We now come to our own time, and to a description of the various automatic exhibitions of the present day. The most notable and successful, because the most original, exhibitors and inventors of automatic figures at the present day are Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke, now located at that old “home of mystery,” the Egyptian Hall, London.
Their first and, in my opinion, their best piece of mechanism was Psycho, the celebrated Whist Player, which they produced in 1865. A description of this interesting figure is scarcely needed. For years they contrived to keep the motive power and mechanical arrangements of this automaton an entire secret, while the public, the press, and the scientific world, saw, wondered, and were puzzled. Many and various were the solutions offered to account for the working of the Whist Player; but the secret of the sinews and muscles, so to speak, of Psycho mystified every one. So thoroughly successful was the figure that, as a natural consequence, mechanicians set about producing something similar.
One of these imitations was exhibited under the name of Hankey. This was but a poor and clumsy representation of the original. It consisted of a rudely-constructed figure of a man seated on an octagonally shaped box, in which a boy was concealed, who worked the arms and head. The exhibitor was compelled to indicate the cards to be played by certain signs and motions, which often led to complications and mistakes. This revival of Psycho eventually came into the possession of Signor Boz, and was exhibited in Liverpool and various other towns under the new name of Yorick.
Professor Pepper likewise constructed an imitation of Psycho, under the nom de théâtre of Scynthia. This figure, though very ingeniously contrived, did not confessedly fulfil all the conditions of Psycho.
Cremer also introduced a whist player, which was a huge, complicated mass of wheels, levers, and elaborate mechanical contrivances, and necessitated a most careful supervision for a successful exhibition. It could never be relied on for a smooth and uninterrupted performance.
Fig. 321.
A French firm also constructed a whist player for Mr. Everett, and this eventually went to America. In this figure the boy was much better concealed than in the one I mentioned before.
One very ingenious solution of the construction of Psycho was offered in November, 1877. I partly reproduce it—not because it is a solution, but because it will enable the practical and ingenious reader to construct a figure something similar, although not at all equal, to the Whist Player of Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke.
In [Figs. 321a] and [321b] (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, 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 leg of stool, and another tube beneath 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 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 elbow moving too far, and b b spiral springs, to keep thumb open and head forward respectively. When N is raised, M pulls T and S, the latter closing thumb, and then raising arm by pulley H. If the lever is allowed to drop, p will catch and keep arm up. On again raising N, the arm will descend.