JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I’ve been collecting images of 19th century robots and automatons and came across another–a very uncommon cowbot. “The Automaton Dummy : Bovine Usher” was drawn for Wallace Peck, created by William Allen Rogers (1854-1931) and published in volume 8 of Life (July 8, 1886) and also in Peck’s The Golden Age of Patents (Frederick Stokes, 1888). [Image source: the Library of Congress, here, and for the Peck book, here.) This is the only robot featured in the book, though there are many other fine illustrations of future techno whatzit bits. The automaton beef was supposed to lead the other cows aboard a ship for shipment, the philosophy being that if one led the way that the others would follow.) The cowbot is also covered with brands, including a H.A.Rey-like Curious George techno bit in the midsection, the knobs and so forth forming an anthropologic face.