This machine was developed in order to automate the steps of a phrenological diagnosis. The patient would sit in a chair, and a metal helmet would be lowered onto the top of his head. Inside the helmet, there were several sensing rods, connected to small switches, which would tap on the skull's bulges and measure them. The information relayed by the rod's switches would then be translated to commands for a printer that had 160 different statements on a rubber belt.
