Maillardet's Automaton
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Maillardet's automaton (or Draughtsman-Writer, sometime also known as Maelzel's Juvenile Artist or Juvenile Artist) is an
automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
built in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
c. 1800 by a
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
mechanician,
Henri Maillardet Henri Maillardet (born ''Jean Henri Nicholas Maillardet''; 1745–1830), was a Swiss mechanician of the 18th century who worked in London producing clocks and other mechanisms. He spent a period of time in the shops of Pierre Jaquet-Droz, who w ...
. It is currently part of the collections at
The Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memoria ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.


Acquisition

In November 1928 the Franklin Institute received the pieces of a brass machine. It came from the descendants of John Penn Brock, a family who knew that at some time it had been able to write and draw pictures. Having been in a fire, its restoration involved a considerable amount of work. The Brock family believed that the machine had been made in France by an inventor named Maelzel. The original writing instrument, either a quill or a brush, was replaced with a stylographic fountain pen. Once repaired, the automaton began to produce elaborate sketches and poems. In the border surrounding the final poem, the automaton wrote, ''"Ecrit par L'Automate de Maillardet"'', translating to "Written by the automaton of Maillardet". Restorer and paper engineer
Andrew Baron Andrew Michael Baron (born 1970) is the creator of Rocketboom, Know Your Meme, the video aggregator site, Magma and Humanwire. Baron has taught undergraduate and graduate classes at Parsons and was teaching IDTech at M.I.T. when he came up with ...
spent about 70 hours in 2007 repairing the Maillardet automaton to bring it back to working order.


Travel exhibitions

During the early nineteenth century, Maillardet exhibited this automaton and other automata that he created throughout England, and to other countries in Europe as far as
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia. The following is a partial list of known exhibitions of the Maillardet's automaton. The automaton was mostly known as the ''Juvenile Artist'' in those exhibitions: * 1807: The exhibition at Mr. Wigley's Great Rooms in
Spring Gardens Spring Gardens is a dead-end street at the south east extreme of St. James's, London, England, that crosses the east end of The Mall between Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square. Part of the old liberty of Westminster and the current City of ...
, London included the Juvenile Artist. * 1821 – 1833: The automata of Maillardet were in the possession of a gentlemen named Mr Schmidt. He held an exhibition in London. The last public display in London was held in 1833 at New Gothic Hall, 7 Haymarket Street before the exhibition was on tour to St. Petersburg where it disappeared along with other automata in the collection. * 1835: An exhibition in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
under the showman
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel A metronome by Maelzel, Paris, 1815. Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (or Mälzel; August 15, 1772 – July 21, 1838) was a German inventor, engineer, and showman, best known for manufacturing a metronome and several music-playing automatons, and displayin ...
included the Juvenile Artist automaton * 1835: The Juvenile Artist automaton was also traveled to Philadelphia in an exhibition at American Museum located then at the corner of Fifth and Chesnut Streets. The announcement for the event mentioned the success of Maelzel's exhibition in Boston. It also attributed the automata including the Juvenile Artist in the exhibition as "Maillardet's unrivalled mechanical and musical automata". The announcement was recorded as having Henri Maillardet, Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, and American Museum (Philadelphia, Pa.) as authors. * November 27, 1835 – January 16, 1836: Maelzel took Maillardet automata including the Juvenile Artist along with his ''
Chess Player This list of chess players includes people who are primarily known as chess players and have an article on the English Wikipedia. A * Jacob Aagaard (Denmark, Scotland, born 1973) * Manuel Aaron (India, born 1935) * Nijat Abasov (Azerbaijan, bor ...
'' on a tour in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
* Late 1836 – early 1837: The Juvenile Artist was among other automata presented at American Museum in New York during the Christmas and New Year exhibition.


Museum collections


Amazing Machine

The Maillardet's automaton is a highlight of the ''Amazing Machine'' permanent exhibit at The Franklin Institute. The exhibition includes more than two dozen rarely displayed machines with exploded views of the machines to show their components such as
gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
s,
cam Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bind ...
s,
pulley A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...
s and linkages. The Maillardet's automaton is always on display but the staff operate it only a few times a year for public demonstrations. The demonstrations show all seven drawings of the automaton as seen here:


Computer history

The pictures made by Maillardet's automaton are among other artifacts in the collections of the
Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on ...
in
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...
. The museum has a collection of machines from the pre-computer era. Particularly for Maillardet's, the museum highlights the use of its
cam Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bind ...
s in similar function to computer
read-only memory Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing sof ...
(ROM) to store pre-defined data for retrieval at a later time. In the case of Maillardet's automaton, it stores motion data necessary to write a poem on paper. It is believed to be the largest cam-based memory of any automaton of the era. The information capacity of the automaton to hold seven images within the machine was calculated to be 299,040 points, almost 300
kilobit The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix ''kilo-'' (symbol k) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 103 (1 thousand), and therefore, :1 kilobit = = 1000& ...
s of storage, or slightly more than a quarter of a
kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix ''kilo'' as 1000 (103); per this definition, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes.International Standard IEC 80000-13 Quantiti ...
.


Maelzel's Juvenile Artist

The
Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...
holds a drawing created in 1835 by an automaton in the collections of papers and artwork of the Minot family. The drawing is untitled with a depiction of
Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
. The writing on the picture indicated that it was drawn by Maelzel's automaton which was known at the time as the ''Maelzel's Juvenile Artist''. It is believed that at least one member of the Minot family witnessed the drawing by the Juvenile Artist at the exhibition of
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel A metronome by Maelzel, Paris, 1815. Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (or Mälzel; August 15, 1772 – July 21, 1838) was a German inventor, engineer, and showman, best known for manufacturing a metronome and several music-playing automatons, and displayin ...
's automata in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
on April 29, 1835. The Massachusetts Historical Society theorizes that the Juvenile Artist may in fact be the Maillardet's automaton. An explanation is that Maelzel might have acquired the automaton in the 1830s. As in other automata in his collection, they were known at the time as Maelzel's. After Maelzel's death, the automaton could have been auctioned off in Philadelphia to pay his debts. The new owner then attributed it to Maelzel.


See also

*
Automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
* ''
Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
'', 2011 film * ''
The Invention of Hugo Cabret ''The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' is a historical fiction book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic. It takes place in France as a young boy finds his purpose. The hardcover edition was released on January 30, 2 ...
'' *
Jaquet-Droz automata The Jaquet-Droz automata, among all the numerous automata built by the Jaquet-Droz family, refer to three doll automata built between 1768 and 1774 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis, and Jean-Frédéric Leschot: the musician, the draugh ...
* The writing hand


References

{{reflist Robotics Automata (mechanical) Franklin Institute Articles containing video clips