If you are curious about the technical details of designing and laying out gears and gear trains, you can download a complete, free, public domain copy of the 1922 edition of the American Machinist Gear Book from Google Books right now.
There is in fact no evidence that this wonderful perpetually-drumming-fingers automaton by Nik Ramage was ever intended to be anything but a piece of art. But it had the bad fortune to come across my desk in the midst of the Make: Halloween Contest 2009 frenzy so I am hereby diminishing it to the status of Halloween prop. At least potentially. Personally, if I could afford one I’d leave it out all year under a spotlight. Beautiful.
Keith Newstead is an “automatist” who makes the most amazing kinetic mechanical sculptures. Here are a couple of his pieces, recently posted to YouTube. Keith Newstead Automata [via Dug North] More: Cabaret Mechanical Theatre – A Museum of Automata (mechanical sculpture) Designing automata kit & cabaret mechanical movement
Dug North has posted a two-part Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008 on his Automata / Automaton Blog. Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008, Part 1 Mechanical toy gifts for holidays 2008, Part 2
Mister Jalopy of Dinosaurs and Robots points us to the amazing automata and kinetic sculptures of Tom Haney (Atlanta, GA).
On July 12th, the Long Now Foundation is presenting the Mechanicrawl event. Mechanicrawl is a progressive tour through the mechanical wonders of San Francisco’s North Shore! You’ll be able to map your own route to see the SS Jeremiah O’Brien with it’s giant steam engine running, the most complex mechanical computer ever built, The Torpedo […]
Tim Hunkin is known for his automata – the Disgusting Spectacle at Maker Faire 2007 was inspired by one of his pieces. He’s also a talented explainer. You can find entertaining explanations for a huge range of topics at his site, Rudiments of Wisdom. Related: Tim Hunkin’s giant automaton clock for the London Zoo The […]
