Interesting footnote in a book by Joel Mokyr
He refers to "The King Saul Effect" some term used by economist's apparently
Here how it reads:
Young Saul it will be recalled went looking for asses and found a Kingdom (1 Sam., chs 9-10)
The classsic examples in technological history of this effect ....... and Edisson's accidental invention of the phonograph while trying to perfect a device that recorded telegraphic impulses on paper discs.
My comments
Amazing stuff I allways thought it was a deliberate effort on his part to do so
But it seems not to be the case in this instance unlike his DC power battles with Westinghouse
Cheers
King Saul Effect
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King Saul Effect
Chris
I did extensive research on Edison's phonograph effort when I wrote a chapter for a book about 5 years ago; he saw the possibility because of his knowledge of the Phonautograph, the construction of Bell's telephone transmitter and the fact that one of the telegraph discs got accidentally reproduced at an extreme speed in a lab experiment. He thought it sounded like indistinct speech, and by combining these influences - enter the phonograph.