276 AUTOMATON 



of the bar b, and of both feet towards the rudder-wheels, determines the form of tho 

 path which the figure will describe. Tho change of direction of that oblique bar is 

 effected without other agency. For this purpose the wheel 1 takes into the pinion 7, 

 and this carries round the crown-wheel 8, which is fixed, with an eccentric disc 9, 

 upon a common axis. While the crown-wheel moves in the direction of the arrow, it 

 turns the smaller eccentric portion of the elliptic disc towards the lever m, which, 

 pressed upon incessantly by its spring, assumes, by degrees, the position corresponding 

 with tho middle lino of the figure, and afterwards an oblique position ; then it goes 

 back again, and reaches its first situation ; consequently, through tho reciprocal 

 turning of the bar h and the swim-foot, is determined and varied tho path which the 

 swan must pursue. This construction is available with all automata which work by 

 wheels ; and it is obvious, that we may, by different forms of the disc 9, modify, at 

 pleasure, the direction and the velocity of the turnings. If the disc is a circle, for 

 instance, then the changes will take place less suddenly ; if the disc is an outward and 

 inward curvature, upon whose edge the end of the lever presses with a roller, the 

 movement will take place in a serpentine line. 



The neck is the part which requires the most careful workmanship. Its outward 

 case must be flexible, and the neck itself should therefore be made of a tube of spiral 

 wire, covered with leather, or with a feathered bird-skin. The double line in the 

 interior, where we see the triangles e e e, denotes a steel spring made fast to tho 

 plate 10, which forms the bottom of the neck; it stands loose, and needs to be merely 

 so strong as to keep the neck straight, or to bend it a little backwards. It should not 

 be equally thick in all points, but it should be weaker where the first graceful bend is 

 to be made ; and, in general, its stiffness ought to correspond to the curvature of the 

 neck of this bird. The triangles c are made fast at their base to the front surface of 

 the spring; in the points of each there is a slit, in the middle of which a movable 

 roller is set, formed of a smoothly turned steel rod. A thin catgut string /, runs 

 from the upper end of the spring, where it is fixed over all these rollers, and passes, 

 through an aperture pierced in the middle of 10, into the inside of the rump. If the 

 catgut be drawn straight back towards/, the spring, and consequently the neck, must 

 obviously be bent, and so much the more, the more tightly /is pulled and is shortened 

 in the hollow of the neck. How this is accomplished by the wheel-work will pre- 

 sently be shown. The wheel 1 1 receives its motion from tho pinion s, connected 

 with the main wheel 1. Upon 11 there is, moreover, the disc 12, to whose circum- 

 ference a slender chain is fastened. When the wheel 1 1 turns in the direction of the 

 arrow, the chain will be so much pulled onwards through the corresponding advance 

 at the point at 12, till this point has come to the place opposite to its present situation, 

 and, consequently, 1 1 must have performed half a revolution. The other end of the 

 chain is hung in the groove of a very movable roller 14 ; and this will be turned 

 immediately by the unwinding of the chain upon its axis. There turns, in connection 

 with it, however, the large roller 13, in which the catgut /is fastened; and as this is 

 pulled in the direction of the arrow, the neck will be bent until the wheel 1 1 has 

 made a half revolution. Then the drag ceases again to act upon the chain and the 

 catgut ; the spring in the neck comes into play : it becomes straight, erects the neck 

 of the animal, and turns the rollers 13 and 14 back into their first position. 



The roller 13 is of considerable size, in order that through the slight motion of tho 

 roller 14, a sufficient length of the catgut maybe wound off, and the requisite shorten- 

 ing of the neck may be effected ; which results from the proportion of the diameters 

 of the rollers 11, 13, 14. This part of the mechanism is attached as near to the side 

 of the hollow body as possible, to make room for tho interior parts, but particularly 

 for the paddle-wheels. Since the catgut/ must pass downwards on the middle from 

 10, it is necessary to incline it sideways and outwards towards 13, by means of some 

 email rollers. 



The head, constituting one piece with the neck, will be depressed by the complete 

 flexure of this ; and the bill, being turned downwards in front of the breast, will 

 touch tho surface of tho water. The head will not be motionless ; but it is joined on 

 both sides, by a very movable hinge, with the light ring which forms the upper part 

 of the clothing of the neck. A weak spring, g, also fastened to the end of the neck, 

 tends to turn tho head backwards ; but in the present position it cannot do so, because 

 a chain &tg, whose other end is attached to the plate 10, keeps it on the stretch. 

 On the bending of the neck, this chain becomes slack ; the spring h comes into 

 operation, and throws the head so far back that, in its natural position, it will reach 

 the water. 



Finally, to render the turning of the head and neck practicable, the latter is not 

 closely connected with the rump, while the plate 10 can turn in a cylindrical manner 

 upon its axis, but cannot become loose outwardly. Moreover, there is upon the axis 

 f the wheel 1, and behind it (shown merely as a circle in the engraving) a bevel 



