The Institute's Automaton seems to have toured the continent of Europe, reaching as far east as St. The fingers translate the movements of the cams into side to side, front and back, and up and down movements of the doll's writing hand through a complex system of levers and rods that produce the markings on paper.Īccording to Penniman's research, Maillardet exhibited his Automaton throughout England, essentially as a performer at fairs and trade shows. As the cams are turned by the clockwork motor, three steel fingers follow their irregular edges. The memory is contained in the 'cams,' or brass disks. Maillardet achieved this by placing the driving machinery in a large chest that forms the base of the machine, rather than in the Automaton's body. The Franklin Institute's Automaton has the largest 'memory' of any such machine ever constructed-four drawings and three poems (two in French and one in English). He made only one other Automaton that could write it wrote in Chinese and was made for the Emperor of China as a gift from King George III of England. It is believed that Maillardet built this Automaton around 1800. He spent a period of time in the shops of Pierre Jaquet-Droz, who was in the business of producing automata that could write and draw. Henri Maillardet was indeed a Swiss mechanician of the 18th century who worked in London producing clocks and other mechanisms. Four drawings and three poems later, in the border surrounding the final poem, the Automaton clearly wrote, 'Ecrit par L'Automate de Maillardet.' This translates to 'Written by the Automaton of Maillardet.' Amazingly, the first clue of the true history and identity of the machine had come from its own mechanical memory!

It lowered its head, positioned its pen, and began to produce elaborate sketches. When the repairs were completed and the driving motors were set in motion, the Automaton came to life. (A quill and brush have also been tried.) A surviving drawing of the 'Chinese Temple' done by the Automaton, probably sometime in the mid 1860s, shows lines that would most likely have been done with a pen constructed somewhat along the lines of a hypodermic needle. The original writing instrument having been lost, a fine ballpoint pen is now used to bring out the fine detail of the Automaton's works. Today, it is no longer costumed, and is displayed to show more of the inner workings of the Automaton. Penniman believes the Automaton was bareheaded, with perhaps a wig, in 1826. Penniman designed a proper boy's suit, a hat, carved feet, and shoes for him, since his legs were no longer hidden under a skirt. Then a lithograph from 1826 came to light, as well as written references, showing the Automaton as a boy. Since the boy's legs were either missing or irreparable, the simplest solution seems to have been to dress him as an 18th-century woman in a long dress, although there is a picture of 'her' as a Red Cross nurse at one point. It was displayed off and on in The Franklin Institute for the rest of the century.Īs recollected by an Institute employee who assisted getting the machine off the truck in 1928, the 'boy' was in a tattered uniform that looked to him to be that of a French soldier. An Institute machinist began tinkering with the Automaton and eventually had it functioning.

The Brock family's understanding was that the machine was made by a French inventor named Maelzel, and that it had been acquired in France. When they donated the Automaton to The Franklin Institute, the descendants of John Penn Brock knew it had been ruined in a fire and hadn't run for years. This Automaton, known as the 'Draughtsman-Writer,' is one such machine. The first complex machines produced by man were called 'automata.' The greatest and most fascinating mechanisms were those that could do things in imitation of living creatures. WATCH: Ingenious: The Evolution of Innovationĭuring the 18th century, people were in a state of wonder over mechanism.Harry Potter: The Exhibition - NOW OPEN!.

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