Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-09-27
SOME CURIOUS AUTOMATIC.
Vaucanson's Famous Duck and Mechan..
cal Flute PLAYER

VI all the inventors OF mechanical
curiosities Jacques Vaucanson was
certainly the king. In the ingenuity
Of his mind he equaled If he did not
}surpass, the most skillful Of men. In
the first book Of the Odes Of Horace
We read that Arckytas manufactured
a wooden pigeon, which, actuated BY
a mechanical movement, flew from
place to place. This, however, was
nothing compared with the automatic
fly manufactured by John Muller,
and which flew around the table dur
ing dinner, and alighted upon the.
hand Of its owner and manufacturer,
to the great astonishment Of his
guests. Philippe Camus describes an
extraordinary automatic group which
was specially constructed for the
amusement of Louis XIV. It was a
minute coach, to which were har-
messed several horses, and which
rolled over the table. Upon starting
the coachman cracked his whip. and
the horses began to prance and then
became quiet and started off on trot.
Thecoach stopped in front Of the king,
and the lackey jumped from his seat,
and, opening the door, handed out a
handsomely dressed lady, who walked
toward his majesty, saluted him cere-
moniously, presented aapetition to him
and then reentered the coach. The
lackey closed the door and jumped
upon his box, the whip snapped and
the horses galloped of. H.. =
Vaucanson did better still. His
automatic duck was, to connoisseurs,
an object of admiration. The bird
waddled off in search of food and
picked up and swallowed the seeds
that it met with. These seeds, says
an article in the Geographic Univer-
selle, passed into the stomach through
series of triturations that facilitated
the introduction of them into the in
testines and caused them to accom-
plish all the phases Of Digestion. It
was impossible to distinguish this
duck from living one. It splashed
about in the water and quacked at
pleasure. Vaucanson's mechanical
flute player also was marvel. It
was lifesize figure clothed in the
fashion of the period, and standing
alongside Of a broken column, upon
which it slightly leaned. It was capa-
bic Of playing dozen different airs
with remarkable eace. To effect this
result there was system of weights
that actuated a bellows placed in the
interior Of the automatop. and,
through an invisible tube, forced air
to the flute, where it actedin the usual
way upon the stopple-of the opening.
In order to obtain the modulations
and, consequently, a complete air the
fingers Of the automaton were. nova
bic and closed >the holes Of the. flute
Theoretically when at rest, and also
rose and replaced one another through
the traction exerted by wires and
cords that were tautened and relaxed
by the play of a toothed cylinder:
About 60 years ago jeweler Of
Boulogne constructed wonderful
automatic prestidigitateur. This fig
ure, correctly dressed in black, per-
formed various sleight-of- hand tricks
with remarkable dexterity, and, when
it was applauded, gracefully saluted
the spectators to the right and left.
One of its tricks was the following:
It struck table several times and
made an egg come out fit. It then
blew upon the latter, when out Of it
came bird that tapped its wings and
sang, and afterward entered the egg
again. This trick finished the exhibit
tion II nct11rnc po11r Tons - = s,.r'-' =