The Wenzel has left its experimental stage far behind. The German Emperor, after watching the creation of a miniature bust of Beethoven, expressed his delight in a machine that could call a musician from lifeless stone. The whole of the interior decoration of the magnificent Rathaus, Charlottenburg, offers a splendid example of mechanical wood carving, which tourists would do well to inspect.
We may now pass to
THE BONTEMPI SCULPTURING MACHINE,
for such is the translation of the formidable word Meccaneglofo. This machine is the invention of Signor Augusto Bontempi, a native of Parma, who commenced life as a soldier in the Italian army, and while still young has won distinction as a clever engineer.
His machine differs in most constructional details from the Wenzel. To begin with, the pressure of the drills on the marble is imparted by water instead of by the hand; secondly, the block to be cut is arranged vertically instead of horizontally; thirdly, the index-pointer is not rigidly connected to the drill frame, but merely controls the valves of hydraulic mechanism which guides the drills in any required direction. The drills are rotated by electricity, but all their other movements come from the pressure of water.
A SMALL WENZEL AUTOMATIC SCULPTURING MACHINE
This cuts statuettes, two at a time, out of stone or wood, the cutters being guided by a pointer passed over the surface of the model by the girl.
Undoubtedly the most ingenious feature of the Bontempi apparatus is the pointer's hydraulic valve, which gives the drills a forward, lateral, or upward movement, or a compound of two or three movements. When the pointer is not touched all the valve orifices remain closed, and the machine ceases to work. Should the operator pull the pointer forwards a water-way is opened, and the liquid passes under great pressure to a cylinder which pushes the drill frame forward. If the pointer be also pressed sideways, a second channel opens and brings a second cylinder into action, and the frame as a whole is moved correspondingly, while an upward twist operates yet a third set of cylinders, and the workman himself rises with the drills.
As soon as the sensitive tip of the pointer touches an object it telescopes, and immediately closes the valves, so that the drills bore no further in that direction.