Thank you. It amazes today, could you imagine then? Mike On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Andrew Baron <andy at popyrus.com> wrote:
> Hi All ~ > A fascinating, 200 year old, spring-wound machine that some of you > might find inspiring is the Maillardet Automaton at the Franklin > Institute in Philadelphia. > > I had the honor of being asked to restore this marvel last year, and > now it is being prepared to be put on display as part of a larger core > exhibit called "The Amazing Machine", which will open in about a week > and a half. > > This automaton has the figure of a small boy, kneeling at a writing > desk atop a large ornate chest. It has the largest known memory of > any mechanical device and was featured in Byte Magazine some years ago > as a historically significant distant relative of our modern computers. > > When you wind him up and set him in motion (there are two spring- > driven motors with fusees), he draws beautiful and ornate pictures, > and writes poetry in a graceful, flowing script. He is bilingual, > writing in French and English. Every piece of the mechanism is > lovingly and elegantly wrought. > > To see him in action, you can type in a search for Franklin Automaton, > and it should be the first link that comes up. Or to open a page that > shows two videos, including a close-up of it actually creating an > elaborate illustration (scroll down to where you see the actual video > panes, beyond the links), try: > http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation > > (On youtube, but only the more distant view): > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfeNC28vpYo > > For anyone who may be interested, I can email my detailed summary of > the restoration work. > > I hope some of you may enjoy this novel distraction. Imagine how it > must have been perceived in a world where the older generation were > active when powdered wigs were in vogue, three quarters of a century > before the beginning of the electric light era, and at the very dawn > of the gaslight era and the age of steam. > > Andy Baron > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org >
