Ingenious box for a Japanese automaton serves as container and performace stage

Check out this cleverly designed box that houses this tumbling acrobat automaton and serves as the base for its performance! A description of this box may be found on pages 152 and 153 of the book Japanese Automata, Karakuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices by Murakami-san (Murakami, Mr. Kazuo .

The man in the movie is Edo period karakuri specialist, Minesaki-san (Minesaki, Mr. Sougo). The container and the automaton are replicas of 18th century items which he made.

Here is where you can download sample pages and order the book Japanese Automata, Karakuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices.

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See the automata from the Murtogh D. Guinness collection for Obscura Day 2015!

Here is an invite from the Morris Museum to see some of their automata for Obscura Day on May 30th, 2015:

In celebration of Obscura Day 2015, the Guinness Collection Curator and Conservator invite you to the Morris Museum for an interesting and unique demonstration program of clown automata! Come and delight in the fantastical doings of the incredible clowns, jesters and harlequins from the Guinness Collection. Then join us for a private tour behind the locked doors of the Guinness Viewable storage area, where over 500 more mechanical musical instruments and automata live!

The ticket price includes admission to the museum and the opportunity to join the public daily demonstration of the Guinness Collection at 2pm.

Event Details:
Date: Saturday, May 30; 12:30-2:00pm
Price: $25
Location: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
Web site: www.morrismuseum.org
Tickets: available from Eventbrite

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Japanese Automata - Karkuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices

There is a wonderful new book out titled Japanese Automata - Karkuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices. This book by Kazuo Murakami translates into English the unique book Karakuri Zui, originally published in 1796. The book starts with an introduction which explains the history of karakuri. What follows is a complete translation of Karakuri Zui which explained the mechanisms and methods of construction for several Japanese clocks and mechanical toys of the Edo period in Japan (1603-1867).

Murakami-San wrote to tell me about the Tumbling Acrobot automaton shown in the video above, which I've posted about in the past. He explains that the tumbling doll seems to have already been invented by the beginning of 18th century. Like many of the fine automata of the past, the Tumbling Acrobat was a toy for wealthy people. There is some evidence that the the doll was brought to Europe by the Dutch, where it was then imitated, westernized, improved, and manufactured by German toy makers to look more like this.

The great magician and automaton-maker, Robert-Houdin, bought a tumbling doll from a French toy maker. This story is recounted in the book Two Odd Volumes on Magic and Automata.

All of this information and more is covered in detail in Kazuo Murakami's new book, Japanese Automata. This soft cover book has a total of 257 pages with 104 original diagrams and drawings of the mechanical devices made during the Edo period. It has been published in a limited run of 500 copies. Here are is an small image of some of the pages:

Here is where you can see sample pages, reviews, and order the book Japanese Autoamta.

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Japanese Autoamta - New book about 18th century Japanese automatic mechanical devices

There is a wonderful new book out titled Japanese Automata - Karkuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices. This book by Kazuo Murakami translates into English the unique book Karakuri Zui, originally published in 1796. The book starts with an introduction which explains the history of karakuri. What follows is a complete translation of Karakuri Zui which explained the mechanisms and methods of construction for several Japanese clocks and mechanical toys of the Edo period in Japan (1603-1867).

Murakami-San wrote to tell me about the Tumbling Acrobot automaton shown in the video above, which I've posted about in the past. He explains that the tumbling doll seems to have already been invented by the beginning of 18th century. Like many of the fine automata of the past, the Tumbling Acrobat was a toy for wealthy people. There is some evidence that the the doll was brought to Europe by the Dutch, where it was then imitated, westernized, improved, and manufactured by German toy makers to look more like this.

The great magician and automaton-maker, Robert-Houdin, bought a tumbling doll from a French toy maker. This story is recounted in the book Two Odd Volumes on Magic and Automata.

All of this information and more is covered in detail in Kazuo Murakami's new book, Japanese Automata. This soft cover book has a total of 257 pages with 104 original diagrams and drawings of the mechanical devices made during the Edo period. It has been published in a limited run of 500 copies.

Here is where you can see sample pages, reviews, and order the book Japanese Autoamta.

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Working out the tumbling acrobat toy...in paper!

