The Little Magic Dolls
By Rob DeLand
Damon, I think you actually have 2 topics here. The card readers are later arcade machines about which I know very little. However the "little magic dolls" sound to me like the early, clockwork automatons of Jaquet-Droz which are animated by complex clockwork, cams, and so forth. Jaquet-Droz made 3 of them: The Writer, The Draughtsman, and The Musician. I have a lovely Jaquet-Droz book I bought about 15 years ago which gives great detail in text & photos of these automatons, and includes a 7" record of the Musician playing. It's neat stuff, and I wish I had the time and money to play with this facet of our hobby more! I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Cheers,
Rob DeLand
(deland_robert@macmail1.csg.mot.com) |
(Message sent Mon 2 Dec 1996, 18:08:39 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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