BOOK IV.
AUTOMATA AND CURIOUS TOYS.
CHAPTER I.
AUTOMATA.
The present division of the work deals with interesting automata, curious toys, and miscellaneous tricks of an amusing nature. A very large number of devices and tricks of this kind have been published in the “Scientific American” and the “Scientific American Supplement,” and the ones which we select are among those which have been considered as the best. The subject of curious toys and science in toys is very fully treated in the excellent work of Mr. George M. Hopkins, entitled “Experimental Science,” which is published by the publishers of the present work.
AUTOMATON CHESS PLAYERS.
For a very long time the automaton chess player, or “Psycho,” has been celebrated as the automaton, and quite a literature is centered about it. We present two forms of the “Psycho,” one of which depends upon compressed air, and the other upon a small individual who is secreted in the cabinet. We will first describe the one which operates by compressed air.
Let us explain to those who have not seen “Psycho” that it consists of a small figure, dressed as a Turk, sitting cross-legged (as [shown] by dotted lines) on a chest; this chest is in turn supported on a glass tube, about twelve inches diameter and three feet long, which rests on a four-legged stool. The bottom of chest and top of stool are covered with green cloth so as to make a tolerably air-tight joint. The right arm is extended as in the drawing, and a semicircular rack, in which are placed the thirteen cards dealt to “Psycho,” is fixed by means of a bracket (not shown) in such a position that the edges come between the finger and thumb. The arm turning horizontally on the pivot, A, the hand can be brought over any part, and by closing the finger and thumb and raising the arm, the card will be withdrawn from the pack and held in the air.