White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-07-09
Machines That Are
Almost Human
Mechanical Men
BY E. C. TAYLOR

MeCnanlcal Men
EOR ages man has aspired to build
= with his own hands mechanical
men, birds, beasts and fish that would
perform at his bidding.
Today there are mechanical men that
see, hear, feel and talk. Planes have.
been flown without human hand
touching the controls. Boats have.
been sent on voyages without human,
being aboard.
More wonderful than these, even,
are thinking machines" that surpass
the human brain in ability to solve
difficult problems.
Man has constructed marvellous ma
chimes that can perform all his tasks
better than he can perform them him
self, and hundreds of these machines
are in constant use throughout the
country. But they lack one thing that
has placed man above other animals.
They cannot really think for them
selves. They must be directed by
their human creators.
A short time ago the duke of York
was scheduled to open the annual ex-
hibition of model engineers in Royal
Albert hail. London. He found he
could not get back from Scotland in
time, so Capt. W. r. Richards, Brit
ish scientist, built mechanical man
to take the duke Of York's place.
Eric Robot-so Captain Richards
named his creature of wheels and bat
teries- stood before the gathering of
engineers and scientists, spoke for
four minutes, and then sat down. He
could have spoken for four hours or
four days, his inventor said.
Eric Robot later toured the United
States He didn't smoke. chew or
swear, and made many friends. In
appearance, he looked like a knight
in armor He weighed 40 pounds
and was built entirely of alum
mum. He could do everything but
walk, apparently. He talked, and
rose and sat down when told to. He
had set of aluminium teeth to aid
his voice, and his speech was much
better than that of most lecturers.
He was operated by electricity, Of
course, and his highly sensitive mech
anfsm responded to sound. When
spoken words reached his microphone,
the vibrations started machinery in
side him that carried out the spoken
directions. He even gave limitations
Of George Bernard Shaw and 81. G..
Wells during his appearances on the
lecture platform.
The ''televox," which gave the pow
err Of speech to mechanical men, was
invented by R. ]. Wensley of the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufac-
turing company in 1923. Previously
mechanical men could only hear and
obey. Mr.. Wensley found way to
make them talk back.
He demonstrated the robots ability
to answer by attaching televox to q
telephone; "Televox speaking
Mr.. Wensley's televox can even in
itiate conversation If something
goes wrong, for instance, at a power
substation where it is on duty it can
lift telephone receiver and say:
"This is televox calling for Main
5000"
When the telephone connection has
been completed, Mr.. Televox will con-
tinue the conversation in buzzer CODE
In place of vocal cords, this mechan-
ical man has a talking film intro
duced among it's vital organs. The
words to be spoken are recorded Oh
film, and are projected when the
mechanical man is called upon to
speak.
"Rastus" is another mechanical man
produced by the Westinghouse labora-
tories. He was built by Dr. Philips
Thomas, and has performed before
scientists several times.
Rastus not only can answer back,
start conversations sit or stand as
he is hidden, but can answer ques-
lions and greets his callers almost
like human being He is built to
resemble man, with legs and arms
and a head, with face like dark
skinned minstrel. Hence his name.
Erie Robot and Rastus, of course,
are for exhibition only. They were
built to show how near to creating
a mechanical man science has prog
ressed. The devices that operate
them, however, are in daily use in
industries, safeguarding lives and
guarding property.
"a. 1881. Western Newspaper Union.)