Automata and Mechanical Toys

by Rodney Peppé

Automata and mechanical toys delight children and adults alike with the beauty of their design and the excitement of their movement. This book explains how the mechanisms work and celebrates many... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1861265107
• ISBN13: 9781861265104
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Crowood Press (UK)
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.8" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

learning automata

I'm just trying to learn to make automata. I find this book the best that I've found so far, for beginning to understand the complexities of gears, cams and levers used in making automata.

Mechanical mayhem!

If you like this kind of thing - then you are going to love this book! The range of different toys is amazing and seeing them in a historical perspective is fascinating. It really shows that simple machines can be beautiful and amazing.

Clear directions and eye candy too.

This is the best book on automata since Flying Pig opened it's doors. Peppe shows how to build your own test board of mechanical movement and provides examples of the best current automata for inspiration. The "test board" is finely crafted, covers a wide range of movements and it's fun to play with too.

A Good Buy for Beginning Builders

Depending on what your interests are, this can be a valuable addition to your library. It is not for collectors, in my opinion, and most of the examples are on the "folk art" side: crude, kitschy, and sometimes even made of junk. There are profiles of a few builders who make complex automata demonstrating fine craftsmanship, such as the wonderful Keith Newstead and John Grayson. I would have preferred to have some detailed explanations of how some of their automata work, though. The REAL strength of this book is if you are beginning to make your own automata and would like to have a "kit" to experiment with. The book contains full sized plans for an experimenter's "kit" which is really nice. I have Robert Addam's "How to Design and Make Automata" and CMT's book, but they both only have crude drawings with no dimensions. I made photocopies of the parts and then used Xylene to transfer directly onto plywood and cut the parts out on a scroll saw, saving a great deal of time and giving me a nice litte platform for experimenting. This alone makes the book a must have for the beginning builder.

Excellent book! Great color pictures and diagrams

This has got to be one of the best books on the subject of automata and mechanical theatre. There are lots of great color pictures and diagrams to build your own automata. Worth the money!