Zoo of Tranquillity: Goat

[Philip]

The Director of the Zoo of Tranquillity stands high upon a crag, munching her meal slowly, while looking down with a feeling of benign detachtment.

This automaton is from Paul Spooner's book "Spooner's Moving Animals", Virgin Books, 1988 (ISBN 0 86369 175 7).

The jaw movement depends on a system of cords and levers, and engineering not being a strong point, I found it the devil's own job to get it to work properly. An interesting challenge, though.

[Vermin_King]

Oh, golly. I can see threads going up the back leg. I assume there is one on the other leg, too. Does it wrap around a spindle below the neck? Yowsah

[TramFan]

OK now here is something different....a break from the planes and trains, castles and sheds, cars and trucks, tanks and armor, a billy goat on the hill, and it opens it's mouth and chews..............
Owen

[SCEtoAUX]

Nice goat. I have that book. Some interesting stuff in it.
I built the woodpecker a few years ago.
Spooner's Moving Animals automata book

[Philip]

Thank you all for stopping by. I'm glad you like it.

Vermin_King: Yes, the lower jaw is attached to a spindle which passes through the neck. A cord is passed through a sort of bar piece, also on the spindle. Paddles on the drive shaft stretch one end of the cord and then the other end, one after the other. Et voila!

TramFan: I don't know quite how to put this, but... erm... if you look closely you'll find it's a nanny goat.

Doug: Some nice stuff indeed. I may get round to doing another one day.