Smyrna times., 1898-06-01
THE SMYRNA TIMES.
.SmVrn0, DeI.,
Wednesday Afternoon, June 1, '98.
QUEER AUTOMATONS.
EXAMPLES FROM THE DAYS OF
DEDALUS TO THE PRESENT.


A Wooden Venus That Walked and
Brazen Man That Talked-A Wonderful
Mechanical Duck-The Greatest of All
the Fraudulent AutOmatOns.
There are few things more attractive
to the generality of men or more calcu-
lated to excite their wonder and admira-
ton than dexterously and mysteriously |
contrived automaton. There is, indeed, |
something almost uncanny in the sight |
of a figure made by mems hands acting |
like a creature of flesh and blood, and |
this uncanniness is one of the most sub |
tie of destinations. Hence the silver OF |
the curious readily finds it's way into |
the pockets of men ingenious enough to |
invent such marvels.
This passion for the automaton is GER
tainly no new thing. One meets it in
almost the earliest books, sometimes
veiled in myth, sometimes more direct
ly stated. Vulcan, it will be remem-
bered, made automatic tripods for the
gods of Olympus - stools which ad
vanced of their own accord to the ban
quoting table and so retired when the
feast was over.
Aristotle tells us that the human au-
tomato which Dedalus made were so
active that it was necessary to keep
them tethered for fear they would run
away. The same philosopher describes
a wooden Venus who walked about and
gives also the secret of the phenomenon
She was filled with quicksilver-a some
what crude device. Albertus Magnus is
credited with having made a brazen
man who talked and st. Thomas Aqui-
mas with having pounded it to pieces
with club, suspecting it to be work
of satan. Some marvellous feats OF
mechanism are credited to John Muller,
otherwise known as Regiomontanus,
who f1ourished in the fifteenth century,
and in dealing with him we perhaps
touch firmer ground. One was an iron
fly which flew around table, another
a wooden eagle which went out to meet
Emperor Maximilian ON his entry of
Nuremberg ON June z, 1870, and re-
turned with him to the city gates
Whether due or not to the stimulus
given by Louis XIV, the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries were in France
times of great automatic activity. In
deed, the first named century marks the
beginning of the really historical era of
automata. In the eighteenth century
lived Mr. Vaucanson, perhaps the most
wonderful of all makers of autOmata
and the creator of the famous duck
which first appeared before the public
in l741 The duck was Vaucanson'
masterpiece and completed reputation
already made wide by his mechanical
flute player and an automatic Ssusicial
which not only blew upon the flageolet
but also kept time to it ON tambourine
The bird was of life size, and not only
was it outwardly an exact imitation It
a feather Of a real duck, but its iuterna
anatomy was absolutely true to life. So
indeed were its movements, for
swan, dived, walked, quacked, ate
drank and by an ingenious device cvel
seemed to digest its food.
This automaton disappeared after it
inventors death, but turned up agail
in 1910 in a garnet in Berlin and wa
purchased by George Tiets, who too
four years to put it in proper workin
order again. At the end of this time
was exhibited in a room in the Palai
Royal, Paris, where Mr.. Houdin, th
celebrated conjuror, saw it, and, indeed
afterward, when something happene
to one of its wings, took charge of an
repaired it. No doubt it is still in e1
istence. OF more modern automata thi
is scarcely the place to speak, for the
are private secrets. Let us confne OuI
selves to merely mentioning Mr.. Mas
kelyne's Psyche" and Zoo"
Like most things, automata have nc
always been what they seemed.
many frauds upon the wonder lovin
public perhaps the completest was tha
of the famous automatic chess player {
Mr.. Kempelen, which was exhibite
all over Europe at the end of the la:
century and afterward in America.
was the figure of life sized Turk sea
ed behind large box, the top of whic
was marked in the middle for ches
Prior to the automaton's meeting a
opponent the front of the box was opel
an arrangement of strings, pulleys an
cylinders. After this they were allowt
to examine the interior of the figur
which was hollow. Then Mr.. Kemp
. len wound up his Turk with key, an
it was ready to play, which it did l
moving the pieces with its left har
and giving three mods for check to XIII
and two for check to queen. All Il
- noted chess players of Europe suocum
y ed to the figures superior strategy, al
~ its skill so impressed the Empress Cat
crime II of Russia that she wished
81. buy it and was with difficulty persua
ed by Mr.. Kempelen to give up the ide
1t was not for years that the secret W
discovered; but, like most secrets,
~ leaked out at last The real chess pla
~ er was Mr. Wronsky, Polish ex-ca
tain, both of whose legs had been al
- putated at the trunk in consequence
a wound from cannon ball. While t
spectators were examining the b
> Wronsky was in the Turks body, al
when they turned to inspect that an
q geniuus mechanism slid him back in
the box. To the fact that Wronsky W
a chess player of eonsummate skill t
4 wide fame of the automaton, which
| secretly controlled. is to be attribute
After this disclosure Mr.. Kempelel
automaton naturally enough ceased
er- move mankind to wonder.-New Yo
ed Post
he
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