Scientific amusements . of the ninth,—one is almost temptedto put a certain faith in the fundamental law of simpleratios as the basis of harmony. At first sight this appea-rsbeyond doubt, but perhaps musicians would be hardlycontent with the explanation. M. Tisleys Harmonograph,-it will be seen, is a rather complicated apparatus ; and Iwill now explain how it may be constructed by means ofa ie:W pieces of wood. I endeavoured to construct assimple an apparatus as possible, and with the commonest 168 SOUND. materials, feeling that it is the best means of showing howit is possible for everybody t
Scientific amusements . of the ninth,—one is almost temptedto put a certain faith in the fundamental law of simpleratios as the basis of harmony. At first sight this appea-rsbeyond doubt, but perhaps musicians would be hardlycontent with the explanation. M. Tisleys Harmonograph,-it will be seen, is a rather complicated apparatus ; and Iwill now explain how it may be constructed by means ofa ie:W pieces of wood. I endeavoured to construct assimple an apparatus as possible, and with the commonest 168 SOUND. materials, feeling that it is the best means of showing howit is possible for everybody to reproduce these charmingcurves of musical intervals. Also I completely excludedthe employment of metals, and I constructed my apparatusentirely with pieces of wooden rulers, and old cigar set to work in the following manner: on the two con-secutive sides of a drawing board I fixed four small piecesof wood {see cut, page 167), side by side in twos, havingat the end a small piece of tin-plate forming a groove. The apparatus completed. as in the cut above. In these grooves nails- are placodwhich support the pendulums. The piece of wood isplaced on the corner of the table, so that the pendulumswhich oscillate in two planes at right angles, are in twoplanes that are sensibly parallel to the sides of the pendulums are made of a thin lath, with two smallpieces of wood fixed to them containing some very pointednails, on which the pendulum oscillates. Page 167 gives us an illustration. The pendulums haveapin fixed in vertically, which passes through a piece of wood,and by means of a hinge connects the upper ends of the DETAILS OF HARMONOGRAPH. 169 two pendulums. This contrivance of the pin is veryuseful, and if care is taken to make the hole through thehinge in the form of a double cone, as shown in illustrationon page 167, at c, it makes a perfect joint, which allowsthe piece of wood to be freely moved. To complete the apparatus, the heads of the two
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade189, booksubjectscientificrecreations
