The Osceola times., 1885-11-28
A MECHANICAL PLAYED
How Baron Won kempeien's Chcs. .u,.
maton Was Constructed.

How Baron Won kempelen's Chcx. A..
maton Was Constructed. '''
In 1863, when at Vienna on ot,,o;.,
business, Baron Won Kempelen. dur;n.
his intervals of leisure, constructed the
mechanical chess-player, which was dos.
tined to render him famous. The anti
maton consisted of chest or box unon
which was seated the figure of Turk
The chest WAS three and half feet lone
two feet broad, and two and half foe,
high. placed on casters, which epaa,ed
the exhibitor to move il occasionallv
from one part of an apartment to an.
other. The object of this arrapgemen,
was to show to the spectators that M
trap-doOr communicated with the chest
The left arm of the Turk was hollow
and through 1t a wire ran which com.
municated with the interior of the chest
where, by means of lever, the operator
concealed within II was enabled TO give
every desired motion TO the arm, hands.
and fingers Of the figure. The chest
was divided into two compartments
above and drawer beneath. In the
smaller of the two compartments. occu.
pying about the third Of the loncitudi.
nal dimensions of the chest. were placed
u number of pieces Of brass, made very
thin, and designed only for the purpose
Of misleading the spectators, for they
were no part Of the machinery by which
the moves Of the game were effected
In the other compartment were also
similar pieces of brass, representing
quadrants and other philosophical in.
struments, intended. as in the previous
instance, to give the impression that
they conduced to the working of the au-
tomaton. The two compartments COM
municated with each other by means
of a sliding panel. but so carefully was
1t contrived that the partition had the
appearance Of being immovable. The
drawer. which when drawn out seemed
to bc the entire horizontal dimensions Of
the chest, was deceptive, rs II was so
constructed that 1t could not be pressed
back more than foot and half, while
by species Of telescope arrangement
OF the sides Of the drawer II had when
pulled out the appearance of being
quite two feet six inches in depth. Be-
hind this movable back Of the drawer
there was consequently an unOccupied
space left which extended the whole
length OF the chest and was more thana
foot in breadth. At the commencement
Of the exhibition, on every occasion. the
operator of the aut0maton sat behind
mock machinery of the smaller Of
the two upper compartments of the
chest, his legs occupying the hidden
portion of the drawer Then the front
doors of both apartments were opened,
at the same time lighted candle was
placed in the larger one, so that it could
be distinctly seen that the space not oc-
cupied by the quadrants and other in
struments was vacant. Another candle
was placed, not in. but in front of the
other apartment, which was apparently
completely filled with machinery. Next,
after closing the doors, the exhibitor
turned the automaton round, so as to
show the back Of the chest to the spec
tators. While this was being done the
concealed operator moved into the large
compartment, closing after him the
shding panel. In this position he re,
mained until the back door Of the small
compartment had been opened and shut
again. Thus by these ingenious con
trivances the spectators were led TO be-
lieve that it was quite impossible that
any one could be hidden In the chest.
As regards the Turk, seated cross-legged
on the box, 1t was perfectly obvious that,
putting aside the fact that his body was
shown to be occupied by machinery, the
figure was not large enough to hold a
human being -COrnhM Maq0zihc.