Carved wood and clockwork devil automaton in Milan from the 16th century

Photo by Bob Frishman, 2013

This devil automaton now housed at a museum in Milan was made by taking a sixteenth-century torso -- possibly that of Christ at the Column -- and applying a clockwork mechanism to it. The automaton when cranked would turn its head and eyes, stick out the its tongue, and make an inarticulate sound. A seventeenth-century description mentions horns and a collar which are now lost.

The piece is part of the Applied Arts Collections Museum in the Sforza Castle in Milan, Italy. Another interesting blog posts about this devil automaton can be found on the io9 blog.

[ Thanks to Bob Frishman of Bell-Time Clocks for the discovery and photo! ]

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The Modern Automata Museum to feature works by top automaton artists at a new exhibit in Rome

There is going to be a fantastic exhibition from the collections of The Modern Automata Museum at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome(MACRO) starting next week.

The exhibit will feature works by Malcolm Brooks, Luca De Pascalis, Marina Gigli, Neil Hardy, Marc Horowitz, Rob Ives, Peter Markey, Keith Newstead, Rennie Orsi, Walter Ruffler, Keisuke Saka, Paul Spooner, Susie Stolpe, Carlos Zapata, Eric Williamson, and Guido Accascina.

That is a lineup of some of the top artists in the world of contemporary automata. This is an exhibit you will not want to miss!

What:
Automata Al Macro: Sculture Meccaniche in Movimento

When:
February 16th to March 24th

Where:
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO)

For more information:
Email: info@modernautomatamuseum.com
Visit: www.modernautomatamuseum.com

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Video showing The Modern Automata Museum in Italy

Here is a wonderful video featuring an assortment of automata that are part of the collection of The Modern Automata Museum located in Montopoli di Sabina, Rieti, Italy. The film includes a commentary (in Italian) by the director of the museum about automata and his vision for the museum.

Learn more about The Modern Automata Museum on their website.

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Automata collection at the Rocca Borromeo, Italy

The Rocca Borromeo of Angera is located on the south side of the Alps.
Among many other historical treasures, some rooms of the castle house the Doll and Children's Clothes Museum. A large section is dedicated to mechanical automata dating from the nineteenth century. All of the automata are fully functioning!

From the Rocca Borromeo tourism web site:

The Doll Museum is, to this day, one of the most important exhibition areas in Europe dedicated to dolls. As well as the prestigious items already exhibited, in June 2002 a new section was opened, dedicated to French and German automatons dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibits, which are true mechanical wonders and date from between 1870 and 1920, come from the Petit Musée du Costume in Tours, France and once formed part of the famous collection belonging to Robert and Gisèle Pesché.

Here is where you can learn more about the automata collection at the Rocca Borromeo.

[ Thanks to the Crandall family! ]

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Video of Gianello Torriano's monk automaton

A few months ago, we posted about a 400 year old monk automaton. While that post has a great embedded audio story about the monk, it did not have video of this incredible creation in action. Here you go. There is no sound, so there is no need to try to fix your speakers.

This automaton figure of a monk dates to around 1560 and is believed to have been created by Gianello Torriano -- an Italian engineer and master clockmaker. The automaton currently resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Here is a web page featuring a detailed article about the monk automaton by Elizabeth King.

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Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed

Here is a highly-rated book that explores Leonardo's inventions from flying, hydraulic, war, and theatrical machines to musical instruments. This uses Leonardo's orginal artwork and annotated computer diagrams to show how each of his inventions might would have worked.

It seems to be out-of-print, but can be found used at Amazon. Here's a link to Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed

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Four solid wooden clock designs and plans

This clock with wooden works was the maker's FIRST attempt at designing and building a wooden clock. The gears were cut with a home-made CNC machine and finished by hand. The maker's extensive experience with 3D modeling software surely helped, but it is an amazing feat to have a working clock from the first design. He has gone on to design four other clocks. You can order finished clocks from his site. He also sells plans for 40 Euro.

Here is a link to four solid wood clocks by this talented craftsman in Italy.

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Bowling automaton with free & semi-free objects

My friend and colleague, Falk Keuten, over at the excellent Spiel und Kunst mit Mechanik blog has discovered an innovative -- if somewhat mysterious -- automaton artist via some YouTube videos.

Check out the use of a ball-lifting mechanism, an articulated figure, a free object (the ball), and some semi-free objects (the bowling pins). This is a impressive combination of techniques. I admire the all wood construction and the fact there is no need for the user to 'reset' the piece.

Here is the original post (in German) from Spiel und Kunst mit Mechanik.

[ Thanks Falk! ]

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Automata and Social Issues: Anti-War Automata

I posted recently about an automaton that is not based your typical whimsical/humorous theme. Here is a video showing an entire exhibit of automata on a common them addressing a social and political issue.

It's rare to see an exhibit of automata with a common theme. I think you will agree that some of them are very powerful.

[ Thanks David! ]

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Video Tour of the Modern Automata Museum, Italy

Here is a great video tour of the Modern Automata Museum in Italy.

More on info (mostly in Italian) can be found on the Modern Automata Museum web site.

[ Thanks David! ]

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The Modern Automata Museum - Italy

I don't speak Italian, so much of this site is lost on me. Still, I can tell that this automata museum outside of Rome has a lot to offer. The list of artists in the collections include: Andy Hazell, Malcolm Brook, Luca de Pascalis, Neil Hardy, Rob Ives, Peter Markey, Juta and Jim McCord, Keith Newstead, Renni Orsi, Walter Ruffler, Keisuke Saka, Paul Spooner, Eric Williamson, and Carlos Zapata.

Visit The Modern Automata Museum

Solvent Transfers for Cutting Wooden Gears or Parts

Here's a method for transferring patterns to various surfaces -- including wood. Called "solvent transfer", you use a photocopy or laser print and solvent to transfer the image to the wood. I've been doing this for about a year now. Once you get the hang of it you can transfer detailed cutting patterns to wood very accurately. This is a great technique for scroll-saw projects. The results are much better than carbon paper and tracing. Two important things to keep in mind: 1 - Lacquer thinner is nasty stuff so where gloves and do it in well ventilated area. 2 - If your pattern isn't symmetrical (like a gear), you must reverse the image before printing.

Here's a how-to on solvent transfers