Artifact Details

Title

Maillardet's Automaton - Exhibit

Catalog Number

102697993

Type

Still Image

Description

This is a color image of Maillardet's Automaton in the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia. Maillardet was a Swiss clock maker working in London in the early 1800s. P.T. Barnum may have brought the Automaton to Philadelphia. In 1851 the Automaton was damaged in a fire and was eventually donated to the Institute in 1928 where it was renovated . It wrote a poem on paper and used cams for it's memory. The completed poem is shown. The automaton is kneeling on a glass topped cabinet. The mechanical componets are visible.

Dimensions

overall: 4 in x 6 in

Category

Photograph

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015