a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
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)”
Shunyuan Style: Ride On Toy Type: elephant Material: Plush Place of Origin: Hubei China (Mainland) Brand Name: Shunyuan Model Number: SYDX colour: green package: standard exporting packing:cotton clot… type: battery animal car seats: 2seats rides type: lifelike animal: elephent material: plush seat: 1 Specifications Amusement machine –animal rides: 1) patent …
Read More “2006c – Mechanical Elephant – Small Amusement Ride (Chinese)”
Source: Leader Post, 24 July 1984. Most likely a Shrum elephant. Source: Victoria Advocate, 12 May 1938. Supposedly six were built and three were sold to the New York World's Fair (1939). Source: Modern Mechanix May 1937 Mechanical Elephants walk 500 miles USED for advertising purposes, two mechanical elephants constructed by J. G. and …
Read More “1937 – The Mechanical Elephants of J.G. and George W. Shrum (American)”
This image shows a walking mechanical elephant from Japan. It is 12V electric-powered, 1/4 HP motor. The image is sourced from here. According to the website the images are from a catalog of "Nihon goraku-ki seisakusho (Japan amusement machine manufacturing)" around 1935. More info: The elephant's name is "Jidou-hokou zou (automatic-walking elephant)". 12v battery powered and …
Whilst it was Frank Stuart that gets most of the credit for the famous British Robot Elephant, it was in fact Maurice Radburn, an employee of Frank Stuart's that toyed with the idea of building a Walking Elephant. Frank Stuart had already built a stiff-legged motorised elephant but wasn't entirely happy with it. Maurice Radburn …
Read More “1948-9 – “Bimbo” the Mechanical Elephant prototype – Maurice Radburn (British)”