Documentary on automatons, androids or automata: museum of musical automata in York (England)
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- Опубліковано 13 кві 2021
- This documentary is shown to you by Lutèce Créations, the European specialist in music boxes and automata. Our company proposes through its parisian shop and its websites, various antique (from the end of the 19th century until the first world war) and vintage (from the 50's until the 70's) automatons.
This documentary presents the rich collection of musical android, automatons or automata of a museum of automatons in the north of England. This museum in York, which closed in 1996 after the collection was sold and transferred to a japanese museum, presents old french androids and automata from the golden age of automata (1848 - 1914) as well as contemporary creations.
The greatest creators of automata from the golden age were represented in this museum: Vichy, Roullet-Decamps, Renou, Phalibois, Bontems, Lambert, Théroude etc...
Have a good viewing and do not hesitate to subscribe to receive our videos of reports, documentaries and presentations of automatons or music boxes.
Our two websites: www.automates-boites-musique.com and www.lutececreations.com
Our parisian shop:
Lutèce Créations - 103, rue de Sèvres - Galerie le Sévrien - 75006 Paris
Tél: 01 42 22 91 73
Direct links:
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Keywords: automatons / automaton / android / androids / antique / automata / musical / museum / York / England.
Hashtags: #automatons #androids #automata
I don't see why this is dying out. I know it's not the tech we have today. But you can't take your eyes off of these,regardless how old they are now. True craftsmanship.
I feel like, with computers, they would be easier to design now. The parts could be made with a 3D printer.
@Zypher S. Automata mostly refers to similar devices but are completely mechanical. They work with clockwork and wound springs to function. Animatronics are similar, but are controlled by computers and servos instead of wound springs. So both are actually similar but also different 🙂
It's not "dying out". It evolved. When everything is purely mechanical, it becomes more probe to wear and tear. It becomes less precise and more inefficient. It takes far more material and space.
The only reason you like it is because these are rarer. If these are still being used today, most of you would ask why are these primitive things being used when there is modern tech available.
@Zypher S. I understand, and you are right. Computer controlled devices can still be mechanical :)
ua-cam.com/video/s4iBejhobAI/v-deo.html
watching this with a cold before i go to sleep its fever dream time
im here with a flu too
This art deserves to come back. I love devices that fall under categories related to having complex moving parts to perform a task (mostly clocks, engines, and other devices and machines). Automata has a fascination of its own, since it's basically the earliest forms of robots and are completely mechanical. They're beautiful ⚙️
pinball................. late 80s 90s
@@raymondo162emotion has that effect, it seeps through even vast layers of veneer until seeming at odds with its environment.
Just for your interest.
0:29
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The Cutest robots I ever seen! The MaSiRo Robot Maids. Very creative!
Some of the craft is slowly coming back in electronics and computers.
I also love the old craft as well.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsGEZ3t48IaBQ?si=FN9L6fh6hBpnn_h1
I still can't wrap my head around how those complex movements are guided by uniquely shaped cogs
That's because you're just a fish.
I know what you’re saying but this isn’t the case. The narrator hugely simplifies the mechanics in this documentary. These things are WAY more complicated than a cog. Look at the structure underneath most of them. It’s a huge clockwork setup under there with cams, pushrods, custom stuff all over the machinery underneath the moving object itself (the characters, props, etc). These are amazing and terrifying at the same time. Absolutely awesome but really unsettling too.
Seriously? These things are incredible simple! You don't even need training to study this, just basic logic and understanding of the SIMPLEST mechanics. Developing programs and computers takes far more intelligence and effort. But I see people today are more "oooh moving parts! how cool! so hard to dooo"
Sometimes mechanisms with many animated parts can be surprisingly simple, like a wheel pulling at threads and things moved by pendulums at different speeds. E.g. there are wooden toys with many animated figures mounted on top of a board, and underneath dangles only a pendulum that pulls the bunch of threads by shaking the toy sideways.
