The Science of Conversation

We’re delving into the archives to take a closer look at some of Paul Spooner’s automata. This piece is from 2010.

“Although it’s tempting to think of ways in which I might have been foreseeing the current double-headed political situation in Britain, I actually thought of this machine while talking to my dad. I realised that, in many conversations, the listener is just marking time while the talker is in action, waiting for his turn to engage his brain and put in his twopence-ha’porth. (US 10c)”

The man on left possesses the brain so he talks while the other one stares blankly. Then the tops of their heads open and the brain migrates to the other man’s cranium. The other man (Reg Hughes) is now able to speak. While the brain is in transit both men are struck dumb.

Paul’s description of the mechanical details: “The way the brain is made to travel is very silly and time-wasting. One cam lifts the brain out of the brainbox and another, moving at half that speed, makes it go from right to left and back again. Both cams are geared together and work on a linkage to which the brain lever is attached. The resulting movement is rather floaty and imprecise but is better, I think, than a regular arc, which would have been the obviously sensible way to do it”.

The lifting camshaft also carries the head-opening cam so both heads open every time the brain is lifted. Another cam, driven by the input shaft, which goes at 4x the lifting speed, works a linkage that causes both jaws to chatter constantly, while 2 more cams on the traversing camshaft cancel the jaw action of the head whose brain is out of the office.”

Height 27 cm (10.5 inches)
Width 26cm (10 inches)
Depth 9 cm (3.5 inches)

Materials: English oak and plastic