The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1898-02-02
QUEER AUTOMATONS.
EXAMPLES FROM TIE DAYS OF
D&DALUS TO THE PRESENT.
"A Wooden Venus That Walked and n
Brazen Man That Talked-A Wonderful
Mechanical Duck-The Greatest of All
the Fraudulent Automatons.


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 figure mado by mems hands acting
like 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 its 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 iii
almost the earliest books, sometimes
yelled 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 Dndalus made were so
active that it was necessary to keen
them tethered for fear they would run
away. Tho Same philosopher describes
n 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 brazen
man who talked and ST. Thomas Aqui-
mas with having pounded it to pieces
with club suspecting it to he Il work
of satan. Some marvellous feats of
mechanism are credited to John Muller,
otherwise known as Regiomontanus,
who tiourished in tho fifteenth century,
and in dealing with him we perhaps
touch firmer ground. One was an iron
fly which flew around a table, another
a wooden eagle which went out to meet
Emperor MaXimilian Oh his entry of
Nuremberg OH Juno T, 1870, and re-
turned with him to the city gates.
Whether due or not to tho 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. I'm the eighteenth century
lived Mr.. Naucanson, perhaps the most
wonderful Of all makers OF automata
and the creator of the famous duck
which first appeared before the public
III l1Il. The duck was Naucanson S
masterpiece and completed a reputation
already made wide by his mechanical
flute player and an automatic musician
which not only blew upon the nagcolet,
but also kept time to it Oh a tambourne.
| q ind ,fl IN ei
WAS it outwardly an exact imitation to
u feather of Il real duck, hut its internal
anatomy was absolutely true to life So,
indeed, were its movements, for it
swan, dived, walked, quaclled. ate,
drank and by IN ingenious device even
seemed to digest its food
This automaton disappeared after its
inventors death, but turned up again
i'll 1910 i'll garnet II Berlin and WI.
purchased by n Gcor Tiets, who took
four years to put it ! proper working
order again. At the I'd of this time it
was exhibited iii ii / ON i'll the Palais
Royal, Paris, where Nh. Houdin, the
celebrated coiiiuror, Si.w it, and, indeed,
afterward, when something happened
to one of its wings, took charge Of and
repaired it. No doubt it is still in cx
| istence OF more in0Acin autouluta this
is scarcely the place To speak, for the,
are private secrets. Let us coniinc orr.
selves to merely mentioning Mr. Mas
llclync's Psyche and Zoo
Like most things, automatic have not
always been what they seemed OF
! many frauds upon the wonder loving
| public perhaps the completest was that
| of the famous automatic chess player Of
Mr.. Kcmpclcn. which was exhibited
all over Europe at tho end of the last
century and aftcrward i'll America, 1t
| was the figure of Il life sized Turk seat
cd behind IL large box, the top of which
WIS marked in tho middle for chess
| Prior to the automaton's meeting an
| opponent tho front of tho box was open
cd aud skcptical lockers on were shown
| an arrangement Of strings, pulleys and
| cylinders. After this they were allowed
| to examine the interior of the figure,
| which was hollow. Then Mr.. Kempc.
len wound up his Turk with key, and
| it was ready to play, which it did by
| moving the pieces with its left hand
| and giving three mods for check TO king
and two for check to queen All the
noted chess players of Europe succumb.
ed to tho figures superior strategy, and
its skill so impressed the Empress Cath
crime ii of Russia that she wished to
buy it and was with difficulty porsuad
ed by Mr. Kcmpelcn to siveup the idea.
1t WAS not for years that the secret was
discovered; but, like most secrets, it
leaked out at last Tho real chess play
or was Mr.. Wronsiy, Polish ex-cap-