Friedrich von Knauss

Friedrich von Knauss ( born February 7 in Aldingen or April 7, 1724 in Ludwigsburg, † August 14, 1789 in Vienna, also briefly: Knauss ) was a German watchmaker small, machine builder and inventor.

Life

His father was a watchmaker Ludwig Knaus. He had a brother Johann Ludwig, who was born 1715-1716.

From 1739 to the 1750s he worked at the grand-ducal court at Darmstadt, and in 1749 he became court mechanic. He built machines, could play musical instruments, some short lines written or could perform other tasks. Among other things, designed and built in 1750 along with his brother a Automatenuhr in honor of the 10th anniversary of Maria Theresa's enthronement.

In 1757 he completed his work on a mechanical music, could play a flageolet. Three years later, he created the "all or self-recording miracle machine", which was presented in 1760, Emperor Franz I on October 4. This could automatically write 68 Latin characters and wrote a letter in French at the premiere.

His most famous, although ultimately unsuccessful machine are the "four talking heads ". 1779 had had the design of talking heads on the subject, who may impose five vowels in St. Petersburg, a competition of the Academy of Sciences. The jury concluded the machines of Knauss defective function.