The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-08-06
a MECHANICAL COLUMBUS.

the Great Navigator and Will Speak
to the Assembled Multitude.
1t only remains for some patriotic or
speculative individuals to put up a few
thousand dollars, according to Professor
Charles +. Richtel of Bridgeport, Conn.
for the Chicago Fair to be furnished
with an attraction which will be even
more striking than the Eiffel Tower Of
the Paris Exposition or the big Courliss
fly wheel of the Centennial.
Professor I;ichtel, says the New York
Herald. is ready to make an automaton
of Columbus of life size and correct in
every detail of appearance. which will dc
liver a speech of a thousand words, with
all the gestures, motions of the eyelids,
lips, head, body and legs that the great
discoverer himself would use were no
standing in flesh before the crowd.
The Professor estimates hat it will
cost about SC0C0 to complete the figure.
He sent a long letter yesterday to Sec
rotary Edmund G. Stanton of the worlds
L All SOiiiIlilSSion III tiliS Citl. dshllS
him to receive and take care of subscrip-
tions for a FUND to be raised by an ap-
peal to patriotic New Workers. If such
a fund cannot be raised Professor Rich
tel will apply for private backing and
send on the big automaton AS a money
maker. lie SAYS that the figure will be
the triumph of his life, and that he
would like to see it at the exposition
under better auspices than would be
furnished by an exhibition tent.
The words which Columbus will speak
will be in d voice that will not come from
any monograph or graphophone arrange
ment with their queer, far Off, meta lie
effect. The words will come directly
from his mouth, in perfect unison with
the movement of his teeth and lips by
means of "a rubber and brass mechanism
which the professor has Just discovered
and which he does not want to describe
Just yet. Every other detail of the fac
simile of Columbus he described to me
yesterday.
My automaton," he said, will be mod
eled first by d sculptor, and the face,
which will be made of soft rubber, will
be painted by Il celebrated artist so as
to avoid all resemblance to a wax figure.
The hands. whcih will be of the same
material and also painted, will be made
: from plaster casts and will agree with
their natural models in every wrinkle
!. The clothes will be worn about by some
one for several weeks until the natural
! folds and creases appear, and | will have
the shoes worn also until they present a
natural appearance and every wrinkel III
them will be preserved when they are
filled with plaster of paris. That will
settle the artistic side of the problem.
. AS to the mechanical side, | believe
. that my experience of over 30 years in
making automatons, mechanical toys and
: labor-savIng machinery will enable me
/ to get through with that part of the
9 task. The recent discoveries in e~lectici
!, ty are what | shall depend on principally
, With the light and powerful aluminium
: to build with and the aid of electricity
can produce the 1000 motions necessary
to make my Columbus absolutely life
like.
| will have three shafts in the papicr
r mache body, II for the head. one fol-
the arms and one for the legs and body
These shafts will be fitted with a series
9 of cams. or irregularly shaped wheels
which, as they turn on the shaft, vii
give a greater or lesser pressure or theiI
connections and produce the various
motions. The arms, which will be thu
hardest part of all to manage, will be bal
anced 10y Il system OF my own. SO tina
r there Will be no jerkiness in their risin.
" and falling. Every finger tip. even, vii
. have its own motion. and | can max,
' the face change from grave to gay. will
every accompanying movements of eyes
II cyelids. lips and cheeks. Columbus vii
f not move his feet, but his body will swa!
a from the hips W, his head will NOV,
N sideways and up or down. both hands
and arm will make all the gestures O
an earnest speaker, and the mOuth vii
form every word as it is uttered.
Il But the mouth will be the most re
markable portion Of the automaton.
v guarantee that it will have all the quail
q ty and strength Of ii human voice, ant
will bear no trace Of Il metallic ring o
~mechanscal buzz. 1t will be IA vigorous
so%norous voice. TOO worthy of such al
intrepid chap as Columbus proved him
self to be.
If the people Of New York who hay,
public spirit enough to see their cit.
represented by the greatest spectacle
G in the Fair make up Il fund in the mex
n two months. | can get to work and max
" Columbus ready to make his speech ol
the opening day Of the exposition. y
there will be a great crowd of foreigner
present on that OCCASION, will hay
lie Columbus repeat his speech in French
Of Spanish and Italian. That sounds mar
'e v~ellous. but my invention to produc'
d these effects is really the simplest thin.
S. in the world. Ii is So simple, in fact
IL and so within the reach Of ~everybod.
le | doubt if ] could get IA patent on it.
ID ! am so positive in this thing. conclud
le ed the professor. because my expert
Of ments have all been made and ! know
exactly Just how to set at work now 1
is produce every effect ! have spoken of.
Professor Richtel, who is a tall heavil.
i, built man. IS years old. has taken on
NJ over 20 patents since he invented tn
= parlor skates when he was 10 years old
NJ lie invented the only flying machin'
8 that has ever really flown and tina
:. could he n~ayirateu about in the AR a