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“Euphonia” - The Talking Machine

Joseph Faber, a German immigrant, invented a strange and scary looking talking machine which he named Euphonia. In December 1845, Joseph Faber exhibited his invention at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia. This machine consisted of a bizarre-looking talking head that spoke in a “weird, ghostly monotone” as Faber manipulated it with foot pedals and a keyboard. He was frustrated at the lack of interest in his invention and thought Europe a better place to exhibit it.

In 1846, he accompanied P. T. Barnum to London where “Euphonia”  was put on display at London’s Egyptian Hall. The exhibit drew an endorsement from the Duke of Wellington and remained a part of Barnum’s exhibits for the next several decades. The financial returns for Faber, however, were extremely low. He would die in the 1860s without achieving the fame or fortune he sought.

Faber would not live to witness the most important outcome of his invention. By a curious twist of fate, one person who happened to see the talking machine in London in 1846 and come away deeply intrigued was Melville Bell, the father of Alexander Graham Bell. Because of this, it is believed that Faber’s invention greatly influenced the invention of the telephone.

(Source: irrationalgeographic.wordpress.com)

♥ Sep 13th at 11PM / tagged: vintage. history. black and white. vintage inventions. Euphonia. talking machines. tech. Joseph Faber. Alexander Graham Bell. inventions. science. / reblog / 136 notes

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    I desperately want to hear what this sounds like.

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