Popular 7th Century legend on King Udayana. King Pradyota of Ujjain wanted to capture rival king Udayana. King Udayana was very fond of music and of capturing wild elephants, and Pradyota trapped him by luring him out of the limits of his Kingdom into the pursuit of a faked elephant.…
Illustration by Léon Benett. From Wiki The Steam House (French: La maison à vapeur) is a Jules Verne novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant. Jules Verne uses the mechanical house as a plot…
On July 28, 1950, Frank Stuart gave his first public outing of his man-made walking elephant, walking the roads of Essex with a load of children in its howdah. This robot "Jumbo" is the remarkable invention by Mr. Frank Stuart, a theatrical mask maker and scenic artist. About two years earlier,…
It is difficult to trace the origins of the Frank Stuart's Mechanical Elephants in America. I'll present some published information that gives clues to their linearity. The earliest date I have found so far is the delivery of Cunningham's [Department Stores in Michigan] "Jumbo"Â is June 1951. The Billboard 23…
Nellie the mechanical elephant was purchased for 1,500 pounds by Edward Hayward during a trip to England, and brought home to feature in the John Martin's Christmas pageant. At the time, Nellie was claimed to be the only full-sized mechanical elephant in the world. There is some video on this…
Peter Clare - Egremont, Cumbria. I keep a mechanical elephant called Snowdrop. It moves its legs and its head, lifts its trunk, squirts water from its trunk and bellows. Snowdrop can carry about six children and will be on display at the Barbican, London this summer. Tue Jan 25 09:27:12…
Source: Popular Mechanics Feb 1938. G.G. Hutton sells his partnership to George Washington Shrum. Most images of "Jumbo" post the 1939-40 N.Y. World's Fair are shown as "Rosie" and owned by Shrum. Most of the photos below are sourced from Life magazine. Life have over 70 images, I've just selected …
A book cover with elephant. the article says the book was published in 1948. The cover reads the book title "Happy modeling & handicraft" and the author "Tokyo metropolitan kogei (craft) high school instructor Jiro Aizawa". The elephant was made by himself (the pet name is "Tamakichi-kun"). Thank you Hisashi…
Caption: 森永製è“ã®ãƒãƒœãƒƒãƒˆè±¡ã€è¡—ã‚’è¡Œãï¼ç†Šæœ¬å¸‚内 (English translation: Morinaga robot elephant goes to the town-city Kumamoto) Other than the image, I have little other information about this mechanical elephant. Image was taken in 1958 in Japan, I believe. RH update Feb 2011 - Thanks to Hisashi Moriyama from Japan I now have the following…
Frank Smith with his very first Mechanical Elephant outside his garage. (Image courtesy Larry Gavette) Eric Smith, Frank Smith's son with their Elephant. Note the distinguishing tusks. (Image supplied by Larry Gavette) (Image courtesy Larry Gavette) Letter by Eric Smith in response to Larry Gavette enquiry 24 Apr 1983. Full…