Boing Boing: Videos of writing automaton from 1772

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Videos of writing automaton from 1772

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.

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

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:33:12 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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