Disclaimer: The observations, comments, and opinions expressed here are entirely my own, and not necessarily those of The Franklin Institute or others.
For Context: This video is part of the article on my Blog about reconstructing the original writing instrument for the Maillardet Automaton which you can read in full here - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings9.html #pen
Andy Baron's blog about his work with the Maillardet Automaton - http://www.popyrus.com/hugo/index.html
Help Support Fran's YouTube Channel on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/frantone
Frantone on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/frantone/
Fran on Twitter - https://twitter.com/contourcorsets
Fran's Science Blog - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings.html
For Context: This video is part of the article on my Blog about reconstructing the original writing instrument for the Maillardet Automaton which you can read in full here - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings9.html #pen
Andy Baron's blog about his work with the Maillardet Automaton - http://www.popyrus.com/hugo/index.html
Help Support Fran's YouTube Channel on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/frantone
Frantone on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/frantone/
Fran on Twitter - https://twitter.com/contourcorsets
Fran's Science Blog - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings.html
Judging by the precise movements of the stylus even the correct ink formulation would be required to get an accurate viscosity for a proper ink flow to get a rendition of the drawings as intended by the creator(s) of the machine, because of the subtlety of the strokes shown.
Amazing machine! Awesome opportunity
There would have been another machine that created the blueprints for the cams by recording the movements of someone. I assume that one is still lost? Has anyone built a new one? Has anyone made a reproduction of this one for additional study or to show in a fully finished state alongside the naked one? I agree the z-axis is very very important to how this machine works and plays a big role in why it is so much better than many of the more recent attempts at drawing automata.
Such an amazing feat of engineering, it almost puts me in a trance watching it.
Your voice is like satin. Dreamy, even. This narration is an excellent way to use your voice. You could work sometimes as a narrator. A bit reminicent of Rikki Lee Jones…how is your singing voice? I could listen for hours….
Such an incredible work of engineering art!
You get to play with the most amazing "toys"! 😀
That was fun! How is the automaton programmed?
Way cool, Fran…what an interesting video! The subtleties of the Automaton writing are wonderful to see. Thanks very much for posting this.
Fantastic to see it from this angle and your ideas about the ink tube seem spot on. Thanks so much for showing us this. I'm way too far away to ever visit. I hope one day a simulacrum of the cams and mechanism might make it to the light of day. Best wishes and great work in such a limited time frame.
A digital drawing tablet could have sampled the pressure differences quite precisely. Or a Parker-style pen made them more evidently.
… just two observations… back in the days of classic ink pens… the "pumping action" as you described would be used to broaden the strokes…the two halves of the stylus tip would split wider, and cause the width of the stroke to widen along with it. Also, the ink should not need any sort of valve to open/close to control the ink flow. Traditional ink pens would have an "ink feed" that would use the surface-tension of the ink to stop the flow… and allow more of a wicking-action to keep the ink flowing when needed.
Very cool! I remember seeing a documentary about these things. Fascinating engineering for so long ago.
Thanks Fran. Absolutely fascinating! I have made a floating pen tip for my cnc router to make pen plots. It's interesting that we both found the G2 as a good (and cheap) ink source that works quite well. Let me know if there is anything I can do to forward your work here.
welcome back 🙂
Yay! The Fran-tone-ator is back, cool video, keep them coming.