Dancing automaton powered by falling sand

10 thoughts on “Dancing automaton powered by falling sand”

1. Simon says:

   February 1st, 2010 at 2:57 pm

   Is there a link somewhere that shows the mechanism I am missing? It mentions it uses falling sand but doesn’t show it. So it’s a trick you still haven’t ‘seen’ :)

   I thought at first the automaton was playing the sound too but is is just on the video right?

1. Pocket-Sized says:

   February 1st, 2010 at 4:56 pm

   I was wondering the exact same thing. I always like to draw the mechanics involved in such strange contraptions in my notebook.
   I found a video of a similar sand toy (by Ron Fuller) here. Along with a video of the mechanics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmL9YWq85No

2. jeff-o says:

   February 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 am

   I suspect the mechanism uses some sort of waterwheel, but perhaps it’s more clever than that…

1. Dug North says:

   February 2nd, 2010 at 7:11 am

   @jeff-o:
   You and Pocket-Sized are right on the mark. This technique of using a hopper full of sand to power a water-wheel-like device has been used in automata for hundreds of years. Sometimes the sand it caught in a tray so it can be easily fed back into the hopper without the need to turn it over to reload. I once had the pleasure of operating an automaton from the 1700s that used this principle.

   @Simon:
   Right, the music was added to the video. This automaton doesn’t have any musical element built in.

   Best,

   -Dug North

2. Simon says:

   February 2nd, 2010 at 10:22 am

   I thought I posted this yesterday but it didn’t show up. I found this about one of the old automatons someone found and restored. It is indeed a little paddle wheel type thing.

   http://ladysrepositorymuseum.blogspot.com/2009/12/wonderful-1850-sand-toy-diamond-in.html

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