Automaton. Instrument which moves by itself, or machine which contains within itself the source of its motion.

The word comes from the Greek ἀυτόματον and is composed of ἀυτὸς ipse [ sic ], and μάω, "I am excited, ready to move," or perhaps μάτην, "easily," from which came ἀυτόματος "spontaneous," "voluntary." This applies to the "Flying Pigeon" of Achitas, mentioned by Aulus Gellius in Book X, chapter 12 of The Attic Nights , if one is willing to admit, of course, that this "Flying Pigeon" was not just a fable.

Some authors include among automata mechanical instruments that are put in motion by springs, internal weights, etc., like clocks, watches, etc. Cf. Joan. Port., Mag. Nat. , Chap. XIX; Scaliger, subtitle 326. See also Spring, Timepiece, Watch, Clock, etc.

The automaton flute player of M. de Vaucanson, member of the Academy of Sciences, the "Duck," and several other machines created by him are among the most famous works of this type seen in a long time. For the "Flutist," see the article Android.

Encouraged by his success, M. de Vaucanson exhibited in 1741 other automata which were given the same favorable reception. [3]

1. A duck in which he shows the viscera destined for the functions of drinking, eating, digesting. The interplay of all the parts necessary for these actions is imitated faithfully. The duck stretches its neck to take grain from the hand, it swallows, digests, and excretes in the normal way. All the movements of the duck, which swallows quickly and increases the speed of the movement of its gullet in order to pass the food down to the stomach, are copied from nature. The nutriment is digested as happens with real animals, by means of dissolution and not by trituration. The matter digested in the stomach is conveyed through tubes similar to the bowels of the real animal, to the anus where a sphincter permits the excretion.

The inventor does not pretend that this digestion is perfect, capable of producing blood and nutritional fluids to sustain the animal, and it would be churlish to criticize him for it. He merely claims to be imitating the mechanics of this action in three things: (1) swallowing the grain, (2) macerating or dissolving it, (3) making it reappear substantially changed.

Nevertheless certain elements were necessary to achieve these actions and they deserve the attention of those who wish to be more fully informed. Different expedients had to be used to make this artificial duck take grain, make it convey the grain to the stomach; and there, in that small space, a chemical laboratory had to be constructed in order to decompose this grain into its component parts and make it emerge at will at the opposite end through the circumvolutions of the pipes.

Anatomists will find nothing to criticize about the construction of the wings. All the bones have been copied. All those protuberances called apophyses are faithfully followed as are the different joints, hollows, and curves. The three bones that form the wings are quite distinct. The first is the humerus and rotates in all directions with a bone that serves as the shoulder blade. The second is the cubitus of the wing and moves with the humerus by means of a joint that anatomists call the hinge-joint. The third is the radius that turns in the hollow of the humerus and is attached at its terminations to the small bones of the wing tip, just as is the case with the real animal. In order to show that the motions of these wings are in no way like those that one sees in the great masterpieces, such as the cocks of the clocks of Lyon and Strasbourg, the mechanism of the artificial duck is visible, the intention of the inventor being to demonstrate rather than merely to show the machine. We believe that observant persons will sense the difficulties of making the automaton perform so many different movements—as, for instance, is the case when it rises on its feet and turns its neck from right to left. They will see all the changes of the different supporting joints; they will even see that what is a joint of support to a movable part becomes in turn mobile while the first in its turn stays fixed; in short they will discover a whole series of mechanical combinations.

Once it has been wound the whole mechanism functions without being touched again. We have forgotten to say that the animal drinks, paddles in the water, and quacks like a real duck. In short the inventor has tried to make it perform all the motions of the real duck, which he has observed with great care.

2. The second automaton is the "Tambourin [4] Player," squarely planted on the pedestal, dressed as a dancing shepherd, who plays some twenty melodies, minuets, brigadoons, and quadrilles.

One might believe that this was a less intricate automaton than the "Flute Player"; but without wishing to raise one above the other, one should stop and think that one has here the most thankless instrument that gets easily out of tune. It was necessary to put together a flute with three holes where all the tones depend on the amount of breath used and on the half-closed holes. All the variations of the breath had to be provided for, with a rapidity that the ear can hardly follow. A click of the tongue had to be given for each note, even for the semiquavers; otherwise the sound of the instrument is not pleasing. In this way this automaton is superior to all our real tambourin players who cannot move their tongues swiftly enough to sound a whole bar of semiquavers. They slur over half the notes, whereas the automaton plays an entire melody sounding each note clearly (using the tongue for each one).

What ingenuity went into achieving this effect! The inventor has made certain unexpected discoveries. Who would have thought that this little flute is one of the wind instruments most fatiguing to the lungs of the players?

The muscles of their chests have to make an effort equal to a weight of fifty-six pounds, for this is the wind power needed to create the amount of thrust or force that will produce the high ti, which is the last note reached by the instrument. One ounce is sufficient to sound the mi, which is the first note. This gives an idea of the variety of wind strength necessary to run through all the notes of this Provençal flute.

There are so few finger positions that one might think it was only necessary to provide different breaths for the different notes. Not at all. The wind that produces the re after the do would miss it completely if it were to follow the mi above and this applies to the other notes. One can calculate that it needs the double volume of wind without counting the sharps, which need a special volume of their own. The inventor himself was astonished at the varied combinations of winds needed for this instrument and more than once he despaired of ever achieving success. But in the end patience and courage triumphed.

This is not all: this little flute is held by but one hand. In the other the automaton holds a stick with which he beats the Marseilles drum. He gives simple and double beats, different rolls for all the melodies, and accompanies them, keeping time for the same melodies that he plays, with the other hand, on his little flute. This is not one of the simplest movements of the machine. Sometimes it has to beat more strongly, sometimes more rapidly, and always it must give a quick rap in order to extract sounds from the drum. The apparatus for this consists in an infinite variety of levers and different springs, put in motion with sufficient accuracy to follow the melody.

It would be too long to describe this in detail. This automaton has some similarity with the "Flute Player" but it has been built by very different means.

Translator's Notes

1. [Derek J. de Solla Price, "Automata and the Origins of Mechanism," Technology and Culture (Winter 1964), p. 14.]

2. [Silvio A. Bedini, "Automata in the History of Technology," ibid. , p. 36.]

3. [Reproductions of drawings of this duck can be seen in Technology and Culture (Winter 1964) and in History Today (May 1963), p. 343. Excellent reproductions are also to be found in A. Chapuis and E. Droz, Automata (Neuchâtel: Editions du Griffon, 1958), pp. 233ff.]

4. [The tambourin is an instrument especially used in Provence, which consists of a small drum, played by one hand, to the accompaniment of a little flute or pipe, played with the other hand simultaneously. Usually it is referred to as tabor and pipe. For an illustration of the automaton see Chapuis and Droz, ibid. , p. 276.]