Go look at a car camshaft. Then make it miles more complicated. Go look at one of those music boxes, they were still around in the early 90s. Now combine the 2 concepts.
This museum has got to be the last place on earth that you would want to be trapped in overnight .
I was just thinking the very same thing!
😅
Next Night at the museum?
The significance of the automata with swappable cams is very understated here, basically they're programmable machines. If you swap cams for code and the automaton for an industrial robot, it's basically the same principle.
I gots to get me one of those dope smoking monkeys
When I was 13 , I took the cuckoo bird out of my dads cuckoo clock and replaced it with a tiny plastic dinosaur . About 3 weeks went by before anyone in my house noticed it !!! Lol
That’s hilarious and brilliant! 😅
😅😅😅😅
I tried my hand at making a simple sand powered automoton as my final project for high school shop class. My mom still has it on dysplay and it still works 36 years later.
As much as I love these things, you have to admit that we’re deep in the uncanny valley.
Not so sure, I've yet to see an in-the-round automaton or robot of the past several years that successfully blurred the line. At this point, more eerie (and troublesome) to me are video deepfakes.
@@hd-xc2lz masks also
Yes indeed, this helps stock up the deep realms of the brain for future nightmare imagery.
@@hd-xc2lz in my opinion, things like deep fakes don’t give me as weird of a feeling as some of these. I can almost see them as real. The definition is literally “relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object.”
Lisa... uncanny valley 👍🏆
My hometown had 2 life sized hillbilly animatronics in the museum. When I was a kid one would still talk. I think they are still there, just not in working order. They were both creepy and cool. Especially for being in a tiny town with less than 2000 people
I'm intrigued. What town?
@@clydedenby1436 Lepanto, AR. I don't live there now of course. If you're into John Grisham novels they filmed "A Painter House" there... And a couple of miles down the road is the town Johnny Cash grew up in.
My grandma used to have a little music box that had an automaton bird that would dance. I loved that little bird.
They are truly amazing. What happened to it? If you search for Bird automaton you will see some amazing ones. Worth quite a lot of money too.
Truly magnificent. The Black Forest in Bavaria is (or-it--was) no fairytale.
The magic and beauty of it - I don't think that any mere words can truly describe. When I think of atomata or 'animation' I can't help but think of my life there. The internationally famous 'Coo'Coo' clocks were just magnificent
to shop. Just like the above examples
of minute and intricate goings-on all surrounding a little medieval lodge or cottage were incredible. After I'd re-
turned to the States, my father sent me an absolutely beautiful one.
But unfortunately, I was always one
of those kids that just had to know
how things worked, - and yeah, like everything else I took it completely
apart. It was probably 6 out of 10
things I dismantled that never got
reassembled again. My clock sadly was not one of the remaining 4 😑.
In this video, I'd have to say that I think I liked best the music boxes made in France that showed the little song-bird suddenly emerging and singing those delightful tunes, while dancing around, - then suddenly disappearing just as fast.
I've been binging on automaton documentaries all day, and this is the best one I've seen yet! Truly stunning work... so incredibly complex and wonderful!
Cheers from Louisiana, US!
Hello, thank you very much for your comment.
Cheers Lu!
The swan at the Bowes Lyon museum in the U.K is just incredible to see it in person.
Have you watched Clockwork Dreams?
You probably have by now, but if not, then I suggest that you check it out as soon as you can!
It's an amazing documentary that goes into the tiny clockwork machinery that they utilised back then about 300years ago. As well as the slave labour and the role these automata played in mocking the upper classes. "Vive la révolution"!
@@nickthelick thanks for the recommendation!
I never get tired of watching Automatons they were fascination as a child and still are.
They were so expensive they were for the amusement of adults. Children were not usually allowed to touch them in case they overused or danger them.
@@angr3819 The expensive automata often were fairground attractions for earning money like arcade machines. Others (often with precious materials) were made to entertain aristocrats and also costed as much as a house.
