The Eureka

Visitors, for the admission price of one shilling, could see a machine that resembled a ‘small bureau bookcase’, with six narrow windows in the front.

[1] Verses output from the machine included horrida spona reis promittunt tempora densa ("horrible brides promise tough times") and sontia tela bonis causabunt agmina crebra ("good weapons will cause frequent raids").

The words were not simply printed on the drums, but encoded as rows of stop wires of different lengths, onto which wooden staves would be dropped.

After it was repaired in 1950 after a period of neglect, it was housed in the Records Office of Clarks’ factory in Street, Somerset.

[1] Since the Shoe Museum closed, the Latin Verse Machine has been in the care of the Alfred Gillett Trust.