A 19th-Century Speaking Machine: The Tecnefón of Severino Pérez y Vázquez

The Tecnefón is a speaking machine developed in Spain in the 1860s by Severino Pérez y Vázquez. Pérez’s main book on the Tecnefón was published in 1868. Within the context of speaking machines designed from the 18th century onwards, the Tecnefón is built on an acoustical basis; hence it is different from W. von Kempelen’s device, which tried to ‘replicate’ the phonatory system. The Tecnefón has three main parts: a drum that generates sound (the source), an air chamber to hold such sound, and a set of tubes, chambers, and other artefacts propelled by a keyboard. Pérez created a prototype of a speaking machine that performed five vowels and six consonants, so it could ‘speak’ many sentences in Spanish. To this he added accent and intonation with a lever. However, the Tecnefón was never finished due to institutional circumstances that prevented Pérez from pursuing his research.