Ingenious Electrical Apparatus.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 259, 15 September 1874, Page 7

Ingenious Electrical Apparatus.

thb ifollomog.iqtieKpstfflig ftpsrajagl 9; a fffflfo by|th©jlatenßnberfe Houdiiv Mowksj descriptive: of convenient arrangements he Ji had' made in connection with his owit residence r,mh ..... .y, fj, Robert Houdin's house was called the Priory. The) entrance Was for by a largQ"!gate,'for;.visi.tors on foot, by a door on the left* ' A box on the fright received newspapers and letters. .The-house stood about 430' yards s frotn the entrance*gate, and a brpad winding carriage-way led to it across a park 1 shaded by- aged: trees. "•' . , y ' < 1 The .doptonihe left is painted white and has on it; at the usual height,; a plate of gilt copper bearing the name, " Robert Houdin." Under this plate there is a little knocker, also gilt. Th&visitor lifts the hammer, according to his taste; but however feeble the stroke, a bell peals through every part of the house at 430 yards distance, and does not cease to ring until "the'lock is opened. By the ceasing to ring the servant is made aware that he has shot, the lock, and at the same time that 1 the bolt is shot. The name of Robert; Houdin disappears suddenly,, being replaced by an enamelled plate bearing the word *' Eritrea" painted in large characters. The door closes with a spring, and when once shut noohecango out again without enacting certain formalities. As it opens it automatically causes' a bell to give two distinct peals at two different .angles of its opening and shutting. These" fojßi little peals, although produced by different are heard at the Priory, spaced by silences of equal duration. To illustrate, let us suppose that a solitary visitor arriving at the gate'knocks thereat, the people" at the house, open the lock, and the visitor enters, pushing the door, which shuts instantiy by means of a spring. The four strokes of, the bell caused by the opening and shutting of the gate followed, at equal intervals of time, drin, drin, drin, drin, so that the people of. the house are aware only one person, has arrived. Supposing, however, that several visitors come, the first enters pushing the door, and according to the rules •of politeness holds it open until each has passed, but the interval between the two first «nd the two last peals is proportional to the jnuniberof persons who.have entered. The chime is heard thus—drin—drin drin —drin, and the calculation of the number is very, easy to an experienced ear. ■ An habitual visitor makes himself easily known. He knocks, and knowing what ought to happen, he does not stop, as one might say, at the foolish tricks of the gate. The door has no sooner been opened than the four equidistant peals are heard and announce his entrance. It is not the same in the case of a new. visitor. When the word "Entrez" appears, his surprise causes him to pause, and it is only after the lapse of some seconds that he makes up his mind to push in the door. His step is slow, and the four peals are like his step—drin drin drin drin.' The people at the Priory prepare to receive a new visitor. Again, the travelling beggar lifts the knocker timidly. Fearing some mistake he hesitates to enter, and if he does so, it is only after someeeconds of waiting and uncertainty. As the people of the house hear the peal thus—-d-r-i-n d-r-i-n d-r-i-n d-r-i-n, they know that some poor person is about to enter. They go forth to meet him and are never deceived. Suppose, however, some one comes to pay a visit in a carriage, the footman descends from his seat and immediately proceeds to open the little gate. Having entered he finds hanging on the inside the key of the large gate, which an inscription points out to him. He has nothing to do but to open the two folding doors. This double movement is heard and seen at the house by moans of the chimes, and a tablet placed in the hall on which are painted these words : "'The doors of the .gate are —" (the Wank space being followed by the words *' open" or " shut," according to the state in which the gate is.) M. Houdin continues, with this tablet I can assure myself every evening that the gates of the house are shut. Let us go on, however, to describe the let-ter-box. It is closed by a little swinging lid, arranged in such a manner that when it is opened it causes an electric peal to ring at the Priory. The postman has an order to put in at once with a single movement all the newspapers, and then in the same way the circulars, after which he puts in the letters one by one., The number of each kind sent is made known to a person at the house, so that if one is not an early riser he can count the different parts of his postbag lying in bed. To avoid the trouble of sending letters to the post-office in the village, we write in the evening; then, by turning an index called a " communicator," we change all the arrangements: that is to say, the postman the next morning,, when putting his letters into the box, instead of sending a peal to the house, hears one near him which tells him to go there and take the letters. My electric porter leaves me, nothing more to desire. His performance is most exact, his fidelity is above, all proof, his discretion is without equal, and as to his expense I doubt whether it would be possible to give less for so perfect a servant. I now proceed to give some details of a plan, by the aid of which I can take care that my horse shall have his proper amount of food at the right time. This horse is a mare, a. good-natured old girl, somewhat aged, which answers to the name of " Fanchette." We regard her as almost the friend of the house. Fanchette has a person appointed to feed her. This is a very honest boy, who in consequence of his honesty does not take offence at my electric plans. But before this servant, I had another who was an active, in-

