This machine was a figure about five feet and a half in length, situated on a fragment of rock, fixed upon a square pedestal, four feet and a half high, by three and a nail broad. The front of the pedestal being opened, a clock-work movement was seen, by means of which a steel axis was made to revolve, having various pro tuberances upon ft, to which were attached cords thrown over pullies, and terminating in the upper boards of nine pair of bellows, which were thus alternately raised and let down by the revolution of the axis. The disagreeable fluttering noise produced by the wind forcing open the valves of the bellows, was prevented by causing the valves to open by means of levers which were acted upon by the tightening of the ropes which raised the upper boards of the bellows, and which, therefore kept the valve open till the boards were allowed to descend. The nine pair of bellows discharged their air into three different tubes, which ascending through the body of the figure, terminated in three small reservoirs in its trunk ; there they united into one, which ascending to the throat, formed the cavity of the mouth. To each of the three pipes three pair of bellows were attached. The upper boards of one set were pressed down with a weight of four pounds, those of the second set by a weight of two pounds, and those of the third by their own weight only.
Such were the expedients for supplying air to the flute player : another piece of clock-work contained within the pedestal, was for the purpose of communicat ing the proper motions to his fingers, his lips, and his tongue. By this movement a cylinder was made to re volve, two feet and a half long, and sixty-four inches in circumference, which was divided into fifteen equal parts, of an inch and a half each. In these divisions were inserted various pegs and staples of brass, which raised and depressed the ends of fifteen different le vers, similar to those which produce the sounds of a common barrel organ. Seven of these levers regulated the motions of the seven fingers required to stop the, holes of a German flute, with which they communicated by means of steel chains ascending through the body of i the figure, and directed by means of pullies into the proper angles at the shoulder, elbow, Exc. Three of the levers regulated the ingress of the air, being con nected with the valves of the three reservoirs in the body of the figure, which they opened and shut at plea sure, so as to produce a stronger or weaker, a louder or lower tone. By a similar contrivance, four of the levers served to give the proper motions to the lips; one of them opened the lips, so as to allow a freer passage to the air; another contracted them, so as to diminish the efflux of air ; the third drew them backwards from the orifice of the flute ; and the fourth pushed them forwards.
The remaining lever was employed in the direction of the tongue, to which it gave motion, in such a manner as to open and shut the mouth of the flute at pleasure.
In order that a new series of motions might be com municated to the fifteen levers at each successive revo lution of the cylinder, its axis was made to terminate in an endless screw, of which the threads were twelve in number, and distant from each other a line and a half. By the operation of this screw, and of the fixed pivot which between its threads, the cylinder was gradually carried forward in the direction of the threads, and a new set of motions communicated to the levers during twelve different revolutions. On the whole, a length of twelve times 64, or 768 inches, was left for the insertion of the pegs and staples which were destined to give the proper motions to each of the fif teen levers. It remains only to give some idea of the manner in which these motions were adapted to produce the requisite effects.
Suppose that it is required to produce the lowest note of the flute, called D, which is formed by stopping all the holes of the instrument, and blowing gently into it with a full body of air. To produce the proper disposi tion of the mouth, or the embouchlire, we must fix a peg in the cylinder under the lever whose office it is to en large the opening of the lips. In the second place, we must fix a peg under the lever intended to draw back the lips. In the third place, we must fix a peg under the lever which opens the valve of the reservoir corres ponding to the unloaded pairs of bellows. And in the fourth place, we must fix a peg under the lever which regulates the tongue, in order to give the proper articu lation to the note. When all these pegs are brought into action at the same moment, the flute will produce the exact sound required. To produce the tone next in the order of the scale, or E, nothing more is necessary than to the four motions already described to add a fifth, by fixing a peg under the lever whose office it is to raise the third finger of the right hand, and thus to open the sixth hole of the flute : at the same time the lips are brought a little farther forward over the orifice of the flute, by depressing a little the peg whose office it is to draw them backwards. It is easy to conceive, how, upon similar principles, all the notes of the first or low est octave may be produced : all that is necessary is to place pegs under the levers which move the fingers, corresponding to the note required.