In 1818, for a brief period, he was one of the players hidden inside the chess machine, the Turk. At one time he was sick, and he did not play very well. While he was hiding inside the Turk, he could not stop coughing and he could be heard by people watching. After this, the owner of the Turk, Mälzel, added some noisy gears. This was simply to cover any noise coming from the person inside.