1925 Nilsson Walking Tractor It is not always possible to use vehicles with wheels, especially when the ground is heavy and the surface uneven. The problem of overcoming the difficulty has long occupied the attention of inventors, and a new type of transmission was evolved when caterpillar action was used for the tanks during the …
Read More “1928 – Meccano Walking Tractor – A. L. Spilhaus (Sth African) and C. Lee (British)”
Erector: Metal construction modelling sets invented in 1911 and patented in 1913 by A. C. Gilbert. Very similar to the earlier Meccano by Frank Hornby. Before the word "Robot" was coined and popularised from 1920 onwards, walking machines resembling people were called "Mechanical Men" or "Automatons". Erector called one of their early moving constructions a …
Read More “1916-> Erector Robot Models – A. C. Gilbert (American)”
Andreas Konkoly, a renowned Meccanoman, built many walking machines and robots in his lifetime. This reproduction, by S. Tokarski shows the Magic Motor (clockwork spring) power drive. For weight distribution and size, the drive is mounted in the rickshaw, and a driveshaft extends forward to the walking mechanism in the "Coolie". The walking motion is rather simplistic, …
Read More “Meccano Walking Rickshaws – Andreas Konkoly (Hungarian) and 2005 Phil Edwards (American)”
During some earlier research on Walking Machines, discovered an article in The Salt Lake Tribune. (Salt Lake City, Utah), March 09, 1913 headlined "The Giant Mechanical Mosquitoes Of Dr. Gustav Luchy." Now that it's come time to write it up, I see that Lyle Zapato's in his blog ZPi has already done a fine job in researching …
Read More “1913 – Giant Mechanical Mosquito – Dr. Gustav Luchy (Swiss)”
Metal feet on Swedish carriage enables it to "walk" up or down stairs. The rocking rhythm on flat surface puts baby to sleep. Source: Mechanics Illustrated May 1957.