There's a doco on UA-cam of a young woman who RESTORES ones bought by wealthy American collectors.
I'm someone who is immensely captivated by anything mechanical from antiquity and these astounding automata are some of the finest examples. I would love to own any one these from the 1920 and older.
Wish this museum was still open. There's 4 automotan models in our local museum in Sheffield- Weston park.
Also went to a great automotan travelling exhibition in Holyhead, Angelsey with a Terry Gilliam automata- excellent. I love them.
Its gone?
@@mattsmocs3281 A Japanese businessman literally bought the entire York automata museum and took it back home with him in 1996. The collection is now privately owned by the Hitachi corporation. I was crushed, it used to be a favourite place to visit.
@@tommcewan7936 I went there in the early nineties. Absolutely fascinating collection. Sad to hear about it not being there now😢
@@tommcewan7936 How sad is that. Something as wonderous as automata needs to be shared with everyone from every walk of life, not just by the rich.
I hate that I find these really cool because they absolutely terrify me but I'm just in love with the way it works and how they move. I'm sure if we made really cute versions it would be awesome! Like maybe a cute animal crossing characters doing their daily stretch would be adorable. The little lute is just the best. I want oneee
The tiny birds are just amazing
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
I’d Hate to imagine how long it took to think up, draw blueprints , and actually make one of these things. Only a Master Mechanical Engineer.
Look up on François Junod...
I honestly don’t find these to be terrifying. I think they are sweet in their own way.
It is about set and setting. Nowadays people unfortunately barely see them in other places than horror movies, and that's how they are perceived. But windup toys or musicboxes with almost unwound spring sometimes start by themselves by a small jerk, which can be scary.
Fascinating!! I'm about to start watchmaking school and this gives me so many ideas to use the skills I learn there. I literally sat with my mouth agape during much of this!😯
Do now, learn later. My grandfather, now deceased, owned and operated a jewelry store from the 1950's to 2013. He died at 91 years and was repairing the inner workings of windup watches up to his dying day. Make this a lifelong journey.
These are all stunning, but check out the automatons by the old jewelry houses.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
@@atlantic_love I love this, thanks for taking the time to write. that is how I see this, a gateway into another world of creativity that will keep me learning for the rest of my life. I'm incredibly excited, it's only on the grace of a friend that I'm even able to move away from my current situation and start school. A life improvement a long time coming.
@@5DNRG will do!
I have the phobia of these so this documentary was deeply unsettling but even despite that I can appreciate the engineering in them 😊
The people that made these have to be pretty a pretty driven lot -- possibly as odd as their pieces. What were some of these people like, and what drove them to create in this way? Was it the mechanism and math, the journey of craft, a horrible spouse, bored in prison, a pub or pride bet, front for a secret spy-gadget business? I think there's an interesting people-story here.
In the 19th century, automatons were fascinating animated sculptures that were exhibited in bourgeois salons.
And Dayton's in Minneapolis, to calm the children who were having their first hair cuts. I screamed my 2 year old lungs out. I could smell the moldy rust in them too. Even more horrifying were the JAMBOREE BEARS, who stood 10 feet tall, and reeked of mold. These are very unique. Thank you for this wonderful film!
Look up Tim Hunkin's channel for someone who might have the mindset.
Simply that they were intelligent and could make them. They sold for a lot of money.
Also as the narrator said, some were prisoners who made and traded them.
A hobby perhaps? It’s a bit like asking what drives people to build things now
Simply incredible. The complexity of these automotons just blows me away! I guess you could say that these creations are the precursors of the robots we have today. Priceless artifacts of a bygone age. 🤗
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
As a connoisseur of old automatic mechanical music machines, I had my hands on restoring quite a number of these.
my favorite was Dancing Albert a musicless mechanical epigene of Prince Albert husband of Queen Victoria in his Balmoral Scottish attire but Albert was missing pretty much all his royal regalia and his mechanism was stuck I removed his spring mechanism cleaned it and emerged it in thin oil for a day since nothing I did made it run but this did the trick then I re-married Albert with his box and mechanism and I started to fabricate all the regalia including a missing sporran for his kilt.
I also had to glue fix and retouch his face with paint since it partially had flaked off.
after that Albert went to auction and sold for 500 euros to a British buyer even though I bought him for just 10 euros at a flea market since he didn't work and looked awful.
I'm surprised this comment didn't find much attention. Props to you and your wonderful trade! That must've felt truly spectacular when you finally got it to run! You must have a multitude of talents to walk away with such a profit too. How did you fall into that trade originally?
These are wonderful! I love the style of the older French ones best. You have to be an artist and a mechanical engineer to make these. Not a usual combination of talents.
I may have made a mistake watching this as I lay here in bed about to sleep....... I've seen this pop up on my feed for a while now and of course I would choose now to watch it.
That was so fascinating! I had no idea these pieces of art existed. I have always liked wooden and wind up toys. You don't need batteries to operate them, and they last longer.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
I have always been facinated by artificial means of motion - Animation in cinema, Automatons, Animatronics, Zoetropes and Kinetoscopes. The first time I can remember seeing a automaton was in the original 1972 film "Sleuth" with Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine and featured a laughing sailor automaton appropriately named "Laughing Jack" along with other nameless ones. I loved them then and still do. There is also an artist (can't recall his name) who makes these elaborate wooden structures that are huge, and beautiful and walk on the beach assisted by the wind.
So much more interesting and creepy than digital stuff!
I have always wanted one of those bird boxes! So pretty and realistic!
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
Same here. That ladies necessities box was amazing!
I have always loved automata for the humor and emotion it can display. It takes one to a time of innocence, innovation and wonder.
Thank you for posting this!
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
Thank you for gathering those fascinating dolls together
Automatons , not dolls. The difference is significant.
my bad it was a understatement,triggering a whole lot of programmed action without electricity is pretty mindblowing and just with a simple touch.
What a wonderful mechanical engineering without electricity. I love mechanical engineering and it's craftsmanship. Amazing.
This was the most entertaining video I've watched in ages 😂 very professionally done and amazing to watch
I'm simultaneously fascinated and terrified. Quite ingenious, but creepy too--I think it's that "uncanny valley" effect.
Either way, very interesting. Thank you for posting this!
Thank you for your comment.
it definitely is the uncanny valley effect, the automatons are very similar to humans but also too different from us. to me it seems like many of the artists who constructed these automaton's didn't really quite get what it was actually about and ended up trying to recreate actual life with their machines instead of displaying mastery over mechanical engineering.
That clown with the pig on a ladder…*shudder*
Sadly, I don’t think this place exists anymore. It’s a tragedy , should have received a Lottery grant . Terrible loss ! ❤
Simply amazing....the fact some were made couple hundred years ago show the determination, and imagination of people with endless time on their hands unlike today.
The writing here is just as finely crafter as the automota
Remember. This is basically how robots came about. It would be neat if the museum does a follow up to that showing how these lead into what we know today. Just more uncanny valley creations that can move about by themselves a bit
Could have been a Museum of Uncanny Valley. A superb art, nonetheless! It is where mechanics, aesthetics, and imagination meet.
I actually learned about automata from my computer science course . In Fact the touring machine (our modern computers) has its origins in a simple automaton. I am very exited to learn more about their principles
If anyone is interested in checking out a fantastic collection of automaton toys, coin banks, store displays, etc., look up The House on the Rock in Wisconsin. Thousands of them from the early to mid 1900's.
The laughing man towards the end made me think of the laughing lady outside the fun house at Lakeside Amusement Park. I was terrified of her.
This is really amazing. A good book on the topic is "Edison's Eve", which gives some historical background. Basically, this was the AI of its day. The Japanese figures are known as "Karakuri Ningyo" i.e."Trick dolls".
