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Edison now went to work on his own and constructed a similar machine for himself, in order to study the principle of the thing. It incorporated the initial discovery that the sound-induced vibrations of a diaphragm could open and close an electrical circuit (by the make-and-break contact principle) thus acting on an electromagnet at the receiving station and causing it to give forth a corresponding sound or pitch. Edison found that while words were only indistinctly perceptible on the Reis apparatus, “the inflections of the voice, the modulations of interrogation, wonder, command, etc., attained distinct expression.”188 He attempted at first some electrochemical experiments with the simple Reis transmitter, then realized that one of the main problems would be to control and balance the variations of current. Shortly before moving to Menlo Park he had devised an apparatus for analyzing the various waves produced by different sounds. It consisted of two hollow metallic cylinders, one inside the other with a metallic base acting as a diaphragm. To this diaphragm was attached a magnet, which ran through the center of a coil and acted as a miniature generator, inducing slight currents in the coil according to the sound vibrations of the diaphragm. On January 14, 1876, he filed a caveat and drawings with the United States Patent Office, giving warning of this invention-in-progress and describing it. Then he put the matter aside, busying himself with other aspects of acoustical telegraphy and with several completely unrelated projects. Edison was late in entering the race for the telephone; half a dozen expert men had begun the investigation of the speaking telegraph years before him. He also showed great courage in undertaking such work in view of the fact that he was very hard of hearing.
The reason I keep a photo of that house is that it changed my life. To find that house and to move into it was my first act, as an adult, that embraced the idea of ambition. Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence.
Turning Pro
Steven Pressfield
This form of depression is a manifestation of the autonomy of the psyche. The ego, the conscious sense of who we are, wishes to invest energy in a certain direction, perhaps in service to economic goals, but the soul has another agenda. It autonomously withdraws the invested energy, inverts it, and as it withdraws into the psyche it often pulls the ego in after it.
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life
James Hollis
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