoying and
dangerous. You can
easily kill them.
Bee Brand Powder or
Liquid offer two easy and
effective ways of destroying them.
Useeltherfor indoor use.Llquid
has a delightfully fragrant cedar
odor. On plants and pets use the
powder.Theyare harmless toman-
kind and domestic animals. Non-
poisonous. Won't spot or stain.
BEE BRAND
PowJtr Liquid
10c end 25c 50c«nd75e
50c and $1.00 $1.25
30o lAmOal JSC
If your duUt cannot nipply —writ* m.
Inttcl kooklit ttnl upon nqutit.
it kills them f
McCormkfc 0C Co., Baltimore, M«L
INSECT POWDER J
or tiomnrm
W a Fine Tonic.
W'Stohi?8 Builds You Up
" ^ Prevents and Relieve*
Malaria-Chills and Fever-Dencue
Resourceful Rancher
Lack of natural gas or gas from a
city plant does not deprive Soren
Christensen, who lives on a ranch near
Marton, Wash., of cooking and light-
ing conveniences. From 110 pounds
of musty alfalfa hay, straw, Russian
thistles, sage brush, cornstalks, weeds
sawdust and other refuse he manu-
factures by baking two hours in a
retort enough gas to last the family
seven days.
"Ilow can you know all about notes
and yet not understand music?"
"I am a hanker!"
.
Lu I I
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Banger, J. E. A. & Erwin, W. L. The Cass County Sun (Linden, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 30, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 24, 1928, newspaper, July 24, 1928; Linden, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth341250/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Atlanta Public Library.