In 1922, Popular Science got a peek at our sensor-filled future with a Rube Goldberg-esque machine.
By combining the telephone and phonograph, an English firm has perfected a novel device that automatically announces in either words or code signals the height of water in a distant pond or reservoir.
The recorder can be “run up” or switched into any existing telephone or telegraph circuit when information about the height of water is sought. As installed, the new device consists of a phonograph mechanism with a phone transmitter substituted for the sound box. An electric motor drives the record table, and a relay, acting through levers, stops and starts the machine and lifts the needle from the record.
To effect this contact, the sound box, with needle, is automatically lowered when the disk mechanism is in rotation, and raised again above the disk when the mechanism stops. The instrument is connected in the usual way with the nearest telephone exchange, and is given a regular subscriber’s number. When the inquirer seeks information about the height of the water, he asks Central for this number. As soon as the instrument phone rings, the needle immediately drops to the record, which makes three revolutions, and a voice announces over the telephone line the exact height of the water.
In the code signal type of mechanism the grooves on the record contain various combinations of dots to represent the changing height of the water.
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