McCintic McClintoc

[David Morris]

http://www.database.com/~lemur/dm-vaucanson-flute-english.html

The Translator to the Reader.
J. T. DESAGULIERS

P.S. Whilst this Memoire was printing, I received
the Description of the Duck and of the Figure playing
on the Tabor and Pipe; which Mr, [sic] VAUCANSON describes
in a Letter to a Friend. Therefore to do him Justice in every
Respect, and for the Satisfaction of the Curious, I have
subjoined the Translation of his Letter.

AN
ACCOUNT
OF THE
MECHANISM of an IMAGE
Playing on the GERMAN FLUTE, &c.

Presented to the Gentlemen of the Royal Academy of Sciences,
By Mr. VAUCANSON, the Inventor of it.

"My first Care has been to examine the Mouth of WInd-
Instruments, to know well how to get Sound out of them,
what Parts contribute to produce it, and how it may be
modified."

"The Figure is about six Foot and an half high,
sitting upon a Piece of Rock, placed on a square
Pedestal, four Foot and an half high, and three Foot
and an half wide.

In the forepart of the Pedestal (the Pannel being
open'd) on the right Hand there is a Movement, which
by Means of several Wheels mov'd by a Weight, car-
ries round underneath a steel Axel or Arbor, two Foot
and a[sic] half long, with six Cranks in its Length at
equal Distances, but looking different Ways. To each
Crank are fasten'd Strings which terminate at the End
of the upper Boards of six Pair of Bellows, two Foot
and an half long, and six Inches Wide each, placed at
the Bottom of the Pedestal, where their lower Boards are
made fast, so that as the Arbor turns, the six Pair of Bel-
lows rise and fall sucessively one after another."

"These three Pipes, by different Elbows, end in three
small Receptacles in the Breast of the Figure. There
they re-unite into one, which goes up thro' the Throat,
or Wind-Pipe, and widening makes a Cavity in the Mouth
terminated by two Lips which bear upon the Hole of
the Flute: These Lips give the Wind a greater or less Issue,
as they are more or less open; for the Performance of
which, as well as that of coming forward or being
drawn back, there is a particular Piece of Mechanism.

Within the forementioned Cavity there is a little move-
able Tongue, which by its play can open or shut the Pas-
sage of the Wind that goes thro' the Lips of the Figure."






>From: "John Bailey" Anyways, perhaps I'm stretching some links here but...
>
>Along with the Duck, one of the three automata which made M. Vaucanson so 
>famous was the flauteur, or flutist, whose most remarkable property was the 
>hinged mouth which allowed for a mechanical embouchere or pursing of the 
>lips.
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