Categories > Inspired Inventions > Amazing Automata
Amazing Automata
A faithful reproduction of Al-Jazari's enormous water clock
Built over five months to exacting diagrams in an original 13th century manuscript, the elaborate elephant-shaped water clock at the Ibn Battuta mall in Dubai is a tribute to 800 year old... »
Astounding Timepieces, Amazing Automata | Edited by Annetta
Gigantic private toy museum featuring among finest collections of antique mechanical banks in existence
Frank Kidd began collecting antique toys and banks as an adult, filling his automotive parts office with vehicular toys. Throughout the years his hobby expanded, citing a lack of playthings... »
Unique Collections, Amazing Automata | Edited by littlebrumble
Vaucanson's most famous automaton, brought back to life
All that was left of the most famous of all automatons were a pair of heat-warped wings found among the smoking ruins of a museum in Krakow, Poland in 1889.
Built in 1739 by Grenoble artist... »
Amazing Automata | Edited by Annetta
A working steam clock, one of only a few in the world, located in Vancouver's victorian Gastown
Underneath Vancouver, Canada there runs a series of steam tunnels, with some of the tunnels apparently large enough to walk in. Running under major streets (Cordova, Water, Cambie and maybe... »
Astounding Timepieces, Retro-Tech, Amazing Automata | Edited by canuck
France's Lilliputian park displays over 100 of the country's monuments for visitor perusal
Many of France's greatest monuments are compactly spread across 12 acres in a western suburb of Paris. A meandering road leads visitors through this France Miniature, an outdoor park mirroring... »
Small Worlds and Model Towns, Amazing Automata | Edited by re_nakaba
A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past
A veritable still life zoo, the Zeum Carousel in San Francisco's Children's Museum has been giving rides to delighted children and adults alike for over 100 years. Still operational, it has more... »
Amazing Automata, Outsider Architecture | Edited by re_nakaba
A perfectly running 230 year old silver automaton and music box
Mark Twain saw the Silver Swan in Paris in 1867 and noted in his journal that it "had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes". Over 140 years later, this elegant... »
Amazing Automata | Edited by Annetta
A pretty villa with an hourly infestation of monsters
Every hour on the hour the unassuming facade of a villa across from the imposing Chateau de Blois transforms into an enormous mechanical clock. Against a backdrop of clanging bells and eerie music... »
Astounding Timepieces, Amazing Automata | Edited by Annetta
