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Repaired inner mechanism 1875 automaton lady

Mark Frauenfelder at 3:18 pm Wed, Apr 9, 2008

Kindle

Dug North, who runs a great blog "for makers and collectors of mechanical automata and mechanized toys" says:

This is the repaired inner mechanism of a Vichy automaton made in France in 1875. The complete automaton depicts a lady who breathes, closes her eyes, turns her head, fans herself, and lifts her glasses to her eyes.

Link

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Dug North

Dear #1,

The automaton video was made by Michael and Maria Start in Scotland. They restore vintage automata. You might drop by their site and ask — automatomania.co.uk.

Let us know if you find out. I’d like to know too!

Regards,

Dug North
Anonymous

Nice video. I like being able to see all around the mechanism.

Does anyone know what the completed automaton looked like?