phonautograph
(fəʊˈnɔːtəgrɑːf, -æ-)
[= F. phonautographe (1855), f. Gr. ϕωνή voice + αὐτο- self + -graph -writer (i.e. recorder).]
An apparatus for automatically recording the vibrations of sound, by means of a membrane set in vibration by the sound-waves, and having a point attached which makes a tracing upon a revolving cylinder.
| 1859 Times 22 Sept. 9/2 (Brit. Assoc.) Section A. Phonautograph [mispr. -anto-], or Apparatus for the Self-Registering of the Vibrations of Sound. By Messrs. Scott and Kœnig... These splendid results of the powers of the phonautograph were never seen before the Aberdeen meeting. 1879 tr. Du Moncel's Telephone 11 This telephone..is based on the vibrating membrane of which Mr. L. Scott made use in his phonautograph, in 1855. 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 67 For some time I carried on experiments with the manometric capsule of Köenig and the phonautograph of Léon Scott. 1894 Dickson Edison 124 The phonautograph, a machine used for the delineations of the sound waves. |
Hence phoˈnautogram [cf. telegram], a record or tracing made by a phonautograph; phonautoˈgraphic a., of or pertaining to a phonautograph; phonautoˈgraphically adv., by means of a phonautograph.
| 1877 Nature 3 May 12/2 The capabilities of various membranes of taking impressions from vocal sounds for phonautographic purposes. 1888 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Jan. 53 The method..of reproducing sounds recorded phonautographically. 1890 Cent. Dict., Phonautogram. |