I've always been a fan of automata - Jaquet Droz produced three machines in the 1700's than amazed and astounded - The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician - The Writer was particularly fascinating as it could be set to write any sentence in a cursive script - a wondrous thing...
The company still exists and has produced some modern versions of these devices, including a magnificent clock that writes out the time on bits of card... using "only" 1,400 stainless steel and aluminium components: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3t7QfVFNbY A new version of The Writer has also been made as a "signing machine" - completely mechanical, it is protected by a 4-digit security code and is bespoke to the customer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA89XMzGrAA Just love this sort of stuff! Nick -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/7d3a0201-6254-4047-91de-32f0d2b9430f%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
