Help us get to over 8,749 articles in 2024.
If you know of a magician not listed in MagicPedia, start a New Biography for them. Contact us at magicpediahelp@gmail.com
Automata
This page incorporated content from Automaton,
a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License |
Automaton refers to a single piece and automata are more than one. The proper pronunciation is: "ah TOM ah ton" and "ah TOM ah tah".
The first recorded design of a humanoid automaton is credited to Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1495. The design of Leonardo's robot Leonardo's robot was not rediscovered until the 1950s. The robot, which appears in Leonardo's sketches, was built successfully. It moved its arms, twist its head, and sit up.
The period 1860 to 1910 is known as "The Golden Age of Automata". During this period many small family based companies of Automata makers thrived in Paris. They exported thousands of clockwork automata and mechanical singing birds around the world. It is these French automata that are collected today, although now rare and expensive they attract collectors worldwide. The main French makers were Vichy, Roullet & Decamps, Lambert, Phalibois, Renou and Bontems.
Magicians, over the years, have demonstrated both real and fake ones (using a hidden assistant).
Examples:
- Psycho (the whist player), Zoe and Labial by John Nevil Maskelyne (1875)
- The Orange Tree, The Pastry Cook of the Palais-Royal, The Trapeze Vaulter by Robert-Houdin
- The Turk by Pinetti
- Chess Player by Kempelen
- Hindoo Clock by Kellar
Books
- Automata by Alfred Chaplus and Edmond Droz