telligent man, passifmately'atiaelied to the art .winch was formerly cultivated by his master. |He oidy s khefft.' 6rie' Irick,'ltifttfh&< [evented- if, 'with rare ability., .This .consisted in changing my oats into five-franc piecetf. The stable raj only forty-four yards-distant from the house, but in spite ofjijhisidistance ,iV is my workshop, which • makes the distribution.'' A clock is charged l with this duty, and is, assisted by the aid of, an electric communication. The distribution is of the greatestsimplioity. Itiis a. box of,the form of a funnel, filling the measure in a proportion regulated beforehand. But it might be asked, would riot a person steal the oats from the horse as soon as they, fell into the manger ? No. For the electric arrangement which causes the oats to fall into the manger could not have effect unless the door of the stable is locked. But could riot the uhief be sliut'in along with the horse ? That is not possible, because the bolt will not shut except from the outside. Then one could wait until the oats had fallen in to go in and take them away. Yes ; but there is a warning of this by a chime arranged in such a manner as to be heard in the dwel-ling-house if anyone opens the door before the oats are entirely eaten by the horse. I The clock of which I have just spoken has the duty also of transmitting the hour by the same electric thread, to two large dials placed one in front of the house, and the other at the gardener's lodge. The first indicates the hour to the whole valley, the second—since the gardener's lodge faces all our windowsgives to the people of the house a uniform and regular time. This time is, communicated by the same process to many different dials in many parts of the d welling. Tb ere belongs, common to all these dials, a single bell which can be heard by the inhabitants Of the Priory, and also by the whole village. It is on the top of the house, under a sort'of campanile, and is used to call the people together at meal hours. I placed under this bell a clockwork sufficiently powerful to raise the hammer at the required time. But as it is necessary .to wind up the weights of this machjne daily, 1 availed myself of a lost (or, to speak more correctly, a not utilised) force to perform this duty of itself. For this purpose, I established a connection between the folding-doors of the kitchen, situated on the ground floor, and the winding part of the clock.at the top of the house, arranged in such a way, that in going and coihing at their work the servants constantly wind up the weights of the clock without any idea of what is going on.. This is almost a perpetual motion about which one need never take any trouble. An electric current lifts the catch of the striking part, and causes it to make the number of strokes indicated by the dials. This distribution of the time gives me the power' of using on certain occasions a little trick which is very useful to me. When for any cause I wish to have my meals sooner or lateral secretly press a certain electric spring, arid I put on or put back at my will' the dials arid striking arrangements of the house. The cook often finds that the time passes very quickly, and I gain a quarter of an hour more or less which I should not have obtained otherwise. It is again the same regulator which every morning by the aid of electric connections awakens three persons at different hours. The alarum rings for that purpose sufficiently loud to awaken the heaviest sleeper, and it continues to strike until the 1 person to be called displaces a little spring at the extremity of the room. For that purpose he must get up, and the point is gained. I torment riiy poor gardener well with my electricity. Would one believe that he cannot warm my conservatory beyond 10 degrees of heat, or lower the temperature beyond 3 degrees of cold, without my knowing it ? In the morning I say to him—" John, you raised the heat too high ; you broiled my geraniums;" or, "John, you are in danger of freezing my oranges; the thermometer has fallen to 3 degrees below zero." • John scratches his ear, and does not answer; lam sure he regards me in some measure as a soi*cerer. A similar arrangement is placed in my wood store, to warn me of the least danger of fire. However trifling in value my precious objects may be, I endeavour to preserve them, and for this purpose I think it right to take precautions against thieves. All the doors and windows of my house have an electric communication which connects them with the chimes, and are so arranged that when one of them moves the bell rings the whole time of Its opening. What a nuisance it would, be if the chimes sounded every time a person opened a window or wished to go out of the bouse. It is not so. The communication is interrupted all day, and is only, established at midnight. The clock for feeding the horse establishes this. When we are away from the house the electric communication is permanent, and in case of opening with malicious intent, the great chime of the clock—of which the catch is raised by electricity—rings without ceasing, and produces the sound of alarm. The gardener, and even the neighbours, thus warned, the thief would easily be taken in the trap. We amuse ourselves often with shooting with a pistol. We have a very well-arranged ground for this purpose. But in place of the usual way of announcing the part of the target struck, the one who makes a bull's-eye sees a coronet of leaves suddenly appear on his head. There is in my park a deep road which it is sometimes necessary to pass. There is no kind of bridge for this purpose ; but on the edge of the ravine a small seat is to be seen. The person out walking sits down, and he is no sooner seated than he finds himself transported to the other side. The traveller puts his foot on the ground, and the little seat returns to bring another passenger. This arrangement works both ways; there is'the; came aerial voyage in returning.