MECHANICAL HOUSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1941, Page 6

MECHANICAL HOUSE

ALL LEVERS AND BUTTONS. Some cf us may remember going to the cinema in its earliest days, and if so there may come to mind some crude films in which the mechanical house was shown. Ail that seems long ago, but long before the first mechanical house was shown on the screen John George Appojd was living in one. An ingenious mechanic, he made his entrance to the stage of life m 1809. and his exit in 1865. Son of a skin-dyer al Finsbury, he introduced so many scientific improvements into his business that in a few years he amassed a large fortune, leaving him free to enjoy his favourite pastime cf inventing anything which seemed difficult to invent. His successes were never brilliant, but he was for ever giving others good ideas. He rarely troubled to patent a notion, though ho has 'an improved centifrugal pump to his credit. He preferred to help other engineers without asking for reward. But he did find pleasure in living in his odd house which was all levers and buttons. Everywhere in his house were engines, and you had only to touch a button and the wheels went round. As you approached the door and raised your hand to knock, the door opened of itself. You stepped inside, and the door closed noiseless after you.

A queer house it was. There were shutters to the windows, but you never saw a servant closing them. Mr Appold touched a spring, and all ihe shutters were drawn : together. He touched another spring, and the room was instantly illuminated —long before electricity. He touched another spring,

and darkness descended. There were gadgets of all kinds. What a house for a boy to wander in!