This can be done in advance while the new
record is being made, so that no time is lost in the operation. A small
voltaic battery, placed under the machine, serves to work the electric
motor, and has to be replenished from time to time. A process has also
been devised for making copies of the phonograms in metal by electro-
deposition, so as to produce permanent records. But even the wax
phonogram may be used over and over again, hundreds of times, without
diminishing the fidelity of the reproduction.
The entire phonograph is shown in our figure. [The figure is omitted
from this e-text] It consists of a box, B, containing the silent
electro-motor which drives the machine, and supporting the works for
printing and reproducing the sounds. Apart from the motive power, which
might, as in the graphophone, be supplied by foot, the apparatus is
purely mechanical, the parts acting with smoothness and precision.
These are, chiefly, the barrel or cylinder, C, on which the hollow wax
is placed; the spindle, S, which revolves the cylinder and wax; and the
two tympana, T, T', which receive the sounds and impress them on the
soft surface of the wax. A governor, G, regulates the movement of the
spindle; and there are other ingenious devices for starting and stopping
the apparatus.
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