Sciences at Versailles part 8: mechanics, automatons and hot-air balloons

Ostrich egg

This artefact is an Easter egg on a pedestal lathed by one of Louis XV’s daughter, Madame Adélaïde.

Bite brace and vice

These bit brace and vice were in Louis XV's locksmithing workshop in Versailles, on the fourth floor of the Stags Courtyard. The bit brace was in all probability forged turned and polished by the king himself.

Mechanics in the King’s cabinets

The cabinets of the first floor that made up the King's private Apartment are a perfect testimony to Louis XV's interest in the mechanical arts in the form of clock-making, locksmithing and the bite brace job.

The king's scientific cabinets were spread over four floors around the Stags Courtyard, south of the semi-circular staircase: they include the king's forge, preceded by the locksmith's workshop and, on the other side, to the north, the joinery cabinet.

The Flying Chair

Jean-Jacques Renouard, Count of Villayer (1605-1691), is reported to have invented this mechanism. He perfected this system in Paris and, thanks to his ties with the House of Condé, installed it at Chantilly and at Versailles, in the prince's own mansion.

Saint-Simon comments on the invention of these flying chairs, "which by counterweights rise and descend alone between two walls to the floor we wish to access by sitting in it by the sole weight of the body and stopping where we wish". The memoir writer also mentions the amusing adventure of the Duchess of Bourbon who remained locked in for nearly three hours between two floors of her Versailles hotel, before they freed her by demolishing the walls.

The only known flying chair at the palace was the one Louis XV had installed in 1743 for his mistress the Duchess of Châteauroux, in the north side of the king's small courtyard, in order to enable her reach his third floor apartment more conveniently. Perfected by Blaise-Henri Arnoult, the talented mechanic, it was used by Mme de Pompadour between 1745 and 1750 and remained in service until 1754. When dismantled it was transported to Fontainebleau to enable the marchioness to reach her theatre box in the Belle Cheminée wing.

Automata

The dulcimer is a spectacular illustration of the quest and focus of the 18th century, a great century for automation, driven by a profound desire to succeed in creating an artificial man with mechanical reproductions of anatomical movements: these androids are a testament to the fascination exerted by these animated creatures, and to the inventiveness of mechanics who were virtuosos in the art of reproducing human movements and vital functions.

The Dulcimer player was made by the Germans Pierre Kintzing (1745-1816), clockmaker who made the mechanism, and cabinetmaker David Roentgen (1743-1807), who made the furniture; the dress dates from the 19th century. Automats move and thus attract a lot of curiosity. The Dulcimer is believed to have been sent to the French court by Roentgen and purchased in 1784 by Marie-Antoinette. Aware of its scientific interest and perfection, the queen had it placed in the cabinet of the Academy of Sciences in 1785.