Silver swan
The Silver Swan ( silver swan ) is a by entrepreneur and watchmaker James Cox crafted in the 18th century mechanical machine that now one of the main attractions of the Bowes Museum in the UK counts.
James Cox had the silver swan made in 1773 and then exhibited it in 1774 in the Spring Gardens Museum he ran , where it was one of the main attractions. Later it changed hands several times and was shown at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867 . There the writer Mark Twain saw him , who later described him in his book The Guilty Abroad . The founder of the Bowes Museum, John Bowes, finally bought it from the French jeweler M. Briquet for £ 200 in 1872 .
The inner mechanics of the silver swan were developed by the Belgian designer and inventor Jean-Joseph Merlin , who lives in London . It is controlled by three clockworks, if these are wound, the machine runs for about 40 seconds. Music sounds and the swan first moves its neck backwards as if to pluck its plumage. Then small silver fish appear on the surface of the water in front of him, whereupon the swan tilts its neck forward, snatches a fish, devours it and then returns to the starting position. The mechanics are still fully functional today after more than 250 years and are presented once a day in the museum.
literature
- TP Camerer-Cuss: The Silver Swan. Antiquarian Horology 4 (June 1965), pp. 330-34
Web links
- The Silver Swan , Bowes Museum website
- Silver Swan , photos and description on a museum page
- Video of the silver swan
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Silver Swan , Bowes Museum website , accessed August 14, 2011