ANDROIDES. 
figure represents a flute-player, which was 
capable of performing various pieces of mu- 
sic, by wind issuing from its mouth into a 
German flute, the holes of which it opened 
and shut with its fingers : it was about 
feet high, placed upon a square pedestal 
feet high, and 31 broad. The air entered 
the body by three separate pipes, into which 
it was conveyed by nine pairs of bellows, 
that expanded and contracted, in regular 
succession, by means of an axis of steel 
turned by clock-work. These bellows per- 
formed their functions without any noise, 
which might have discovered the manner by 
which the air was conveyed to the ma- 
chine. 
The three tabes, which received the air 
from the bellows, passed into three small 
reservoirs in the trunk of the figure. Here 
they united, and ascending towards the 
throat, formed the cavity of the month, 
which terminated in two small lips, adapted 
in some measure to perform their proper 
functions. Within this cavity was a small 
moveable tongue, which, by its motion at 
proper intervals, admitted the air, or inter- 
cepted it in its passage to the flute. The 
fingers, lips, and tongue, derived their pro- 
per movements from a steel cylinder, turn- 
ed by clock-work. This was divided into 
fifteen equal parts, which, by means of pegs 
pressing upon the ends of fifteen different 
levers, caused the other extremities to as- 
cend. Seven of these levers directed the 
fingers, having wires and chains fixed to 
their ascending extremities, which, being 
attached to the fingers, made them to as- 
cend in proportion as the other extremity 
was pressed down by the motion of the cy- 
linder, and vice versa ; then the ascent or 
descent of one end of a lever produced a 
similar ascent or descent in the correspond- 
ing fingers, by which one of the holes of the 
flute was occasionally opened or stopped, as 
it might have been by a living performer. 
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 three 
reservoirs above mentioned, so that more or 
less strength might be given, and a higher 
or lower note produced as occasion required. 
The lips were, by a similar mechanism, di- 
rected by four levers, one of which opened 
them to give the air a freer passage, the 
other contracted them, the third drew them 
backward, and the fourth pushed them for- 
ward. The lips were projected upon that 
part of the flute which receives the air, and, 
by the different motions already mentioned, 
VOL. I. 
modified the tunc in a proper manner. The 
remaining lever was employed in the direc- 
tion of the tongue, which it 'easily moves so 
as to shut or open the mouth of the flute. 
The just succession of the several motions, 
performed by the various parts of this ma- 
chine, was regulated by the following sim- 
ple contrivance. The extremity of the axis 
of the cylinder terminated on the right side 
by an endless screw, consisting of twelve 
threads, each placed at the distance of a 
line and a half from the other. Above this 
screw was fixed a piece of copper, and in 
it a steel pivot, which, failing in between 
the threads of the screw, obliged the cylin- 
der to follow the threads, and, instead of 
turning directly round, it was continually 
pushed to one side. 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 revolu- 
tion, because the peg would be moved a 
line and a half beyond it by the lateral mo- 
tion of the cylinder. 
Thus, by an artificial disposition of these 
pegs in different parts of the. cylinder, the 
statue was made, by the successive elevation 
of the proper levers, to exhibit all the dif- 
ferent motions of a flute-player, to the ad- 
miration of every one who saw it. Another 
figure, constructed by the same artist, Vau- 
canson, played on the Provemjal shepherd’s 
pipe, held in its left hand, and with the 
right beat upon a drum. 
The performances of Vaucanson were 
imitated, and even exceeded, by M. de 
Kempelin, of Presburg, in Hungary. The 
androides constructed by this gentleman in 
1769, was capable of playing chess. It was 
brought over, to England in 1783, and remain- 
ed here for more than a year. It is thus de- 
scribed : The figure is as large as life, in a 
Turkish dress, seated behind a table, with 
doors 3i feet long, 2 deep, and 2| high. The 
chair on which it sits is fixed to the table, 
which is made to run on four wheels. It 
leans its right arm on the table, and in its 
left hand holds a pipe; with this hand it 
plays after the pipe is removed. A chess- 
board of 18 inches is fixed before it. The 
table, or rather chest, contains wheels, le- 
vers, cylinders, and other pieces of mecha- 
nism, all of which are publicly displayed. 
The vestments of the figure was then lifted 
over its head, and the body seen full of si- 
milar wheels and levers. There is a little 
door in its thigh, which is likewise opened : 
and with this, and the table also open, and 
the figure uncovered, the whole is wheeled 
Q 
