week 9: Foreign mechanical dolls

Hello!

Since this week, I had shown you many charms of "Japanese" mechanical dolls "Karakuri". But how about foreign mechanical dolls? In this week I will introduce famous mechanical doll "Automata" in other country.

It is said "European Karakuri doll" or "robot". The word "Automata" is plural form of "automaton" that is an origin of "automation" and "automatic". And the origin of "Automaton" is "automatos" in Latin and Greek.

"autos (=oneself)" + "matos (=can think, lively, active)".

The origin of the mechanism of Automata is thinkable to be born in the Hellenism era (=BC). Dolls were used not only to be entertained but also to assist religious ceremony. To add the production that dolls move by oneself enable people to look as if dolls have spirit.

Concretely, these dolls were refined by the technique of Archimedes or Heron or Philo in ancient Greece. They use gear wheels, siphons, water power, pulley and so on. Heron invented a lot of automatic devices and the states are drawn in Greek mythology, for example the chair which works automatically.

The right picture is the washbowl which comprised structure of the drainage by Philo.(190)

After that, the countries of Islam imported studies and sciences of Greek so Muslims had skills and left the books which record many kinds of clock, Karakuri dolls, water supply traies and so on. After the medieval periods Europeans got the studies of Greek again via Arabia (Islamic world). The oldest mechanical clock that has existed still now is said that it was made in 1364 although it is not clear when mechanical clocks were invented. In the 14th century tower clocks appeared in churches, city halls, public halls and so on in every place of Europe mainly United Kingdom. In these clocks mechanical doll dances or ring the bell on specific time. There are astronomical clocks that have existed since the 15th century in Munich and Prague. In the 18th century Vaucanson who was inventor of France achieved universal popularity with the self-playing musical instruments or mechanical dolls for the theater. His masterpiece is The Digesting Duck in 1739.(350)





This is "pierrot writer" invented by Leopold Lambert in 1900. This pierrot is writing a letter for his girlfriend. But he is so sleepy so after right hand move to write the words smoothly he shut his eyes and he nod in a doze. The fire of a lamp becomes small, he come to himself and start to write again. He is so charming!  (414)





This is "Musician" invented by Pierre Jaquet-Droz in 1770s. She does not play the organ but she move her hand over keyboards with music. In fact sounds are played by the organ itself. She is made by about 2500 parts and is able to play 5 musics which are composed by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz who is a son of Pierre Jaquet-Droz.





This is "Drawer" invented by Pierre Jaquet-Droz in 1773. He is able to draw 4 pictures, "a profile of Louis XIV of France", "a loyal couple", "a dog", "a butter-fly". Sometimes he blows to the top of the pencil to remove dust. He has humanity. (526 words)