The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-19
SOME CURIOUS AUToMATA.
Duck That Could Not Be Distin-
guished from the Heal.

From Lectures pour ToIs.
OF all the inventors of mechanical
curiosities, Jacques Vaucanson was
certainly the king. In the ingenuity Of
his mind he equaled, If he did not sur
pass, the most skillful of men.
In the first book Of the Odes of Flor
ace we read that Arckytas manufac-
tured wooden pigeon, which, actuated
by a mechanical movement, flew from
place to place. This, however. was
nothing as compared with the auto
matte fly manufactured by John Null
Ter, and which flew around the table
during a dinner, and alighted upon the
hand of it's owner and manufacturer,
to the great astonishment of his guests.
Philippe Camus describes an extraor-
dnary automatic group, which was
specially constructed for the amuse-
ment of Louis XIV. 1t was a minute
coach to which were harnessed sever
al horses. and which rolled over the
table. Upon starting, the coachman
cracked his whip. and the horses be-
gan to prance and then became quiet
| and started off on q trot. The coach
stopped in front Of the king, and the
lackey jumped from his seat, and
opening the door, handed out hand
somely dressed lady, who walked to-
ward his majesty, saluted him cere-
moniously, presented a petition to him.
and then re-entered the coach. The
lackey closed the door and jumped up
on his box. the whip snapped and the
horses galloped off.
Naucanson did better still. His auto
matte duck was, to connoisseurs, an
object of admiration. The bird wad-
died off in search of food, and picked
up and swallowed the seeds that it met
with, These seeds. says an article in
the Geographic Universelle passed into
the stomach through series of tritu-
rations that facilitated the introduce
tion of them into the intestines and
caused them to accomplish all the
phases of digestion.
1t was impossible to distinguish this
duck from living one. 1t splashed
about in the water and Quacked at
pleasure.
Vaucanson's mechanical flute player
also was marvel 1t was a life-size
figure clothed in the fashion of the
period, and standing alongside of a
broken column, upon which it slightly
leaned. 1t was capable of playing a
bOZcu ullIeTeIL airs WIN TendrkdDle
ease. To effect this result, there was
a system of weights that actuated a
bellows placed in the interior of the au-
tomaton, and, through an invisible
tube, forced air to the flute, where it
acted in the usual way upon the stop
pie of the opening. In order to OBJ
tain the modulations. and, consequent
ly, complete air, the fingers of the
automaton We're movable and closed
the holes Of the flute Theoretically when
at rest, and also rose and replaced
one another through the traction ex-
erted by wires and cords that were
taunted and relaxed by the play Of a
toothed cylinder
About sixty years ago a jeweler of
Boulogne constructed wonderful au-
tomato prestidigator. This figure
correctly dressed in black, performed
various sleight-of-h hand tricks with re-
markable dexterity, and. when it was
applauded, gracefully saluted the spec
tators to the right and left. One of it's
tricks was the following: 1t struck
| table several times and made an egg
come out of it. 1t then blew upon the
latter when out of it came a bird that
tapped its wings and sang, and after
ward entered the egg again. This
trick finished the exhibition.