Twain, the Huckleberry Finn author, who saw it in an exhibition in Paris in 1867, wrote: “I watched the Silver Swan, which had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes, watched him swimming about as comfortably and unconcernedly as if he had been born in a morass instead of a jeweller’s shop.”, The exhibition curator, Ben Russell, said: “It’s not the most complicated robot ever built, but if the aim of the automaton inventor was to create a mechanism imitating real life – then the swan is as close to perfection as you’re going to get.”. Built in the mid 18th-century, this swan robot is made entirely out of silver and still works! Originally, the swan had an 18-foot waterfall standing behind it, but researchers believe it was stolen while on exhibition. “BIONs” – short for Believe It or Not – is the word we use at Ripley’s to refer to anything that is unbelievable and worthy to become part of Ripley’s lore and collection. The Silver Swan is an automaton dating from the 18th century and housed in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England. ©2020 Ripley Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved |, French Couple Drops $7,000 For A Big (Cat) Surprise, Learning 1 Thing Or 2 About Theodor Seuss Geisel, Edgar Cayce: Tales from the “Sleeping Prophet”, Hoppin’ Bottles With Circus Artist LadyBEAST, The Phonoliszt Violina Is a 1907 Robotic Orchestra. The banal truth behind the piece – the nuts and bolts, levers and cogwheels that for almost 250 years have powered a lifesize silver swan to play music and catch a golden fish out of a crystal stream – has been laid bare in a workroom at the west London museum. The swan was made in London in 1773 by John Joseph Merlin, a creator of mechanical marvels, musical instruments and inline skates. The swan, on loan from the Bowes Museum in County Durham, is so loved that it has never left the premises except for conservation reasons, and the loan to the Science Museum is for only six weeks of the seven-month exhibition. Join Ripley’s Newsletter and get weird news and exclusive offers like 20% OFF Books + Free Shipping when you sign up! A robotic swan that entranced Mark Twain and generations of other viewers will be a star attraction at the Science Museum’s Robots exhibition when it opens next week. “When it came to us first it took years to put it together – and we have absolutely no records of how it was done,” Karen Barker, antiquities conservator, said. It was acquired by John Bowes, the museum's founder, from a Parisian jeweler in 1872. The silver swan attended the 1867 World’s Fair and was even seen by Mark Twain. It's an automaton that’s almost 250 years old, and it's on the move again, The Guardian … “We estimated it would take us three months – we were out by months. “We’re already a day behind and rising,” Read said, “but we’ll get there, it’s not going to defeat us.”, Available for everyone, funded by readers. All rights reserved. Sign up for our Newsletter and get weird news and exclusive offers to Ripley's, delivered straight to your inbox! A century later it was bought from a Parisian jeweller for £200 by John and Josephine Bowes, for the museum they were building. In addition, we operate more than 100 attractions in 11 countries around the world. When activated, the life-size metallic swan swivels and pivots to preen and hunt for fish. The Silver Swan Automaton Built in the mid 18th-century, this swan robot is made entirely out of silver and still works! The automaton was designed and built by John Joseph Merlin and London inventor James Cox. Like the Tipu Tiger automaton, the silver swan operates using complex systems of springs and gears. “The swan had a living intelligence in his eyes.” – Mark Twain. Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 11.41 EST. A demonstration of the Silver Swan working will be given on many days of the Robots exhibition, and on weekdays at 10.25am between 20 February and 23 March. The legendary silver swan you see above preens, fishes and stuns. When activated, the life-size metallic swan swivels and pivots to … It has been a treasure and a torment to the museum ever since it arrived in County Durham in thousands of pieces, without an instruction book. In 2008 Barker and Matthew Read, a horologist who teaches at West Dean College, dismantled the swan, recorded and cleaned every part, and reassembled it – and learned for the first time that it had more than 2,000 moving parts, including 139 crystal rods, and 113 rings in the neck alone. Like the Tipu Tiger automaton, the silver swan operates using complex systems of springs and gears. An 18th-century automaton admired by US writer to be star attraction at London museum’s Robots exhibition, Thu 2 Feb 2017 07.59 EST The. They are working on it again with another clockmaker and former pupil of Read’s, Sean Martin. The banal truth behind the piece – the nuts and bolts, levers and cogwheels that for almost 250 years have powered a lifesize silver swan to play music and catch a … © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. The company has a long successful history in book publishing, product licensing, radio and popular TV shows. Although it was transported with meticulous care, parts of the delicate mechanism had shifted and loosened on the journey, and weaknesses in previous repairs were exposed. In the 1960s it needed repairs, and was sent to two clockmakers who turned the job down, and finally to an engineer at Durham University who spent years working on it, simplifying the mechanism and building a sturdy frame, but again the museum has no records of exactly what he did. When the swan was first displayed in the 18th century, admission cost the enormous sum of five shillings. The “stream” it swims in is actually an array of glass rods, which when layered overtop of silver, creates the glittering illusion of running water. In the end we got it finished with six hours to spare before the grand public reinstatement,” she said. […] automated symphony, the mechanical marvel required no human intervention to independently play any music fed into […].
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