“The next day Catherine renewed her proposition to purchase the Chess Player, but Kempelen made her understand that, as the figure could not perform without him, he could not possibly sell it. The empress allowed the justice of these arguments; and, while complimenting the mechanician on his invention, made him a handsome present.
“Three months after the automaton was in England, under the management of Mr. Anthon, to whom Kempelen had sold it. I know not if Worousky was still attached to it, but I fancy so, owing to the immense success the Chess Player met with. Mr. Anthon visited the whole of Europe, always meeting with the same success; but, at his death, the celebrated automaton was purchased by Maelzel, who embarked with it for New York. It was then, probably, Worousky took leave of his hospitable Turk, for the automaton was not nearly so successful in America. After exhibiting his mechanical trumpeter and Chess Player for some time, Maelzel set out again for France, but died on the passage, of an attack of indigestion. His heirs sold his apparatus, and thus Cronier obtained his precious relic.” The Chess Player caused the greatest amount of discussion in its time. At the solicitation of a leading theatrical manager of Paris, Houdin {116} arranged the trick for a melodrama, in which Catherine II of Russia was one of the characters.
III.
I now come to the celebrated inventions of Maskelyne which were exhibited at Egyptian Hall, London. First on the list comes the automaton whist player, “Psycho,” which far exceeds the Chess Player of Von Kempelen in ingenious construction. Its secret has never been divulged.
J. N. MASKELYNE
Says the Encyclopedia Britannica: “In 1875 Maskelyne and Cooke produced at the Egyptian Hall, in London, an automaton whist player, ‘Psycho,’ which from the manner in which it is placed upon the stage, appears to be perfectly isolated from any {117} mechanical communication from without . . . The arm has all the complicated movements necessary for chess or draught playing; and ‘Psycho’ calculates any sum up to a total of 99,000,000. . . . ‘Psycho’, an Oriental figure, sitting cross-legged on a box, is supported by a single large cylinder of clear glass, which as originally exhibited, stood upon the carpet of the stage, but was afterwards set loose upon a small stool, having solid wood feet; moreover, this automaton may be placed in almost any number of different ways. . . . It may be mentioned that in the same year in which ‘Psycho’ appeared, the joint inventors patented a method of controlling the speed of clockwork mechanism by compressed air or gas stored in the pedestal of an automaton, this compressed air acting upon a piston in a cylinder and also upon a rotating fan when a valve is opened by ‘an electrical or other connection worked by the foot of the performer or an assistant.’ But it is not known whether the principle obscurely described in the specification was applicable in any way to the invisible agency employed in ‘Psycho,’ or whether it had reference to some other invention which has never been realized.”
A very clever exposé of “Psycho” was published in an English newspaper, November, 1877. That it is the correct one, I am by no means certain. But an ingenious mechanic by carrying out its provisions would be enabled to construct an excellent imitation of the Maskelyne so-called automaton.
“In Figs. 1a and 1b (elevation and plan), the wheels E and M have each a train of clockwork (left out for the sake of clearness), which would cause them to spin round if unchecked. M, however, has two pins, p p, which catch on a projection on the lever, N. E is a crown-wheel escapement—like that in a bottle roasting-jack—which turns A alternately to the left and right, thus causing the hand to traverse the thirteen cards. A little higher up on A will be seen a quadrant, B (see plan), near the edge of which are set thirteen little pins. The end of the lever, N, drops between any two of them, thus causing the hand to stop at any desired card. The lever being pivoted at c, it is obvious that by depressing the end, N, B will be set at liberty, {118} and the hand will move along the cards; by slightly raising it this motion will be arrested; by raising it still more the pin, p, is released, and M commences to revolve, and by again depressing N this wheel will, in its turn, be stopped. Near the bottom of the apparatus is a bellows, O, which contains a spring tending to keep the lever, N, with which it is connected by a rod, X, in the position shown. This is connected with the tubular support, which may be connected by a tube through the leg of the stool, and another tube beneath the stage, with an assistant behind the scenes. By compressing or exhausting air through this tube it is obvious that the lever, N, will be raised or depressed, and the clockwork set going accordingly. a is a crank-pin set in M, and connected with the head by catgut, T, and with the thumb by S. At R and R are two pulleys connected by gut. Thus if the {119} hand moves round, the head appears to follow its motions, and when raised by pulling S, the head rises also by means of T. Further explanation seems almost unnecessary; l is a stop to prevent the elbow moving too far, and b b spiral springs, to keep the thumb open and the head forward respectively. When N is raised, M pulls T and S, the latter closing the thumb, and then raising the arm by pulley H. If the lever is allowed to drop, p will catch and keep the arm up. On again raising N, the arm will descend.