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
Several years ago I visited the town of York, and my Danish ancestors. The body in the Viking Museum could have been me (same size, and Danish), but I never realized this Museum, close to the tower, which I did visit!
What detailed works of art. Not comparable to the popular 'Bimbobox' that used to be seen in playgrounds. Bimbobox is the orchestra with the monkeys.
4:15 I could not stop laughing at the bird chirping away and then getting slammed down by the lid. what a funny little thing.
These are precious in so many ways. Some of the best are created by the old jewelry houses.
If you're hoping to visit this unique and wonderful museum, unfortunately you're about 28 years too late. It closed in 1996, and is now a pool hall, apparently.
I told my wife if we were welthy we would have a Houle room of them I've always loved them !!
Awesome! But you do not need to have money to spell _wealthy_
Oh man! I went to York in 1990 and I didn’t know about this museum. I loved walking around that city. It was a cool place.
I adore Automata! The watch/wind mechanism ones are my favorite. The human doesn't have to do much, except set the motion up and watch ! I cannot afford them, but some simple ones or kits would be a way. TY for posting ! 🤖🤖🤖🤖
Such a shame that we have to lose such an ingenious collection to another country, these items are so incredibly rare.
Fear not, Afrika will replace these wonders with carved sticks.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
@@coloradostrong wow
Did you hear about the destruction and theft of countless ancient artifacts in Iraq by their own people? That's just one example. Yes these were extremist's but maybe if they were brought to the British museum we could still appreciate these items but these Babylonian treasures are gone forever. To me the protection of invaluable historical artifacts for the enjoyment of future generations is more important than who owns it or where these items are kept. At the end of the day we are all just care takers in this short life and I know that the British will take good care of these automatons so I don't worry about it.
@@pinkpugginz Truth.
Amazing stuff with a pinch of nightmare fuel.
I don't see this art form Dying, but its definitely Changed over to new technology. For Example, I believe Battlebots or motorized toys classify as Automata depending on what they are programmed to do. That being said, to see history in mechanical engineering is nothing short of incredible.
One day I hope to be able to visit that awesome museum!
Sadly it closed many years ago.
It closed :(
we will look back on smartphones and UA-cam in the exact same way far from now.
Yes, I remember my Aunt & Uncle used to have this, Bartender, making cocktails automoton that was really cute and interesting, when I was a boy in the late 60's! Don't know what happened to it.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
Superbe, magnifique, grandiose. Je suis émerveillé par ces petites machines construite avec génie. Je n'arrive pas à comprendre qu'elles soient devenues désuètes, les machines d'aujourd'hui ne sont pas aussi belle ni faites avec autant de minutie.
C'est magique. Merci c'était passionnant.
This is what happens when more than one clockmaker are living in the same area. One of them flex's on the other one, out of spite, by making a mechanical thats so complex that other clockmaker is bound to move out from being defeated
Have always been fascinated by these.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
Serem, tapi keren. Mekanismenya komplek banget, pergerakannya diperhitungkan dengan baik.
I love how these are filmed with a black background and well lit so you can see everything properly 👍🏾
~This Doc. Should Be LONGER . . .
Absolutely fascinating.
Electromechanical games that existed before the glory days of the video game arcades are very interesting too.
I also the artist drawing the pic of the boy/man
fishing.Oh Heck!!
All these Automatranics pretty neat indeed.
neat indeed
Somehow this was recommended. Thank you UA-cam for this gem
These are outstanding. I do so adore Automita, such a shame its a dying art.. Fantastic all of them.
Really WONderFULL. Thanks so much for sharing this. Cheers from So.CA.USA 3rd House On the Left.
Wonderful 👍👏👏
thank you so much to the museum for showing us this beautiful 🤩 film 🎥 🎞 of beautiful arts 🎭
I love this stuff....I wish it would come back
Simply brilliant, and worth a fortune.
