MUSIC RECORD2R. Many forms of apparatus have been invented for writing down music in a legible form by the very act of playing it on a keyed instrument, such as the pianoforte or organ. Beginning with 1747, various attempts had been made practically to effect this object. when, in 1863, Mr. Fenby invented and patented his phonograph. (quitedistinct from Bell's phonograph, q.v.), in which he brought in the aid of electro magnetism. His chief aim, as an improvement on previous apparatus, was to devise a.. method of denoting the length of the notes, as well as their pitch and the interval between them. On pressing down any key of the instrument, a stud on the under side touches a spring; the spring sets in action a small clectro-magnetic apparatus, which causes a tracer to pass against a strip of paper moving onward at a uniform rate by means of a. cylinder and clockwork. The paper is chemically prepared, so as to receive a brown stain whenever the tracer passes along its surface. The length of each note is expressed by horizontal dashes of greater or less length, made by the tracer; and the arrangement is such as to denote the lines of the stave as well as the character of the note. By sub sidiary adjustments the apparatus is made to express accidental sharps and flats, changes of time, etc.
The abbe Moiguo's phonautograph, introduced to the British association in 1860, is a contrivance—not for noting down sounds in any kind of musical notation—but for caus ing a vibrating surface to tell its number and character of vibrations. A kind of spheroidal drum is covered at one end with a diaphragm or stretched membrane; a sheet of paper is carried along this drum-head by means of clockwork; and a system of small levers moves a pen. A tuning-fork, an organ-pipe, or the voice is sounded in proximity to the drum, the body of air within which acts as a re-enforcement of the sound; the membrane vibrates in a manner which can be felt by the pen, although not seen by the eye; and the pen makes zigzag markings on the paper. When the sound is produced by. a tuning-fork or an organ-pipe, the zigzag lines are so regular that they serve to count the number of vibrations belonging to each particular note. When the sound is that of a singing voice, the markings become very peculiar, especially in words containing the gutturals r, g, etc. For the more recent PHONOGRAPH, see under that head.