Michael Start from House of Automata speaks about automata history, restoration, and the film 'Hugo'

The wonderful presentation featuring automaton expert Michael Start from the House of Automata speaking to a gathering at Cabaret Mechanical Theatre comes to us courtesy of artist Aaron Kramer. You will learn a lot from this 20 minute video!

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Swinging kinetic sculpture will stay in motion for up to a year

It's that time of year, when I start sending interesting mechanical things your way as gift ideas. Here's a fascinating kinetic sculpture that gives the illusion of perpetual motion.

An 11 inch metal rod pivots from the sculpture's 16 inch support bars. A shorter rod pivots around a fulcrum at the end of the longer one. The two bars silently swing around their respective fulcrums with no obvious source of power to keep them going.

The trick lies in a tiny electromagnet hidden in the base. The magnet causes the end of the longer bar to accelerate which keeps it going for up to a year of continous movement. It may not be perpetual motion, but that's impressive considering it can do this with only four AA batteries!

Here's where you can get what the seller calls The Perpetual Motion Sculpture. Ok, close enough, I suppose.

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SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 -Technical paper describes a program that solves for automaton mechanisms

The video above features some of the many papers to be presented at SIGGRAPH Asia, a conference for computer graphics professionals. There are a lot of amazing things in there! Most notable is the one you will find at 2:05.

Given a specified rigid motion in one model (such as the one on the left) the program solves for simulated mechanisms that produce the desired motion (right). I assume the intent is to then use this information to produce plans for creating the actual automaton in the physical world.

You can learn more at SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 on the event web site.

[ Thanks John, Kendrick, and Ashok! ]

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Pablo Lavezzari's 'Slot Man' mechanical coin bank sculpture

Here is the latest mechanical creation from the talented Pablo Lavezzari, creator of Facing a Fake Foe and other amazing automata.

This time around Lavezzari has created a mechanical bank in the form of a man. Any coin may be placed on the man's outstretched hand. When the lever is pulled, El Tragamonedas (or 'Slot Man') flips the coin into his gaping mouth.

Here is where you can see more about Pablo Lavezzari's Slot Man mechanical coin bank sculpture.

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The Headless Clown - magic automaton by Pierre Mayer

I had the great privilege to be among the very first people to see the new automaton created by Pierre Mayer. Pierre Mayer is known for his wooden automata which perform magical illusions.

The piece is a marvelous interpretation of a classic magic automaton made by the famous maker Phalibois. The scene starts with clown a holding a fan. The clown slowly raises the fan in front of his face. There is a pause and when the fan is pulled away, the clown's head has disappeared! The surprises aren't over yet, however. There is a pair over-sized dice to the left of the clown. The top of one starts to rise, and the clown's head mysteriously emerges from within. The entire sequence then reverses, ending with the clown's head restored to its proper place.

I was told by the artist himself that the clown's colorful costume was inspired by the lavish ones used by Cirque du Soleil in their performances. As with all Pierre Mayer's work, The Headless Clown is beautifully made.

Now in production, The Headless Clown and other magical automata may be found on Pierre Mayer's web site.

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The Unwelcome Dinner Guest - automaton by Dug North featuring a scene with a dog and bird

A while back I told you about the excellent mechanical wooden projects included in Gizmos & Gadgets special edition magazine. Here is some video of my contribution to the the magazine, a piece called The Unwelcome Dinner Guest.

The automaton depicts a backyard scene with a picket fence, doghouse, and birdhouse mounted to a pole. Apparently the dog has recently been fed because his bowl is overfull with food. Sadly for the dog, his leash has become wrapped around the birdhouse pole and he cannot reach his food bowl. This situation provides the perfect opportunity for the local bird to enjoy a big meal, free of charge. All the poor dog can do is wag its tail, jump, and bark at the bird.