Thank you for sharing this video I have never seen such complexity in these systems. This is fascinating
Went here on a school trip in 1972!
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
04-23-2022 12:48 a.m. nyc
Thanx for posting !! That was fun.
My mom (age 94) has a 1901 Regina music box. And I was reminded of a trip ~52? years ago~ that included a visit to "Clark's Trading Post," (SC, I think) which had not only music boxes but also "orchestrons" that combined player pianos with automated drums, bells, trumpets and violins as accompaniment.
It also reminds me of Scorsese's movie "Hugo," with *its* complex automaton serving as a bridge between 19th c. stage-magic and 20th c. early moviemaking via the work of George Melies.
Hello,
Thank you for talking about the film "Hugo Cabret" because our company provided automatons for the decoration of Georges Méliès' shop when he was selling toys in a Parisian station.
We also loaned images concerning the Jaquet-Droz's androids for one of the bonuses of the DVD of this film.
the detail in some of these are insane!
What a wondefull upload! Facinating how Hero' was so advanced in Automatons, but why not? The Antikythera Mechanism was even older, I went to see it in Athens 2 years ago.
Hello, thank you for your interest in automata.
I’m glad they have some of these guys still preserved they’re so cool ! .. albeit creepy some of them
Well that was brilliant ..thank you..spellbinding, captivating, educational fun
Loved it. 👍😉🙏
They're as incredible as they're eerie/creepy. They're the pure image of death.
Hello,
Curious way to see animated beings that can breathe, drink, smoke or even speak...
'The pure image of death'? How so? They seem alive to me.
The work that's gone into these is amazing. I've always been fascinated with them.
This is wonderful, I'm glad to have stumbled upon it.
I thought I recognised that lovely voice. The late Charles Foster! Really good collection. I love all the creepy ones
Bob and his learned pig almost felt like parody. The ear wiggle. The toe tap at the end. Chilling
This is my absolute dream. These are what I would splurge on if I won the lottery.
Hello, several automatons are on sale on www.automates-boites-musique.com
Amazing! I wish I had the imagination and skill to produce anything even close to this genius !
Wow! Absolutely Magical! Such magnificent attention to detail. I really enjoyed this presentation. Thank you for bringing this.
this is great documentary
After consuming decades of bbc, i'm feeling like this is either the guy from the hitchhiker's guide tv series, (the voice of the book/narrator in the og tv series)or is trying to sound like
Danger Mouse is being cultured!
OK, the laughing man at 27:04 is genuinely freaky. Needs a horror movie.
Did he said Mattel toys for the miniature theaters?! 🤔 Really interesting to say the least as a whole,automatons were the first kind of animatronics someone could say,or robots!
Well done! I was captivated
Excellent documentary video.
The potato eater intrigues me. Even slowing the video down and pausing it, I still couldn't figure it out.
Thank you for this video.
There are websites where you can buy some. Of course they are quite expensive and you wouldn't give them to a child to play with. They didn't when they were made. They were always for adult amusement.
Here on the pier in Bognor there used to be automata in glass cases. An old brass penny in the slot would play it. One as Sweeney Todd. As far as I know, they were bought and went to the visitors centre at Cheddar Gorge. After they went from Bognor, they were replace by more catchpenny (scam) slot machines. Pity.
The village of Abinger in Surrey had a large clock above the first floor of a building. A blacksmith with a hammer would come out and strike the hour. It might still be there. I don't know.
Then the now antique cuckoo clocks. My father had a less expensive one - but fed up with the noise every hour he turned off the cuckoo. Later, he sold it.
1:08 ... BING 🎶🎵 ❤💯🍺 Was the cherry on top
Wow what an excellent documentary,well done guys most enjoyable
i just love these “toys”. they are so wonderfully magical and fanciful. too bad they didn’t include music boxes with moving parts. i always wanted a musical carousel. 🎠 🦋🌱