Mechanical Horses |
Gallery opened 5 Oct 2022 |
Most, if not all, inventors seem to have decided that producing one gait was quite enough.
THE POTTER CART
This is not strictly a mechanical horse, but it does have four legs.
![]() | Left: The Potter Cart: 1663
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BRUNTON'S TRAVELLER
![]() | Left: Brunton's Traveller: 1813
"The invention excited much attention. It had the merit of acting as the designer intended it should, and one day that it was on trial, rushing along at a speed of three miles an hour, accompanied by a host of admirers, the boiler exploded, throwing hot water, pieces of iron, and disaster among the crowd. That ended the career of the Mechanical Traveller."Apparently thirteen people were killed, and others injured. This is often considered the first railway accident. (NB This Philadelphia is in County Durham, England) It occurred 15 years before William Huskisson's fatal accident. |
This locomotive has a good Wikipedia page.
You can see a fine model of the Traveller, built by Adrian S in 2017, on YouTube. Weights have been added to the leg-lifting mechanism.i
Here is a good video of the model walking on a turntable. This shows the rack and pinion mechanism.
![]() | Left: Chebyshev's Walking Machine: 1850
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![]() | Left: Chebyshev's Walking Machine: 1850
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![]() | Left: Pedal-powered mechanical horse patent: 1893
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![]() | Left: Mechanical horse in Italy: 1933
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![]() | Left: Mechanical horse : 19??
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THE PEDAL-POWERED WALKER
![]() | Left: Pedal-powered walker: 193?
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THE FOOT-SCOOTER 'HORSE'
![]() | Left: Foot-scooter horse : 19??
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![]() | Left: Bogart horse : 1953
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![]() | Left: Bogart horse patent: 1958
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![]() | Left: Bogart horse : 1953
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![]() | Left: Chinese Mechanical horse: 2014
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