Mad Fear - Horror Movie Reviews, Horror Music, Horror Books, Horror Site

According to Wikipedia.org “An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. Used colloquially, it refers to a mindless follower. The word Automaton, is derived from the Greek αὐτόματος, automatos, “acting of one’s own will” is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock”

Although the automatons range as far back as ancient Greece and rome with idols, religious relics and devices like the Antikythera Mechanism, we are taking a look at the “Golden Age Of Automaton”. This era ranged from the years of 1860 to 1910. During these years a new type of family business was beginning to surface in France. These mechanical animals were produced and sold all over the world. Some automatons were more than just mere animals, some were performers as in the case of Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin and his automaton. Known as the father of modern magic Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin was not only a great magician but also an amazing inventor and craftsman. One of his creations “Antonio Diavolo, the acrobat“, was known to rest and smoke a pipe and perform amazing feats on a trapeze such as raising it’s arms or doing a headstand while performing tricky footwork. These families which included Théroude, Phalibois, Lambert, Renou, Roullet- Decamps, Vichy and Bontemps continued making automaton until it’s gradual disappearance at the outbreak of the first world war. You can learn more about this great automaton in Grand Illusions - The Story of Magic (2002)