Music Trade Review
Issue: 1905 Vol. 40 N. 22 - Page 43
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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SEE THE PERSON WHOM YOU PHONE. and yet the little man has made good every state-
Portland Man Has Invented the Televue, or
Seeing Telephone—Can Talk to a Friend a
Thousand Miles Away and Sees His Image—
Stay at Home and See a Baseball Game or
Hear a Sermon and See the Preacher at the
Same Time—New Wonder To Be Exhibited
at Lewis and Clark Exposition.
Portland, Ore., May 10, 1905.
The "seeing telephone" is the latest. Its inven-
tor will have abundant opportunity this summer
to demonstrate his claims as to the marvelous
qualities of this device, for he has secured per-
mission to exhibit it in practical operation at the
Lewis and Clark Centennial, which opens in this
city June 1. If the invention turns out to be
what its creator claims, J. B. Fowler, of Port-
land, until a few weeks ago a laborer in a rail-
road shop, may rank with Edison, Marconi, Tesla
and other wizards of electrical discovery.
Mr. Fowler calls his device the "televue," and
says that by its operation one can see the image
of the person to whom he may be talking through
a telephone.
The varied possibilities of such an inven-
tion are obvious. This invention—or discovery,
as it might more properly be termed—appeals to
the average imagination even more vividly than
did the telegraph, or the telephone, or the phono-
graph, or wireless telegraphy.
The televue, which will be exhibited for the
first time at the Lewis and Clark Exposition, as
the telephone was at the Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia, in 1876, is no more nearly per-
fected than was Bell's arrangement at the time.
The inventor, meanwhile, believes that the tele-
vue within a few years will show greater im-
provements than either of the earlier inventions.
"Within a very few years," says Fowler, "either
I or somebody else will have perfected my in-
vention until by means of it a person can watch a
football game, or a prize fight, or a performance
at a theatre, without leaving his home."
Think of that a minute. It seems incredible;
ment he has made so far, and people who know
him and have seen his invention believe that he
is not boasting vainly. Within the past two
months more than a thousand people, most of
them skeptical, have visited the inventor's hum-
ble home in East Portland and seen with their
own eyes that the televue is no fake. Among
these people have been President H. W. Goode
and Director of Concessions John A. Wakefleld, of
the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and D. C. Free-
man, the president's secretary. The invention
will attract much attention at the Exposition,
where it will stand out as an unique exhibit
among the thousands of interesting displays to be
seen at the Western World's Fair.
J. B. Fowler, the inventor, is forty-four years
old, and a native of Ohio. He has to his credit
many inventions. He has not yet covered his in-
vention fully with patents, and is very careful
that no one shall know how the televue works.
For the spectator there is not a great deal to be
seen. On entering an ordinary telephone
booth one is confronted by a round plate
glass disk, about the size of a dessert
plate, beneath which is an ordinary tele-
phone receiver. In the upper portion of
the glass disk are two small apertures. The per-
son who is using the 'phone puts his face to the
plate, looks through the two holes, and talks as
through an ordinary telephone. The face of the
person to whom he is talking, or any object held
before the plate, is seen clearly, the scope of
vision, however, being confined to the size of the
plate.
Mr. Fowler contends, however, that if the size
of the plate were increased the line of vision
would be broadened, to permit the speaker to see
the head and shoulders of the person to whom he
is talking, instead of merely the face, as now.
Were the disk moved back a few inches, the
radiating lines which mark the confines of the
area of vision would be spread, so that a wider
angle would be made and the scope of vision
thereby vastly increased. In fact, everything
which comes within this wide area of vision
43
might be seen by a person at the other end of tho
televue. A wonderful feature of the device is
that the colors are brought out as vividly as in a
mirror.
When the improvements in the televue have
been made, as Mr. Fowler and many others be-
lieve they will, the scope of its usefulness will be
almost unlimited. For instance, a train despatcher
by means of it will be able to see all the trains
on his division at one time, watch their every
movement from start to finish. Think of the
saving of lives in railroad wrecks which this will
effect.
With a complete system of televues established
in a city, it will be possible for one to sit in his
parlor and watch everything that is going on in
the city within range of the televue—baseball and
football games, races and other outdoor events,
operas and plays, and other public entertainments
of all kinds. An elaboration will enable an in-
valid to watch an opera by televue and hear the
music through a perfected telephone. In fact, its
possibilities are endless.—W. E. Brindley, in Talk-
ing Machine World.
A RIBBON RECORD.
A New Commercial Machine Will Soon be on
the Market in Wnich Will be Used a Re-
cording Ribbon of Indefinite Length.
Wim a view to producing a commercial talking
machine that will be capable of making a record
of any length without stopping the machine, a re-
cording ribbon has been invented that is proving
in the experimental stages very successful. It
passes under the diaphragm and receives the rec-
ord, and is hardened to a sufficient degree by pass-
ing through a chemical bath. The ribbon can be
made of any length and any or the entire portion
used in making the record. Patents on this in-
vention have been applied for, and a company
for its manufacture is being formed.
A. Christensen has one of the handsomest
phonograph stores in Brooklyn.
S6e TALK-O-PHONE
The Perfect Talking Machine
Herbert .
Brooke .
Ennis.
Clarke .
Sousa.
$18.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
Write for catalogues
40.00
and dealers' discounts.
Our Talk-O-Phones have a better tone—louder, clearer,
richer, truer, a tone that is absolutely natural and reproduces
sound as no o t h e r t a l k i n g machine has ever done.
THE TALtt-O-PHONE COMPANY
Pacific Coast Distributing Point
24O-242 W. 23rd St.
