Videos of writing automaton from 1772

By at 10:33 am Wednesday, Jan 17

Aberron, the Fogonazos blogger, has written a nice piece about "The Writer," an amazing wind-up automaton built in 1772 by a Swiss clockmaker named Jacquet-Droz. The videos are stunning.
Picture 10-1 As soon as the mechanism starts up, 'The Writer' dips the feather into the ink, shakes it twice, puts his hand at the top of the page and stops. Every single movement of the automaton gives an unusual impression of life: his eyes follow the text being written, and the head moves when he takes some ink.
Link

Mark Frauenfelder

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