The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-10-09

A Machine TINT tau LuuSu ana
Sing.
A perseyering Freedman once constructed
a machine in the form of duck, which could
walk. clap its wings, pick up grains of corn.
and more wonderful still, digest them. but a
machine capable of talking was supposed to be
beyond the power of human ingenuity to con-
struct Kempelen, German, made a number
of puppets. that uttered the words "papa" and
mamma" but after devoting his life to per-
fecting them, he asserted that machine which
could utter all the words in the European Ian
guage was an impossibilty. After his death
his puppets became dumb, no one understand
ing the mechanism by which they were made
to speak. Kempelen's impossibiity has been
at last overcome. In 1841, Prot. Faber exhib.
tied machine which could utter great num-
Der OF sounds and words, but it was by no
means perfect. His nephew took up the ma
chlne that his uncle had failed in periecting,
and completed it. After exhibiting it before
all the crowned heads and scientific societies
of Europe, he has brought it to this country,
ara yesterday gave an exhibition OF it in prl-
vate. The machine, which stands on small
table, consists OF a complicated arrangement of
RUBBER tubes, reeds, keys, pedals, strings and
wires. The lungs are represented by small
pair Of bellows, the CLOTHS by reeds and pipes
of different sizes, the lips and tongue by pieces
of india rubber Beneath the table is a pedal
by winch the bellows are worked, and on the
right hand side series of keys, on which are
marked the letters o. U. 1. E. L. r. W. F. S.
b. ID. and G. With these and some supple
meutary arrangements, all sounds used in the
European languages can be enunciated. There
IS also an arrangement resembling the key
board OF piano, by which the machine can be
made to sing. Every portion of it is open to
view, so that no deception is possible. Yester.
day the machine, under the deft hands o.
Nine Faber. enunciated distinctly all the let
tiers of the English and German alphabets, nu.
merous long and most difficult words, such al
"Uonstantinople," "Politzka," Mississippi
"Radetzky," "hurrah," and then darted off in
| to long sentences in English, German ant
| French, winding up with laugh OF the mos
| natural kind followed by hisses groans ant
murmurs. Every word proposed was pro
| nounced at once and without the slightest hes
| itatlon. Ofecourse some words were more
| clearly enunciated than others, but the major
| ty were given far more clearly than the ma
| jority of human beings pronounce Them, and
| even the nasal twang which French people OIL
| ten adopt was closely initiated. In Prot. Fa
bers machine the motions OF the mouth and
tongue initiate precisely those of human be-
| ings. Different keys or tones can be given by
| proper manipulation OF the pedals. Taken al
together, the talking machine" IS wonder
ful specimen of mans ingenuity. Whether il
can ever be anything more is doubtful. 1t can
not be applied to any practical purpose, unless
indeed, dumb or weak nerved and feeble voiced
individuals should choose to purchase them
and use them as mediums through which tt
address the public.
Prof. Faber, We believe, intends to exhibit
his machine in public as soon as arrangements
can be made tor that purpose. The singing
| portion of the machine not being in. order yes
| terday, we were unable to determine wha
merit the invention possesses as vocalist
| Exchange.