automata

It's a long story

I'll try to keep it reasonably brief

An automaton is a device, usually in the shape of a human or animal, which appears to move independently of human control. Throughout history, automata have been controlled and powered by various means, for example:
• pneumatic
• hydraulic
• clockwork and electro-mechanical mechanisms.

Mythology

Mythology has many stories about automata.
• Prometheus was reputed to have made the first man and woman on earth, with clay animated by fire stolen from heaven.
• Hephaestus, God of all mechanical arts, also known by the Romans as Vulcan, God of life, was reputed to have made two female statues of pure gold which assisted him and accompanied him wherever he went. Hephaestus was also accredited with making Talus, a giant made from brass, who guarded Crete against intruders. Talus dispensed of his victims by heating up his body and hugging them to death. His only vulnerable spot was his right ankle, where there was a sinew of flesh and a vein of blood. The Argonauts could only land on Crete after Talus was destroyed through the intervention of Medea.
• Pygmalion, a sculptor of Cyprus, fell in love with a beautiful statue which he had made. He married her after Aphrodite brought her to life.
• Daedalus, considered the inventor of carpentry, was a prolific and very clever inventor of ancient times accredited with the axe, the level and numerous other mechanical devices. He was reputed to have made statues that were worked by quicksilver and had the ability to walk.
• Solomon used his wisdom to design a throne with mechanical animals which hailed him as king when he ascended it; upon sitting down an eagle would place a crown upon his head, and a dove would bring him a Torah scroll.

15th - 17th centuries

Allthough there had a been a steady trickle of automata being produced from ancient times until the 15th century it is not until about the 1400s that we see some truly remarkable and substantiated automata being produced. This next section takes a brief look at a few of the most notable ones.

Johannes Muller (1436-76) was reputed to have made and artificial eagle. It flew to greet the Emperor Maximillian on his entry into Nuremberg in 1470, then returned to perch on top of a city gate and, by stretching its wings and bowing, saluted the emperor on his arrival.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) made a lion in honor of king Louis XII. It advanced towards him, stopped, opened its chest with a claw and pointed to the fleur-de-lis coat of arms of France. It is possible that Leonardo may have made other automata but records are very sketchy.

Gianello della Tour (1500-85) of Cremona made several automata to alleviate the boredom of emperor Charles the V. The most notable one was a lute player that walked either in a straight line or a circle, while plucking the lute strings and turning her head from side to side. He also mad mechanical figures of flying birds, and articulated soldiers who blew trumpets, beat drums and fought on the table top.

Salomon de Caus (1576-1626) studied automata form ancient times and worked with water as a means of power to help produce bird movement and sounds. A notable piece of work was an automaton that had a singing bird...when a mechanical owl was placed on a rock the singing stopped.

Christiaan Huygens (1629-95) made many automata for the royal court and the king of France. In 1680 he was ordered to make a machine showing a whole army fighting. He also produced figures of artisans imitating characteristic movements of their trade.

18th century

This period, which was dominated by scientific spirit, and by the biomechanical conception of the human being, corresponds to the birth of numerous artificial creatures which were intended to be exact replicas or copies of nature. Androids and mechanical animals were manufactured by watchmaking technicians who were very interested in medicine and natural sciences. They did not aim at entertaining but rather at contributing to the progress of science. They surrounded themselves with doctors and surgeons to elaborate the different artificial organs. The results were impressive: many androids of great complexity and designed with real functions were created: writers, draftsmen or musician automatons. This philosophy also gave birth to artificial animals. Their behaviour simulated almost perfectly the animal world: peacocks, insects, dogs, swans, frogs, elephants, crayfishes and ducks made up, among others, the bestiary of these creator-zoologists.The greatest creators of automatons at that time were: Vaucanson, Friedrich von Knauss, Baron von Kempelen, Pierre and Louis Jaquet-Droz, Abbot Mical, and Kintzing.

Maillard (in 1731) made extensive use of gearing and cogs to produce automata of horses that worked by turning a handle.

Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782) produced some of the most famous historical automata and is regarded by many as one of the greatest automata makers of all time. His most famous work, called ‘The Duck’, was and artificial duck made of gilded copper which ate and drank (it even digested its food like a living duck), quacked and splashed about in water. Vancanson also made the flute and tabor players. The flute player was 5ft 10in tall (1.8 m) and stood on a pedestal. A current of air led through the complex mechanism causing the the lips and fingers of the player to move naturally on the flute, opening and closing hotes on the instrument. It had a repertoire of twelve tunes..

Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790) was brilliant mathematitian who specialised in applied mechanics and horology. With the help of his son and adopted son he produced three automata which, even toda,y are considered wonders of science and mechanical engineering. ‘The Writer’, ‘The Draughtsman’ and ‘The Musician’ still exist in the museum of Art and History in Switzerland. The Writer can be programmed to write up to 40 letters, dipping his pen into the ink and writing each letter clearly; he even dots the i and crosses the t. The Draughtsman can draw four pictures and even blows the graphite off the page. The Musician plays an organ, depressing the keys of her instrument with her fingers whilst moving the upper part of her body in a life-like manner, and bows at the end of the performance.

Tippoo's (Tipu's Tiger). an automaton of a tiger attacking a man, was originally made for Tipu Sultan in Mysore, ca. 1795. The operation of a crank handle powered several different mechanisms inside Tippoo's Tiger. A set of bellows expellled air through a pipe inside the man's throat. This produced a wailing sound. A mechanical link caused the man's left arm to rise and fall. This action altered the pitch of the 'wail pipe'. Another mechanism inside the tiger's head expelled air through two pipes producing a sound simulating the roar of the tiger. Concealed behind a flap in the tiger's flank was a small ivory keyboard; depressing these keys expellled air through a series of organ pipes.

The Japanese Karakuri tradition has recently become better known in the western world. The word 'Karakuri' means a mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise. The Japanese Karakuri puppets utilise subtle, abstract movements to invoke feeing and emotion. There are three main categories of Karakuri. ‘Butai Karakuri’ are puppets used in the theatre, ‘Zashiki Karakuri’ are small and can be played with in rooms and ‘Dashi Karakuri’ puppets perform on wooden floats used in religious festivals. Traditionally Karakuri appeared in religious festivals, performed re-enactments of traditional myths and legends and entertained the public with their sophisticated, symbolic and graceful gestures.

19th Century

A lot of interesting automata were made and perfected in the 19th century. It was a prolific and golden era for automata. It was also a time when mass production techniques meant that automata could be made cheaply and easily. It's around this time that we see the automaton becoming more of a child's toy rather than an expensive adult parlur amusement. In the early 1800s, many automaton makers were magicians or creators inspired by the shows of illusionists that were very much in vogue at that time. Among the great magicians who built automata was Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, the father of modern magic, and Stèvenard, a contemporary of Robert-Houdin and perhaps the most talented of all automaton makers. The Maillardet brothers were inspired by the theme of magic and created clocks with magician and soothsayer automatons.

Joseph Faber took 25 years to make his famous automaton Euphonia. The automaton produced sounds similar to the human voice. It started by reciting the letters of the alphabet and then said ‘How do you do ladies and gentlemen’. It asked and answered questions, whispered, sang and laughed. The mechanisms could be inspected. It even spoke in a German accent as it talked in English. Everyone who inspected the mechanism was satisfied that it was the automaton which made the sounds, not a ventriloquist.

Later in the 19th century the creation of automata became industrialised. About ten artisans, living for the most part in the Marais section of Paris, made numerous performing automata. Admittedly, these creations were less glorious than those of the 18th century, but were perhaps more endearing, since they were inspired by the parisian life and the world of entertainment: magic shows, circuses and music halls. Among the most famous makers were Théroude, Phalibois, Lambert, Renou, Roullet- Decamps, Vichy and Bontemps.

George Moore made a steam powered man that worked from a gas-fired boiler. It reached a walking speed of 9 miles an hour.

At the outbreak of World War I, this industry gradually started to disappear.

Modern times

We now see automata emerging as a modern art form. The artists and craftsmen of modern times are now the leading produces of automata. Modern school curricula have given many thousands of students the opportunity to make their own piece of Kinetic art under the heading of Design and Technology. Today there is a great deal of interest in automata. Early examples fetch some very high prices at antique auctions. They are considered by many antique collectors to be the most valuable acquisition one can make. The art of animating the human form still fascinates us. Many modern toys now use electric motors and plastic gears to achieve this goal but the mechanical principles behind them go back thousands of years.

There are many many exmples I'd like to show you. I'll put up some links to modern automata makers soon!