Pull back the curtain and enter a world where mystery and magic take centre stage . . . Twelve-year-old Tig works at the Theatre Royale, cleaning, selling tickets and doing anything else that is asked of her by her tyrannical boss, Mr Snell. But Tig will do whatever it takes to get closer to her dream – to become a Stage Manager and spend her days inventing new ways to imagine and build the intricate machinery and props that bring the exciting productions to life! But when a strange new act – a talking machine – arrives at the Theatre Royale, it moves and behaves in a way that Tig just can’t work out. It’s as though it’s alive somehow . . . And when the machine appears to be hiding a dangerous secret, Tig must race against time to solve the mystery, before everything and everyone she cares about is lost forever. A gloriously gothic adventure from an original new voice in middle-grade. A gloriously gothic adventure with a magical twist from an original new voice in middle-grade. Perfect for fans of Michelle Harrison, Sophie Anderson and Emma Carroll. Praise for Jenni Spangler’s debut novel, THE VANISHING TRICK: A thrilling, original, evocative and eerie tale - I adored it!’ Michelle Harrison, author of A Pinch of Magic 'A thrilling page-turner. Madame Pinchbeck is a gloriously Dickensian villain’ Abi Elphinstone, author of Sky Song 'Ghosts, gadgets, likeable villains and unlikely heroes: The Vanishing Trick is a dark and dazzling adventure’ Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse 'A completely enthralling tale, oozing with atmosphere and originality’ Catherine Doyle, author of The Storm Keeper's Island

An incredible variety of antique record players is documented, including those with external-horns as well as internal-horn devices, collectively known as "talking machines." The authoritative text and up-to-date value guide complement hundreds of photos to provide in this one volume a veritable library on the subject.

Out of the authors' latest explorations, this gorgeous new book has come to life---illustrating entirely different talking machines from those in their previous books. Follow the progress of the acoustic talking machine from its crude beginnings in the 1870s to its most splendid and sophisticated heights in the early 20th century. An unparalleled archive of rare, fascinating, and previously undocumented objects has been assembled. The story behind the beautiful, bright machinery is told through clear and insightful descriptions, and many previously unpublished facts are revealed.

IT'S 1876 AND THE whole country is celebrating the 100th birthday of the United States. The biggest party is in Philadelphia at the World's Fair, where the latest and greatest inventions are on display for all to see. Alexander Graham Bell is headed to the fair to demonstrate his invention - a talking machine he calls the telephone. But will anyone come to see him at the world's most important science fair? And more importantly, will his machine work? This Step 3 reader celebrates the resilient, quirky spirit of inventors.

This book describes the most complex machine ever sent to another planet: Curiosity. It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head. No one human understands how all of its systems and instruments work. This essential reference to the Curiosity mission explains the engineering behind every system on the rover, from its rocket-powered jetpack to its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to its fiendishly complex sample handling system. Its lavishly illustrated text explains how all the instruments work -- its cameras, spectrometers, sample-cooking oven, and weather station -- and describes the instruments' abilities and limitations. It tells you how the systems have functioned on Mars, and how scientists and engineers have worked around problems developed on a faraway planet: holey wheels and broken focus lasers. And it explains the grueling mission operations schedule that keeps the rover working day in and day out.

Speech is the natural medium of human communication, but audible speech can be overheard by bystanders and excludes speech-disabled people. This work presents a speech recognizer based on surface electromyography, where electric potentials of the facial muscles are captured by surface electrodes, allowing speech to be processed nonacoustically. A system which was state-of-the-art at the beginning of this book is substantially improved in terms of accuracy, flexibility, and robustness.