Automata

I’m a great lover of paper automata, and I’ve recently come across the work of Pino, who has some superb models currently available via his site at

www.paperpino.net

This one is called ‘Dubya, the Paper Sheriff.’

This is political satire in a paper model, something which I haven’t come across before. It’s not a beginner’s model, and he acknowledges that the design uses mechanisms developed by Walter Ruffler. It’s a ‘nodding donkey’ which works beautifully. Standing in front is George ‘Dubya’ with a petrol pump, waving the petrol nozzle in one hand and his cowboy hat in the other.

I now have my first published design available, The Cat and the Mouse. see here

I’ve also been much fascinated with a model from a Japanese model maker of Richard Trevithick’s first steam locomotive......... http://guru2.karakasa.com/T_locomotive/download_e.html

There’s a great deal of action as the model is pushed gently forwards. The piston shaft moves back and forth along its runners, the connecting shafts turn the flywheel and cog wheels, which turn the track wheels.