Head on over to the blog of paper engineer, Rob Ives, to follow along as he works out the geometry and mechanics of the classic tumbling acrobat toy. Ives is dissecting the motion of a Japanese version of the tumbler toy to figure out how to recreate it in paper. Incredible!

From his recent blog post:

In essence, the tumbler has three parts. the body with the sliding weight, the arms and the legs. I traced the three parts and experimented with different stills from the YouTube video to work out where the joints should be.

Here is a link to the latest blog post about the paper tumbling acrobat by Rob Ives.

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Programmable acrobat robot with 17 servos and 75 moves

Check out this is acrobatic robot! The robot has a repertoire of 75 moves that include somersaults, backflips, and a variety of comical moves.

From the Advanced Acrobatic Robot description:

With a 60 MHz microcontroller, the robot has 17 servos that work in unison with an included gyro sensor and accelerometer to maintain balance and stability while providing lightning-quick movements that suggest humanoid sentience, commanded by an included wireless gamepad remote control. The points of articulation in its neck, arms, hands, legs, and feet are so precise that the robot can be commanded to pick up and hold objects with its hands, feign a soccer kick, or punch the air as if it were performing a martial arts kata-it can even bow to its audience after a performance.

The robot comes with software that works on Windows 7, XP, and 2000 allowing you to program additional actions via an included USB cable.

Here is where you can get the programmable acrobatic robot.

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A "penny toy" acrobat dating to about 1900

Check out this nifty "penny toy" acrobat dating to around 1900. The piece was brought in to The House of Automata for repair and is quite rare. I love how such a simple mechanism can produce such an enchanting object.

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Junghans clock with spinning acrobat automaton

I've done a few posts about sand-powered acrobat toys. The falling sand is caught by something that looks like a water wheel, causing it to turn. The wheel is mounted on an axle, one end of which terminates in a small crank on to which an articulated acrobat figure is placed. The spinning axle causes the acrobat to do all sorts of athletic-looking moves. The Junghans acrobat clock shown here works in a very similar manner -- minus the sand, of course. This beautiful piece was restored by the mechanically multi-talented Kevin Wright.

See more restorations and original mechanical creations by Kevin Wright on his web site.

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Automata in the trailer for The Woman in Black

With the success of HUGO, automata have gotten a huge amount of exposure in recent weeks. But, as of February of 2012, HUGO won't be the only film showing automata! Check out this creepy trailer for The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. Like several of the automata seen in HUGO, the automata in the preview are also from the collections of our friends at The House of Automata who served as consultants for HUGO.

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Classic acrobat toy driven by push button-action

Here's a nice version of a classic wooden folk toy. An acrobat figure is mounted by the hands to two twisted strings held between two upright bars. When the button is pushed, the bars are separated, causing the strings to untwist. It's this untwisting motion that makes the acrobat perform speedy somersaults. Unlike the more traditional version where you use your hand to squeeze the bars, the version shown in the video has been converted to operate via a large push-button. This clever adaptation of a classic toy is by Roberto Lou Ma, who was kind enough to share with us the plans for the ramp-walking robot and ramp-walking rhino.

For plans and instructions on how to make the traditional acrobat toy, I urge you check out the book Traditional Wooden Toys: Their History and How to Make Them. The book has sections on animated toys, balancing toys, climbing toys, wheeled toys, wooden dolls, rubber-band powered toys, spinning toys, optical toys, games, and many others.

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Alfred the circus trapeze acrobat automaton toy

Here's a vintage sand-powered automaton toy currently on ebay -- ALFRED THE ACROBATIC BAFFLEMENT THE FLYING MARVEL.

From the toy description:

When the box is rotated counter-clockwise 4 or 5 times and then rotated once clockwise the paper acrobat twirls and spins actively. The sand in the back of the sealed box turns a wheel (axle) and the trapeze artist does his acrobatic wonders and extremely dangerous feats of daring and thrills, and he doesn't use a net.

Here's where you can see additional pictures get a lot of details about Alfred the circus trapeze acrobat automaton toy.

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Sand powered acrobat automaton mechanism

Michael Start from The House of Automata sent along this nice video of a sand-powered acrobat automaton.

