5 Chapter 4 His Invention Factory

Chapter 4 His Invention Factory In the mid 1800s, a man in France and a man in Massachusetts both came up with ways to record sound—but as a pattern on paper much the way the dots and dashes of Morse code look on paper. Nobody had figured out how to record sounds and play them back so they could be heard again. That's what Tom wanted to do. He had an idea. But he didn't know if it would work. He had drawn some rough sketches. But that was all.

19世纪中期，一个法国人和一个马萨诸塞州人都想出了记录声音的方法——不过是以一种模式记录在纸上，就像莫尔斯电码的点和线在纸上的样子。 当时还没有人知道如何把声音录下来，然后放出来，让人们再次听到。 这就是汤姆想做的。 他有了一个主意。但他不知道这是否有效。 他画了一些粗略的草图。 但仅此而已。

For eight months Tom and his team kept working on his idea for a phonograph. They were working on other inventions too. They were not in a big hurry. But then an article appeared in an important magazine, Scientific American. It said that Thomas Edison had invented an amazing machine. It played the human voice. "A wonderful

八个月来，汤姆和他的团队一直在研究他的留声机的想法。 他们也在研究其他的发明。 他们并不着急。 但后来一篇文章出现在一本重要的杂志《科学美国人》上。 上面说托马斯·爱迪生发明了一种神奇的机器。 它播放了人类的声音。 “一个美好的

invention," they announced with great fanfare. Tom knew that everyone would be asking to hear his amazing phonograph. Now Tom was in a big hurry. Had someone at Menlo Park told a reporter about what Tom was working on? Maybe. Tom didn't mind. Maybe he even knew who had told the magazine about the phonograph. He liked publicity. But now he had to make his phonograph. And soon. It was November 1877. Tom sat down and did another rough sketch. He gave it to his best machinist. Anyone else might look at his drawing and wonder how to follow it. But this machinist was used to Tom's sketches. A week later he came back with a model.

他们大张旗鼓地宣布。 汤姆知道每个人都会要求听他那神奇的留声机。 现在汤姆非常着急。 门洛帕克有人告诉过记者汤姆在做什么吗? 也许吧。汤姆并不介意。也许他甚至知道是谁把留声机的事告诉了杂志。 他喜欢出风头。但现在他得做留声机了。 而且很快。那是1877年11月。 汤姆坐下来又画了一幅草图。 他把它给了他最好的机械师。 其他人可能会看着他的画，想知道如何跟随它。 但这个机械师已经习惯了汤姆的草图。 一周后，他带着一个模型回来了。

The model had a long screw with a handle at one end. The screw ran through the middle of a metal cylinder wrapped in tinfoil. On either side of the cylinder was a metal disk with a pin and a short hollow tube.

这个模型有一个一端带把手的长螺丝。 螺丝钉穿过一个用锡纸包裹着的金属圆筒的中间。 在圆柱体的两侧是一个金属圆盘，上面有一个大头针和一个短空心管。

Tom leaned toward the machine, turned the handle, and spoke into one of the tubes as the cylinder moved along the screw. "Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go." The sound of Tom's voice made the metal disk with the pin vibrate and scratch a sound pattern on the tinfoil. When he stopped speaking, Tom pulled the pin away from the cylinder. He turned the handle in the opposite direction and moved the cylinder back to where it had been. He put the pin on the other side against the cylinder.

汤姆靠向机器，转动手柄，对着其中一根管子说话。 “玛丽有一只小羊羔。它的羊毛像雪一样白。 无论玛丽走到哪里，小羊羔总是跟着她。” 汤姆的声音使带针的金属圆盘震动起来，在锡纸上刮出了一个声音图案。 当他停止说话时，汤姆把别针从圆筒上拔了下来。 他朝相反的方向转动手柄，把汽缸移回原来的位置。 他把别针放在圆筒的另一边。

HOW THE PHONOGRAPH WORKS

留声机是如何工作的