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AN ATTEMPT TO ANALYSE THE AUTOMATON CHESS PLAYER.
HOWLETT and BRIMMER, Printers, 10, Frith Street, Soho.
[Illustration: _Plate 1. To face the Title. Fig. 1._]
_Drawn on Stone by the Author. Printed by C. Hullmandel._]
AN ATTEMPT TO ANALYSE THE AUTOMATON CHESS PLAYER, OF MR. DE KEMPELEN.
WITH AN EASY METHOD OF IMITATING THE MOVEMENTS OF THAT CELEBRATED FIGURE.
TO WHICH IS ADDED, A COPIOUS COLLECTION OF THE KNIGHT’S MOVES OVER THE CHESS BOARD.
_LONDON_: PRINTED FOR J. BOOTH, DUKE STREET, PORTLAND PLACE. 1821.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses. SHAKSPEARE.
I had not thought to have unlockt my lips In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes. MILTON.
The Automaton Chess Player was first introduced into England by Mr. de Kempelen, its inventer, about the year 1783. It was brought again into this country two years ago, and exhibited under the direction of a very ingenious gentleman, Mr. Maelzel.
The annexed drawings, (plate 1, figs. 1 and 2,) represent the general appearance of the machine. It runs on castors, and is either seen on the floor when the doors of the apartment are thrown open, or is wheeled into the room at the commencement of the exhibition.
The exhibiter, in order to shew the mechanism, as he informs the spectators, unlocks the door (A, fig. 1.) of the chest, which exposes to view a small cupboard, lined with black or dark coloured cloth, and containing different pieces of machinery, which seem to occupy the whole space. He next opens the door (B, fig. 2.) at the back of the same cupboard, and, holding a lighted candle at the opening, still further exposes the machinery within. The candle being withdrawn, the door (B) is then locked. The drawer (G G, fig. 1.) in the front of the chest is next opened, and a set of chess men, a small box of counters, and a cushion for the support of the Automaton’s arm, are taken out of it. The exhibiter now opens the two front doors (C C, fig. 1.) of the large cupboard, and the back door (D, fig. 2.) of the same, and applies a candle as in the former case. This cupboard is lined with cloth like the other, but it contains only a few pieces of machinery. The chest is now wheeled round, the garments of the figure are lifted up, and the door (E, fig. 2,) in the trunk, and another (F,) in the thigh, are opened. But it must be observed that the doors (B and D) are closed. The circumstance is mentioned, because Mr. de Windisch, in his letters on this subject, has a passage which would seem to imply that Mr. Maelzel’s mode of exhibiting the interior differs from that which Mr. de Kempelen employed. “But do not imagine,” says De Windisch, “like many others, that the inventer shuts one door as he opens another; the entire Automaton is seen at the same time uncovered, his garments turned up, and the drawer opened, as well as all the doors of the chest.”