The article in Gizmos & Gadgets shows you how to make a wood automaton from start to finish. I designed the automaton using simple wood shapes, and thin boards obtained from a local home improvement center, and assorted hardware. Using the wooden shapes means you don't have to have carving tools or skills. Using the boards from the home improvement center means you should be able to find them easily. While challenging for the beginner, the project should be fun and gratifying. People seem to really love the scene.

The original version of The Unwelcome Dinner Guest automaton that appears in the magazine is currently available. The signed piece will also include a copy of the magazine, also signed. Please use this contact form to get in touch with Dug North if you are interested in acquiring the piece or one like it.

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Robotic puppetry at its finest: the animatronic creations of Gustav Hoegen

I had no idea this kind of thing could be done with animatronics.

From the YouTube Description:

Not CGI, but wow, what an amazing animatronic showreel by the talented Gustav Hoegen! Gustav's specialty is Animatronic Effects, Prosthetic Makeup Effects for TV and Film. His credits and some shots shown in this video include: Prometheus, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Clash of the Titans, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who and more.

Here is a link to Gustav Hoegen's special effects credits on IMDb.

Found via Awesome Robo!

[ Thanks Glenn! ]

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Is Is - another fascinating wall-mounted kinetic sculpture by Gina Kamentsky

Check out the latest wall-mounted kinetic sculpture by Gina Kamentsky. This hand-cranked piece is titled Is Is. As is often the case with her work, found objects are assembled into new elaborate mechanical configurations that spin, swing, slap, ratchet, and creak. Mundane objects, often of no use to anyone, suddenly do unexpected things.

I particularly like the use of ball-chain for some of the connections in this piece. You could spend a long time trying to figure out where the various parts came from. The top arch piece looks to be from the bed segment of a typewriter. It's great to see new life breathed into such venerable mechanical parts.

See more wall mounted kinetic sculptures by Gina Kamentsky on her web site.

[ Thanks Aaron! ]

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The Quarterdeck Striker - a hybrid electromechanical wooden clock with moving figure

Unsure of what to do with a wooden nut-cracker figure given to him by his granddaughter, John Hilgenberg created the most interesting clock I've seen in long time. The clock, called The Quarterdeck Striker, behaves like most ship's clocks, striking 1 to 8 bells every half hour in 4 hour cycles.

The design is a wonderful mix things: Baltic birch gears, motors, relays, cam operated lever switches, an odometer display, an old coffee table, Geneva wheels, and the nut cracker figure who is put to use striking the bell. The weight driven movement is regulated by a deadbeat escapement and and is rewound with an ingenious maintaining power self-winder of Hilgenberg's own design. Hilgenberg provides a nice overview of the clock in the video.

You can see more clocks and wooden creations by John Hilgenberg on his YouTube channel.

[ Thanks Warren! Thanks Christoph! ]

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The Incredible Dancing Santa automaton by Tim Donald

Tim Donald was born and raised in the beautiful countryside of the Welsh Marches, where he still lives. After studying art in college, and spending time working as an undertaker, Tim turned his love of making things into a career as a professional artist.

There appears to be a strong tradition among automaton-makers to make automata featuring Santa Claus. Tim Donald has contributed to this fine tradition with this lively automaton inspired by a traditional Folk Art design.

This dancing Santa is both hand-carved and painted. When the handle is turned the figure jumps, dances, kicks his legs, and swings his arms -- all in front of a hand-painted sign reading 'The Incredible Dancing Santa'.

Here is where you can get the Dancing Santa automaton and other kinetic work by Tim Donald.

If you have a mind to make something like this of your own, you can find designs for many dancing figures in Rodney Frost's books Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood and Making Whirligigs, Whimsies, & Folk Toys. Full-size schematics and drawings, and detailed written instructions, guide woodwokers through the process building, carving, and assembling a variety of animated wooden projects.

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Cabaret Mechanical Theatre's Winter Automata Fair with expert Michael Start

As you may know Cabaret Mechanical Theatre has an exhibit of automata at Space Station Sixty-Five until January 6th, 2013.

