The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-10-14

a, NEW TAnK1ka NAodHaiissan, odaisa an,-There is
soon, to be exhibited in this ,city com
binRtion OF wood, wire and India rub.
ber--a machine--whiohs Can talk in any
language; say anything; pronounce dis.
/ t!notiy; laugh, cry, hiss, shrek, squcai;
sing divineiy in alto, soprano and basso;
IN Short 10 anything of which the hu-
man voice ia capable. This extraordi.
ance is the Invention of Professor Faber,
]!of Vienna, and his nephew, The letter
has brought it to this country, after an
Iextended tour throughout Europe. dnr
ing which it has elioited the commenda.
ton Of some of the greatest scientists of
the old world.
reporter visited the PRESCOTT House.
yesterday, for the purpose Of testing it.
1t consists OF q fancy gilded table, be-
meath which is foot lever for moving O
bellows above. On top, are O comb bina-
ton OF wires, strings, delicate wooden
levers, rubber tubes and trcstle work
forming the speaking machine. Behind
is bellows, which represents the lungs.
The air is forced through narrow aper-
tare into tube representing the wind
pipe, and thence into large swelling
representing the CLOTHS. Thence it
passes out through vent representing q
human mouth, with movable lover Jaw.
lips and tongue of India rubber. Wires
from below push up the jaw md tongue.
iii imitation of the human mouth and
tongue, giving expression to the sound
OF the rushing mir. These wires. and
others which 'aot instead of teeth. are
worked by wooden levers, ut the end of
which are keys.
There were fourteen levers and wires
each creating different sound when
manipulated, aud certain combinations
OF these sounds produce any sound or
syllable asked for. A separate lever
makes laughing, sound. Skillful ma
nipulation of all these levers causes the
artificial mouth to speak as we'll au TINT
OF human being, except that there is
no infection, and the sound of the final
d or is imperfect, being pronounced
like tn. The principle is q sort of in
verse stenography, combining the COM
ponent sounds Of ayllables into perfect
words. A small box, furnished with
piano keys. and filed, with wires and
wooden slats. produces the singing in
combination With n mask made in -imita.
ton of the human face and it's orpans Of
speech.
Madame Faber, modest looking lady.
played upon the keys with great skill.
There was no'humbug about it. Every
sentence, short and long, every word
asked for, no matter how difficult OF pro.
nunciati2p, in English. French or Ger
man. was INSTANTLY reproduced with as
tonlshlng distinctness. Its style of talk
ing is as follows: ,r
m:-a--mere- mao -ine-b -bntIll@
!.Jpan -talk-.as,-well.- -you.-sir.r.r.''
Mr: Fnber said that he was seven years
endeavoring to produce the sound of i.
10 show how he succeeded at last. he
touched number of keys and the ma.
chine said "Mis-sis -sip-pi." Several
OF the most difficult words were asked
for-such rs shrimp, sister, Puulina, and
the German letters icks. upsilon, tzet,
but oil were pronounced with the great
est readiness. The utility of the ma.
chine may be questioned: but as curl
osity Of ingenuity its success cannot be
disputed: It is the only one ever per-
fected. These have been others invent
ed at different periods, but their articu-
lation has been confined to q few sen.
tenoes. This can articnlate anything.
Ne,0 FORK Sun, ca.