Vintage motorized salesman store display automaton with changing signs

Norman Tuck wrote to share a video he made of a vintage motorized salesman figure. It belonged to his father who used it as a window display in an appliance store he owned. The figure was distributed by the White Sewing Machine company. He believes it is German made because the paper mache head is made from German newspapers. It probably dates to the 1910s.

Driven by a small electric sewing machine motor turning a worm and screw, the figure moves its eyebrows, mouth, head, and hands. It has a set of signs in the box below which it raises up. A total of five different signs are raised and lowered.

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OscylinderScope sculpture allows you to see sound waves

The OscylinderScope is an interactive sculpture by Norman Tuck that explores the nature of sound in a visual way. The OscylinderScope uses a moving black and white striped background to show the behavior of vibrating strings.

How the OscylinderScope works:

Spin the black and white cylinder and pluck the guitar strings. When you look at the strings, the wavy lines that you see show you how the strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound). Shorter or tighter strings vibrate faster to make higher tones. Longer or looser strings vibrate slower to make lower tones.

There are over a dozen OscylinderScopes around the world. The one shown here is located at San Francisco's Exploratorium.

Read more about the OscylinderScopes and where you can find one on Norman Tuck's web site. Also check out many other amazing kinetic sculptures by Norman Tuck.

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PhantasieMechanik Exhibit @ phaeno flickr photos

I would be remiss in my duties, if I did not share with you this flickr set of the HUGE automata exhibit that opened on February 23rd at the phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany. I have it on good authority that the exhibit features some of the very best of automata and kinetic sculpture.

If you are going to be in Germany between now and the end of June, you own it to yourself to see this exhibit.

Here is a link to the flickr set of the PhantasieMechanik exhibition.
More on the exhibit from the Mechancical Blog run by CMT
Here is a link to the the phaeno web site.