An artificial horse, with saddle and caparisons fit for running at the ring, on which a man being mounted, with his lance in his hand, he can at pleasure make him start, and swiftly to run his career, using the decent posture with bon grace, may take the ring as handsomely, and running as swiftly as if he rode upon a barbe.
NOTE.
Any person who is acquainted with the various automaton figures that have been constructed by those celebrated mechanics, Vaucanson, Kempelen, and Maelzel, will readily admit the possibility of making a horse of this description; nor should we too readily undervalue those mechanical pursuits, which, though not of any immediate national advantage, have formed the employment of one of the greatest potentates of modern Europe.[7]
The most celebrated of the modern automata were those made by Vaucanson, and which are thus described by Beckman:—
"One of them, which represented a flute-player sitting, performed twelve tunes, and, as we are assured, by wind issuing from its mouth into a German flute, the holes of which it opened and shut with its fingers."
"The second was a standing figure, which in like manner played on the Provençal shepherd's pipe, which it held in its left hand, and with the right beat upon a drum."
"The third was a duck, of the natural size, which moved its wings, exhibited all the gestures of that animal, quacked like a duck, drank water, ate corn, and then, after a little time, let drop behind it something that resembled the excrement of a duck."[8]
Of these automata, or rather androides, the flute-player of Vaucanson is the only one of which a correct description has been preserved; a particular account of its mechanism having been published in the Memoirs of the French Academy. The figure was about five feet six inches high, and was placed upon an elevated square pedestal. The air entered the body by three separate pipes, into which it was conveyed by nine pairs of bellows, which expanded and contracted in regular succession, by means of an axis of steel turned by the machine. The three tubes, which conveyed the air from the bellows, after passing through the lower extremities of the figure, united at the chest; and ascending from thence to the mouth, passed through two artificial lips. Within the cavity of the mouth was a small moveable tongue, which by its motion at proper intervals, admitted or intercepted the air in its passage to the flute. The fingers, lips, and tongue derived their specific movements from a steel cylinder turned by clockwork. The cylinder was divided into fifteen equal parts, which by means of pegs, pressing upon a like number of levers, caused the other extremities to ascend. Seven of these levers directed the fingers, having rods and chains fixed to their ascending extremities; which, being attached to the fingers, made them to ascend in proportion as the other extremity was pressed down by the motion of the cylinders, and vice versa. Three of the levers served to regulate the ingress of the air, being so contrived as to open and shut, by means of valves, the communication between the lips and reservoir, so that more or less strength might be given, and a higher or lower note produced as occasion required.
The lips were directed by four similar levers; one of which opened them to give the air a freer passage; another contracted them; a third drew them backward, and the fourth pushed them forward. The remaining lever was employed in the direction of the tongue, which by its motion shut or opened the mouth of the flute. The varied and successive motions performed by this ingenious androides, were regulated by a contrivance no less simple than efficacious. The axis of the steel cylinder or barrel was terminated by an endless screw composed of twelve threads, above which was placed a small arm of copper, with a steel stud made to fit the threads of the worm, which, by its vertical motion, was continually pushed forward. Hence, if a lever was moved, by a peg placed on the cylinder, in any one revolution, it could not be moved by the same peg in the succeeding revolution in consequence of the lateral motion communicated by the worm. By this means the size of the barrel was considerably reduced; and the statue not only poured forth a varied selection of instrumental harmony, but exhibited all the evolutions of the most graceful performer.
No. XCII.
A screw, made like a water-screw, but the bottom made of iron-plate spadewise, which, at the side of a boat, emptieth the mud of a pond, or raiseth gravel.
NOTE.
The Archimedean screw, though hitherto only applied to the raising of water, appears to be equally applicable to many other purposes; as the procuring of sand from pits, taking dry goods of small dimensions from carts or barges, clearing rivers, &c. though in that case it will be necessary to make the lower end of the machine in a conical form, gradually increasing the size of the orifice from the point to its upper extremity, in order to prevent the materials from clogging the screw, which would otherwise occur.
The dredging machine worked by a steam-engine, and employed in the Thames for a similar purpose, is well known.
No. XCIII.
An engine, whereby one man may take out of the water a ship of five hundred tons, so that it may be caulked, trimmed, and repaired, without need of the usual way of stocks, and as easily let it down again.
NOTE.