From the video description:

Made for a National Museum. The Acrobat is a copy of a Victorian example but strongly made and with a Perspex back to allow the public to operate it and inspect the mechanism. Note the use of a suspended glass bearing as per the original.

[ Thanks Michael! ]

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Book: Making Wooden Toys & Games

I posted recently about the book Fun to Make Wooden Toys & Games. Here's another book by the same authors, Jeff and Jennie Loader, called Making Wooden Toys & Games. This one shows how to make 19 wooden toy projects including a medieval castle, an acrobat, a magical trunk and an articulated truck. The book also offers guidance on construction, materials, tools, techniques, painting and finishing.

Here's where you can order Making Wooden Toys & Games

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Wood and ball bearing version of classic karakuri

Check out Osamu Kanda's modern update to the classic tumbling karakuri figure. He has made the figure out of wood and loaded it with ball bearings to serve as the shifting internal weight.

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Sand-powered acrobat automaton

'ALFRED THE AMAZING' is a sand-powered acrobatic automaton currently available on eBay.

From the eBay description:

When the box is rotated and set down, the sand turns a wheel (axle) and the trapeze guy does his acrobatic wonders, and extremely dangerous feats of daring and thrill, and he doesn't use a net.

Here the eBay listing Alfred the Amazing sand-powered automaton

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Wall-mounted automaton of acrobatic cats

Here is a wall-mounted wind-up automaton selling on eBay today. The scene depicts performing acrobat cats. The cat figures are printed paper applied to wood. As an integrated music box plays, a few of the cats perform flips on the high wire, while others below dance.

The listing has additional photographs, including a few of the back of the piece in which you can see the mechanism.

Here's the full eBay listing for the wall-mounted automaton of acrobatic cats.

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L'Homme Serpent automaton by Michel Bertrand

Inspired by a Vichy model, this acrobat automaton was created by Michel Bertrand of Switzerland in 1990. Bertrand used many original Vichy/Triboulet parts including the sculpted head, the ingenious torso mechanism, and a six-tune musical movement.

From the auction listing description:

He lies on his stomach upon the table which swivels as he makes a scissor movement with his legs while nodding his head. He then raises his legs. The table swivels again. He raises his head, lifts his stomach off the table and arches his back in an amazing contortionist manner, with his legs raised high. He repeats the scissor movement before lowering himself back onto the table and scissoring his legs once more in the horizontal position.

An amazing piece with a strong and prestigious lineage.

Here is the full auction listing for The Serpent Man, L'Homme Serpent automaton.

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German Made Tumbling Acrobatic Automaton

This is a hand-made wooden toy made in Germany. The little wooden figure performs back-flips down three small steps.

Automata like this have a long history in Japan and in the West. Now, a traditional German toymaker has re-invented the toy, with a new mechanism (the old ones relied on mercury).

The toy comes in a wooden box, which opens to form the steps on which the tumbler performs his act.

Here is a link to the product page for the Tumbling Acrobat Automaton. Here is a link to a movie of the Tumbling Acrobat Automaton in action.

Two Vintage French Cirque Int'l Clowns & Props

Here is an eBay listing is for a set of vintage Cirque International clowns made in France. The two clowns come with props that include a set of parallel bars, two chairs, and two ladders. Both are just under a foot tall.

As a nice surprise, the seller has a copy of the original instructions detailing the clowns, their actions, and original price!

The clown in the purple outfit is an automaton with a working wind up mechanism. When wound this clown lifts his head, arches his back, and performs acts on the parallel bars, chairs, or ladders.

The second clown, in the light blue outfit can be posed in various positions and will hold the position into which it is put.

Here is the eBay listing for Two Vintage French Cirque Int'l Clowns & Apparatus.

Karakuri Acrobat Automaton Flipping Down Stairs

I posted in the past about Japanese Karakuri Ningyo. In particular, I mentioned the fantastic drawing karakuri. Gakken is a company that sells a few kit including a tea serving karakuri and archer karakuri that actually shoots miniature arrows.

Here is a tumbler or acrobat. I have also seen a similar design from a company in Germany, though I don't know who came up with the idea or if this is a case of independent invention. It's that last flip that really surprises me.

Here's one karakuri book and here is another karakuri book (both in Japanese).