The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-09-05
SCULPTURE BY MACHINERY.
An Invention, Acquired by Sir Conan
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All 1lNShIholI SASSduiieu " DIT 'SoAdA r. Doyle. ,,..."'. $ There have been attempts from time to time in various quarters to provide d machine which will perform the task
 now carried out by the sculptor's work
 men, but hitherto they have met with | little or no success. It has been reserv-
 ed for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the well-
 known and popular novelist, and w. G.. Jones, a sculptor who is better known in the United States than in this coun- try, to bring before the public an in- vention which will do all the work now done by the pointer" and in twenti- eth of the tine.t, The inventor Is Signor Auguste Contempt, of Naples. Sir A. | Conan Doyle and MT. Jones have ac- quired all the British rights in the in vention, as well as the only machine
 carrying out Signor Bontempi's ideas at present in existence:
 A representative of the Morning Post had the opportunity of seeing the sculp- turing machine at work yesterday. It
 has been temporarily set up at Batter
 sea in a factory recently occupied by
 one of those limited companies that
 have fallen on evil days, and its domi- cile Is approached through a grass grown private road and a number of Undiscovered, deserted rooms. But
 these depressing surroundings are for gotten as soon as the machine is seen at work. &E
 It is really wonderful contrivance,
 and one that is probably destined to n a crfso of hn a arfn nf m ture in the immediate future. When our representative inspected the ma
 chine it was engaged in producing two | marble copies of bust of Homer. The Italian workman in charge was seated
 on one side of the machine. In front of him was plaster east. With one hand he guided rod backward and forward over the plaster. A revolving steel drill protruded from the machine couple of | feet away, and another further on. In | front of each of these drills was fixed a block of marble. A jet of water played
 on the point of each drill. Every move ! ment of the rod in the workman's hand | was followed by'a similar movement on the part of the drills, which rapidly cut away the surface of the marble until it SpulldCo Wttl tuS 6AL1oAC OL lAlC plaster.
 The machine had already roughly cut the face of the poet out of the marble ard was at work on the side of the head. Some of the superabundant stone
 having been rapidly cleared away, the
 rod was applied to the fillet binding the
 poets hair, and in a few minutes the
 ribbon was reproduced in marble. The
 rough outline of the hair then made its
 appearance, every lock being hewn out
 of the hard stone with astonishing ce- lerity and marvellous fidelity. ,''.'. The present machine cost only about 800 pounds, and the expense of working is almost infinitesimal. While the irl- vention will not do away with the ne- l cessity for the artists finishing touches in the case of delicate work, 1t promises
 entirely to abolish the present long and | costly process of pointing" So far as architectural decoration is concerned, the effects of it's introduction should be remarkable. ..sr ilDs .., In the opinion of one architect of ex- perience, 1t will reduce the price of ar