a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
SEEING THE ELEPHANT. Not Barnum's, But the Great Mechanical Wonder. Few theatre-goers have any intelligent conception of the mechanism of some of the "animals" that are in the cast of a modern spectacular drama or comic opera. A long time ago when the heifer was part and parcel of "Evangeline," it caused an infinite amount …
Read More “1891 – Mechanical Elephant – Woolson Morse (American)”
Gas-powered Elephant to give Children Rides San Antonio Light 4 Nov 1954 Robo, the monstrous robot elephant owned by the Ezell drive-in theaters is scheduled for a 1-week stay at the Fredericksburg rd. drive-in beginning Friday. The realistic elephant will also be exhibited at Handy-Andy shopping centers during the day and will give the kiddies …
Read More “1954 – “Robo” the Mechanical Elephant owned by C.C. Ezell (American)”
Messmore & Damon Mechanical Elephant. (Sourced from the Messmore & Damon catalogue.) This mechanical elephant does everything but walk! Although Messmore & Damon had been around for some time, the interest here is around the animated elephants. There were early mammoths made for The World a Million Years Ago for the Chicago Fair, but the …
Read More “1939 – Mechanical Elephants by Messmore & Damon (American)”
In 1979 an American named Larry Gavette, who lives in Waterford, M.I., U.S.A., took his daughter to Bald Mountain Riding Stables for a pony ride. There he found a some-what dilapidated life-sized mechanical elephant and he bought it, trailer and all, for 125 dollars. It was in poor condition and at first he wondered whether …
Read More “1979 – “Jumbo” the Mechanical Elephant – Restoration by Larry Gavette”
Mr Eric Smith was contacted by the Postal Code officer to build an elephant for them, but he recommended Luneside Engineering to build one. Possibly the image above is the next generation elephant being built at Luneside Engineering in Halton, Lancaster. The original PoCo mechanical elephant. All above photo's courtesy Larry Gavette. This elephant was …
Read More “1980c – “PoCo” the Mechanical Elephant – Post Code (British)”