A Daily History of Holes, Dots, Lines, Science, History, Math, Physics, Art, the Unintentional Absurd, Architecture, Maps, Data Visualization, Blank and Missing Things, and so on. |1.6 million words, 7500 images, 4.9 million hits| Press & appearances in The Times, Le Figaro, Mensa, The Economist, The Guardian, Discovery News, Slate, Le Monde, Sci American Blogs, Le Pont, and many other places… 5000+ total posts since 2008.

A Few Mechanical Men–Anthropomorphic SteamPunk

JF Ptak Science Books    Quick Post

In 1893 George Moore unrolled his papers and derived this wonderful mechanical man, a gas-fired steam-boiler-driven, half-horsepower, six-foot tall 5-mph dromedary.  It was made of “heavy tin”, had spikes on its heels for added traction, a  fire-funnel surrounded by water and connected in some way to a small but powerful motor.  The exhaust of course would exit through the nostrils. Or, in another version, the exhaust would come out via the machine’s cigar.

 

Mechanical man steam george moore
Earlier than this very striking machine came the 7’9″ steam man proposed by Zadick P. Deddrick.  The patent for the invention was granted in 1868, and was made to haul a rockaway carriage, the machine dressed as a man so as to not frighten horses int he street.  http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/HistoryMakers/1868DederickSteamMan.htm

 

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories