[LB050503], Letter from Alfred Ord Tate to James H Howe, Chicago St Paul Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, August 1st, 1891
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/LB050503
Transcription
August 1, 1891. James H. Howe, Esq., Gen’l Counsel, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha R'w. Co., St. Paul, Minn. Dear Sir:- Mr. Edison has received your letter of 20th ultimo, in which you suggest the use of a phonograph or railway locomotives for registering the sounds produced by bell or whistle when rung or blown, the object being to probe that the law which requires railway companies to cause a whistle to be sounded or a bell to be rung at highway crossings has been complied with. In reply Mr. Edison has instructed me to say that you do not require a phonograph to accomplish this object. An ordinary Watchman’s Detector, if placed on engine and connected with the whistle handle, would show on a sheet of paper the exact time at which the whistle was blown over the whole route. Another method would be to put a Revolution Counter on the locomotive, working the paper only when going forward, and connecting the whistle handle to marking pencil on paper. This would show within a few feet the exact spot where the whistle was blown. Your Master Mechanic can do this. Yours very truly, A.O. Tate Private Sec’y. M.