NEW YORft CITY
Factory
TOLEDO, OHIO
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SEE THE PERSON WHOM YOU PHONE. and yet the little man has made good every state-
Portland Man Has Invented the Televue, or
Seeing Telephone—Can Talk to a Friend a
Thousand Miles Away and Sees His Image—
Stay at Home and See a Baseball Game or
Hear a Sermon and See the Preacher at the
Same Time—New Wonder To Be Exhibited
at Lewis and Clark Exposition.
Portland, Ore., May 10, 1905.
The "seeing telephone" is the latest. Its inven-
tor will have abundant opportunity this summer
to demonstrate his claims as to the marvelous
qualities of this device, for he has secured per-
mission to exhibit it in practical operation at the
Lewis and Clark Centennial, which opens in this
city June 1. If the invention turns out to be
what its creator claims, J. B. Fowler, of Port-
land, until a few weeks ago a laborer in a rail-
road shop, may rank with Edison, Marconi, Tesla
and other wizards of electrical discovery.
Mr. Fowler calls his device the "televue," and
says that by its operation one can see the image
of the person to whom he may be talking through
a telephone.
The varied possibilities of such an inven-
tion are obvious. This invention—or discovery,
as it might more properly be termed—appeals to
the average imagination even more vividly than
did the telegraph, or the telephone, or the phono-
graph, or wireless telegraphy.
The televue, which will be exhibited for the
first time at the Lewis and Clark Exposition, as
the telephone was at the Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia, in 1876, is no more nearly per-
fected than was Bell's arrangement at the time.
The inventor, meanwhile, believes that the tele-
vue within a few years will show greater im-
provements than either of the earlier inventions.
"Within a very few years," says Fowler, "either
I or somebody else will have perfected my in-
vention until by means of it a person can watch a
football game, or a prize fight, or a performance
at a theatre, without leaving his home."
Think of that a minute. It seems incredible;
ment he has made so far, and people who know
him and have seen his invention believe that he
is not boasting vainly. Within the past two
months more than a thousand people, most of
them skeptical, have visited the inventor's hum-
ble home in East Portland and seen with their
own eyes that the televue is no fake. Among
these people have been President H. W. Goode
and Director of Concessions John A. Wakefleld, of
the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and D. C. Free-
man, the president's secretary. The invention
will attract much attention at the Exposition,
where it will stand out as an unique exhibit
among the thousands of interesting displays to be
seen at the Western World's Fair.
J. B. Fowler, the inventor, is forty-four years
old, and a native of Ohio. He has to his credit
many inventions. He has not yet covered his in-
vention fully with patents, and is very careful
that no one shall know how the televue works.
For the spectator there is not a great deal to be
seen. On entering an ordinary telephone
booth one is confronted by a round plate
glass disk, about the size of a dessert
plate, beneath which is an ordinary tele-
phone receiver. In the upper portion of
the glass disk are two small apertures. The per-
son who is using the 'phone puts his face to the
plate, looks through the two holes, and talks as
through an ordinary telephone. The face of the
person to whom he is talking, or any object held
before the plate, is seen clearly, the scope of
vision, however, being confined to the size of the
plate.
Mr. Fowler contends, however, that if the size
of the plate were increased the line of vision
would be broadened, to permit the speaker to see
the head and shoulders of the person to whom he
is talking, instead of merely the face, as now.
Were the disk moved back a few inches, the
radiating lines which mark the confines of the
area of vision would be spread, so that a wider
angle would be made and the scope of vision
thereby vastly increased. In fact, everything
which comes within this wide area of vision
43
might be seen by a person at the other end of tho
televue. A wonderful feature of the device is
that the colors are brought out as vividly as in a
mirror.
When the improvements in the televue have
been made, as Mr. Fowler and many others be-
lieve they will, the scope of its usefulness will be
almost unlimited. For instance, a train despatcher
by means of it will be able to see all the trains
on his division at one time, watch their every
movement from start to finish. Think of the
saving of lives in railroad wrecks which this will
effect.
With a complete system of televues established
in a city, it will be possible for one to sit in his
parlor and watch everything that is going on in
the city within range of the televue—baseball and
football games, races and other outdoor events,
operas and plays, and other public entertainments
of all kinds. An elaboration will enable an in-
valid to watch an opera by televue and hear the
music through a perfected telephone. In fact, its
possibilities are endless.—W. E. Brindley, in Talk-
ing Machine World.
A RIBBON RECORD.
A New Commercial Machine Will Soon be on
the Market in Wnich Will be Used a Re-
cording Ribbon of Indefinite Length.
Wim a view to producing a commercial talking
machine that will be capable of making a record
of any length without stopping the machine, a re-
cording ribbon has been invented that is proving
in the experimental stages very successful. It
passes under the diaphragm and receives the rec-
ord, and is hardened to a sufficient degree by pass-
ing through a chemical bath. The ribbon can be
made of any length and any or the entire portion
used in making the record. Patents on this in-
vention have been applied for, and a company
for its manufacture is being formed.
A. Christensen has one of the handsomest
phonograph stores in Brooklyn.
S6e TALK-O-PHONE
The Perfect Talking Machine
Herbert .
Brooke .
Ennis.
Clarke .
Sousa.
$18.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
Write for catalogues
40.00
and dealers' discounts.
Our Talk-O-Phones have a better tone—louder, clearer,
richer, truer, a tone that is absolutely natural and reproduces
sound as no o t h e r t a l k i n g machine has ever done.
THE TALtt-O-PHONE COMPANY
Pacific Coast Distributing Point
24O-242 W. 23rd St.
NEW YORft CITY
Factory
TOLEDO, OHIO
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
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