This free download contains Paul Spooner’s plans for an automata called ‘Frustrated Felines’. The detailed plans give an insight into how the automata was constructed, (a small edition was made and sold at CMT in the 1980’s). It makes a challenging project for an automata enthusiast!
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Simon Tait’s Mews No.12
The girls are here As an aficionado of this column you could be excused for thinking that automaton model-makers are a pretty exclusive coterie of ancient boffins shut away in workshops with their tools, bits of wire and perspex and their over active imaginations. Well, I’m sorry if I’ve encouraged that perception because it’s quite […]
Simon Tait’s Mews No.11
Why are you so good? So what is the secret, then, of this success? Exhibitions all over the world, rich people falling over themselves to buy, interviewed celebs casually dropping that they’ve got automata at home. But why? I thought I’d better ask a couple of individuals who would know. For the last few months […]
The Harpy of West Street
A new one-off piece from Fi Henshall, the green spikey haired Harpy hovers over the tin town below. Fi is creating these new pieces as she works on designs for a large exhibition piece with urban tin landscape, (we can’t wait!). The Harpy of West Street £695 (excl. VAT) Sold
The Tax Man – An Unbuilt Machine
In 1984 Paul Spooner designed an elaborate machine which was to have been on display in a shopping centre in York. (This was four years before the Ride of Life). The machine, called the Tax Inspector, was to be ‘an automatic window display to cheer up the passers-by’. It was to have six scenes dealing […]
Simon Tait’s Mews No.10
Keith incorporated It’s Keith’s birthday so he goes to the computer centre to sort out a programme, pops in to the overall shop for a new pair, answers the phone to me- the things you have to do which you like doing but don’t usually have to time for. Thing about Keith Newstead is that […]
‘Sad Frog’ by Keith Newstead
Keith Newstead has started making wonderful automata from the flotsam which arrives regularly at his local beach in Cornwall. The contents of containers lost at sea sometimes contain large amounts of the same, often colourful cargo, (lighters or legos). This piece is called ‘Sad Frog’ and is a one-off design. Height 24cm. £295. SOLD
Sketchbook Moment No. 43
The Garden of Mechanical Knowledge. Converting (A) rotary motion into (B) linear motion. Click image to enlarge.
Steppy Movement from a Smooth Cam
Interestingly, the motion derived from the smooth helical cam is jerky because the ratchet moves it in a series of 12 steps. The pin in the foreground moves back and forth picking a tooth at a time. The follower, the steel lever at top right, on which rests a brass button, is lifted in 12 […]
Simon Tait’s Mews No.9
Miami icebreakerMiami has never seen anything like it before. It’s not me saying that, it’s Dr Andrew R Hirschl, respected dentist of that parish, and he’s talking about the exhibition, which opened at the Miami Science Museum last weekend, an exhibition that runs all the way to September. ‘Amazing, amusing machines combine art and science’ […]