Cabaret Mechanical Theatre has recently announced that they will be having a Winter Automata Fair at Space Station Sixty-Five on November 28th from 5PM to 8PM. An evening for collectors, enthusiasts and the curious, this will be a unique chance to buy archive prints, posters, automata and kits as well as a several push-button exhibits. The complete sales list will be available on the day of the fair.

The Winter Automata fair will also feature automaton expert Michael Start from The House of Automata. Michael served as Automaton & Horological Advisor for Martin Scorsese's award winning film Hugo which features a clockwork automaton based on the famous Maillardet drawing automaton. Michael will talk about his experience working on the film and share some of his work.

What
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre Winter Automata Fair

When
November 28th, 2012 from 5PM to 8PM

Where
Space Station Sixty-Five
65 North Cross Road
London
SE22 9ET

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Automata by Wanda Sowry and Ian McKay available outside Bath

Automata by Wanda Sowry (above) and Ian McKay (right) will be available soon at Speckled Wood, located in the Bath countryside in the Southwest of England. Their work will be showcased along with that of three other artists in a special event that will run for one week only.

If you can't make it to Bath, check out the Gizmos & Gadgets magazine where -- along with my article on the dog and bird automaton -- you will find an article by Wanda Sowry showing how to make a tiny ship automaton much like the ones shown above. A charming and gratifying project!

Where
Speckled Wood Pop Up Shop
20 Paul Street, Frome
Somerset, England

When
Monday, November 19th to Saturday, November 24th

Visit the Speckled Wood web site for more images and information.

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Build an Edo-style clock that measures unequal hours

I was reading a history book this week called The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin. The first of the three sections of the book deals with the subject of time. The invention of the mechanical clock is a surprisingly recent one. This means that the hour as we know it is also a fairly recent concept. The minute is still more recent. This fact is evident from some of the earliest mechanical clocks in Europe which have no minute hand at all. To this point, this material was familiar to me. It's only when the author turned his attention to the Japanese approach to the hour that my head was sent spinning.

The clocks developed in the Western world divided the day into 24 hours of equal length. This may seem logical to us now, but only because we have lived with it our entire lives. Before the clock was commonplace, a person's day was regulated by the light provided by the sun. In such a world, if you lived anywhere but on the equator, the length of your sunlit day changed with the seasons. If the length of the day changed, why not have the units that divide the day change in length also? This is apparently what the Japanese did.

During the Edo period, the Japanese employed a system of unequal hours based on sunrise and sunset. As the seasons changed, the length of a single hour also changed. It's an interesting concept to try to get your head around, is it not? What is even more fascinating to me is that the Japanese developed a mechanical clock that used this system. As if building a machine to keep regular time wasn't difficult enough, imagine designing one in which the length of an hour changed from day to day. But the complexities don't end there. If the season one was in had short days and long nights, that means hours during the day were shorter than hours at night. Not only do hours change from day to day, but also from day to night!

Imagine my delight, then, when I yesterday I also received a newsletters from the Maker Shed. They are having an overstock sale on various items -- one of which is the Edo-Style Clock Kit shown in the picture above.

I, for one, can't wait to learn how this amazing clock works. I've worked on a few real antique clocks, so much of what I will find in the kit should be familiar to me. If you haven't worked on clocks before, I imagine this kit would be a great introduction to learning how clocks work. Like many of the Gakken kits, the instructions are well-illustrated, but written in Japanese. Problem? Nope. You need only to visit the in-depth assembly guide titled Build a Gakken Edo-Style Clock created by Marc de Vinck that is posted on the Make Projects web site. The picture above comes from that project guide.

Though the Gakken Double-foliot Japanese Clock Kit is available from Amazon, the price is far better in the Maker Shed.

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Free cartoon paper cutout toy patterns from the 1920s

Back in February of 2012, I posted about a bunch of free mechanical paper toy plans from the 1920s. The link previously posted by The Barnacle Press doesn't seem to work any longer. Fortunately, Christine Nelson has posted a set. These mechanical paper toy plans were created by an artist named Dan Rudolph for the LA Times back in 1922 and 1923. The plans show you how to make moving toys by cutting out and articulating the parts of various cartoon characters. Shown here is one example, titled Bimbo the Begging Monkey. There are lots to choose from including cartoon characters, animals, and the occasional celebrity.

