Communigraph

An instrument for mechanical communication with spirits of the dead. Known as the Ashkir-Jobson Communigraph, it consists of a small table with a free pendulum underneath. The pendulum may make contact with a number of small metal plates representing the alphabet. The contact closes a circuit and makes the corresponding letter appear illuminated upon the face of the table. According to the inventors' claim, no medium is necessary for the instrument to work. If a circle sits around the table, the pendulum will begin swinging by what seems to be its own volition. The communigraph was developed by the Ashkir-Jobson Trianion—A. J. Ashdown, B. K. Kirby, and George Jobson.

After the death of Sir Vincent Caillard (1856-1930), a prominent British diplomat, industrialist, and writer, his widow, Lady Zoe Caillard, transcribed a book on the communigraph said to be dictated by the spirit of her husband and entitled A New Conception of Love (1934). She had previously written a book of her own, Sir Vincent Caillard Speaks from the Spirit World(1932).

Sources:

Ashdown, A. J. "The Communigraph and Other Early Psychic Aids for Communications." The Psychic Researcher supplements 2 and 3 (1975).

Gaillard, Lady Zoe. A New Conception of Love. London, 1934.

——. Sir Vincent Caillard Speaks from the Spirit World. London, 1932.