Here is the link to the flickr set with Dan Rudolph Newspaper toy designs.

[ Thanks Christine! ]

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Marble Machine Kit #1 - The worlds first commercially available laser-cut minature hand-cranked marble machine

I posted a few days ago about a neat little hand-cranked mini ball track.The kit version is now available from BustedBricks.com.

According to the kit's designer, Michael Henriksen, it is the world's first commercially available, miniature hand-cranked, marble machine kit with both lifter and track that is cut on a laser. As the previous post mentioned, the wire track has been replaced with a laser-cut wood track in the kit. I think it turned out great. Just take a look:

I am told the kit is easy to build, requiring only glue, sandpaper, and a sharp hobby knife. Complete assembly instructions are available to download as a PDF.

The base measures 70 x 70 mm (about 3 x 3 inches) and is 120 mm in height (about 5 inches). The kit can be built such that it may be turned with either the left or right hand. Plenty of 5mm steel balls are supplied with the kit.

The price for the kit is £12.95 GBP. For customers in the USA, the kit (with shipping) will cost about $30 USD. I'm going to stand by my earlier statement that this will make an excellent holiday gift for young and old alike. Here is where you can get the Marble Machine Kit #1.

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The animated wooden toys of David Wakefield

David Wakefield has been creating toys in southeastern Ohio for about 35 years. Among my favorites is the Tyrannosaurus shown below.

Wakefield is also the author of the classic book How to Make Animated Toys, which features detailed drawings, patterns, and step-by-step instructions showing you on to make a Gallivanting Gorilla, Ornery Lobster, Cantankerous Triceratops and 27 other animated wooden toys.

So, why animals? Wakefield has given this question some thought:

Each of us yearns for that wildness at a very deep level, even though (as with the wolf) there is quite often a bit of fear associated, whether founded or not. There is something about the raw guileless innocence of all animals, especially wild ones, that makes us feel alive and inescapably rooted in the present, even if only momentarily. Stand by the bars of the Jaguar’s cage at the zoo and look into his eyes. You know exactly what I mean.

Children know this without us telling them. They are so clear that little can stand in the way of their simple love for all animals. They are the ones that can’t resist the stray cat. They are the ones who go down by the water to pick up frogs and salamanders and bring home turtles. They are the ones out on the ferry boat who have to keep throwing bread up to the seagulls even though everyone is getting crapped on. They are the ones who will do anything to see the baby calf be born, and go out in the dead of night to see if they’re o.k. These are our children. They know, even as we may start to forget.

The available animals include: walrus, tyrannosaurus, turtle, shark, seal, lobster, hippopotamus, frog, beaver, apatosaurus, crocodile, and wolf. Each is made from select hardwoods and finished with a food-safe mineral oil.

See the full line of animated toys by David Wakefield on his web site.

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Elaborate 1920s machine shop built with vintage Erector sets

Randy Sauder built this model of a 1920s era machine shop from Erector set parts from scratch. The project spanned some 2 1/2 years, taking about 900 hours total. Sauder encourages others to build with these sets. He explains why this way:

It is relaxing fun, better than TV and your grandkids will love them. Erector sets are a great learning tool for children. In this country, most engineers over the age of 50 cut their teeth with erector sets. My father gave me his boyhood set in the late 1950's. Building principles using model erector parts are the same as with a real life size projects. For example, parts must be built square to one another, in proper alignment and using standard engineering concepts. Thousands of real world projects such as the George Washington Bridge, Disney World rides etc were first built as model erector projects.

Of course, Erector Sets are still made today in a variety of configurations. Classic Erector sets like the type used in this model can easily be found on eBay.

For additional information or to see more models visit the A. C. Gilbert Heritage Society web site.

[ Thanks Warren and Christoph!]

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