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1867 Mechanical Horse (pat.) W. Farr Goodwin (American)

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

William Farr Goodwin was a diverse inventor. Two of his earlier inventions were for toys, the first of thesebeing for a Mechanical Horse, then later a Walking Doll.

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UNITED STATES PATENTS

Patent Number 61416 Goodwin Jan. 22, 1867 . See full patent for the Mechanical Horse here.

Later on in 1876, we see reference to Goodwin in providing some inventions to exhibitors at thePhiladelphia Centennial Exhibition.

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AT THE PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION.Otago Witness 14 Oct 1876, p18

The American display of thrashing machinery is extensive, and presents many features ofnovelty and interest to an Englishman. The construction of the thrashing machinery is, in

many respects, totally different from our [English] inventions ; but, as is usually the case, theinventions are suitable, or believed to be suitable, to the work they are made for...The Screw Mower and Reaper Company exhibit a novelty designed by Mr W. FarrGoodwin. This consists in replacing the ordinary gearing by a gun-metal driving wheel on themain shaft, which drives a worm on the crank shaft ; thus we have very simple gearing anddirect action. Undue wear and friction, are avoided by running the gun-metal wheel in oil ; thecover or box for this wheel makes a receptacle for the oil. This, we have no doubt, preventsthat friction which we should have expected from such a principle. . We are told thatmachines could be produced which had cut large quantities of grain, and been working forlong periods ; but we object to the oiling box arrangement, since farmers are often so carelessthat they would fail to clean out properly when done with, or to renew the oil before beginningto work. The company claim, and we think with reason, durability and simplicity. It is clearthat the action is; fairly direct, and that the necessary motions are produced with the minimumof gearing. Under trial it made very good work, but the draught on the dynamometer washeavy ; this seems to indicate friction. Another novelty was shown by the National IronworksCompany, New Brunswick, New Jersey ; this is also the invention of Mr W. Farr Goodwin,who appears quite a genius for producing novelties. This, the Reciprocating Screw MowingMachine, is his latest invention. The merits claimed are, that it has no gear or cog wheels ofany kind, no crank movement, and no journal or bearings that revolve, save the main axle.These are certainly startling alterations from all our preconceived notions of a mowing

machine, and we are bound to admit that the machine made good work, cutting both thestanding and laid crop well. The London Field.

What is more interesting, is that one of those companies where one of his inventions was manufactured,namely the National Ironworks Company, was also making a mechanical horse for display.


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Iron June 3, 1876, London, MiddlesexMechanical horses and Men.-A mechanical horse is being made at the National Ironworks,New Brunswick, New Jersey, which is quite a curiosity in its way, and is to be on exhibition atthe Centennial. The life-size model has been operated satisfactorily to all who have seen it.Every movement of the horse is as natural as life. It walks, and each joint of the leg is put inits proper motion, while the neck and head bob in appropriate unison, and yet the simplestmechanism is used, being nothing more than a few pulleys and one or two belts, the lattercorresponding with the tendons of the natural animals. There are also four steam men beingmanufactured at Munn's machine shop. These men are for exhibition at the Centennial.

Here's the text in the Goodwin Mechanical Horse patent that mentions scaleability

"In different sizes and kinds of toys, various means will be employed to impart the rotarymovements to the cranks W. In hobby horses of large size, the spring or driving power will bemounted on the axle of a wagon or cart, and the rotating motions imparted to the cranks B' bymeans of a chain or belt passing over a pulley on the wagon, and over a pulley on the shaft Bin the hobby horse. This means of operating the cranks may also be used in small toys, whenwagons arc attached to them, as it would be cheaper, there being no machinery in the toy butthe shafts B, and cranks B', and the pulleys and connecting-chain or rod, by which the cranksare operated, and the means by which the head and tail are operated, all the driving apparatusused to impart the rotary motion to the shafts B and cranks B' being mounted on the wagon,the rotary motion being communicated to the pulleys in the toy by means of chains or belts, asbefore described."

I see it as quite probable that the National Ironworks Company somehow used Goodwin's patented idea asthe design for the 1876 Centennial Mechanical Horse.

William Farr GOODWIN also patented a clockwork mechanism that enabled a doll to push a wheeled cartor chair, patented in 1868.


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UNITED STATES PATENTSPatent Number 81491 Goodwin Aug. 25, 1868 Automatic Toy . See full patent here.In the 1870's, J & E Stevens and George W. Brown and Co, manufactured walking dolls using Goodwin'spatented mechanism.


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In 1878, William Farr Goodwin received the Elliot Cresson Award, in the category of Engineering, forCompetitive test of mowing machines. Among his inventions were novel mowing machines.The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given bythe Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute,with $1,000 granted in 1848. The endowed award was to be "for some discovery in the Arts and Sciences,or for the invention or improvement of some useful machine, or for some new process or combination ofmaterials in manufactures, or for ingenuity skill or perfection in workmanship." The medal was firstawarded in 1875, 21 years after Cresson's death.

Some of Goodwin's other patents:IMPROVEMENT IN MOWERS WILLIAM F. GOODWINPatent number: 198604Filing date: Mar 27, 1877Issue date: Dec 25, 1877IMPROVEMENT IN HAY-TEDDERS WILLIAM F. GOODWINPatent number: 197118Filing date: Feb 9, 1877Issue date: Nov 13, 1877

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANISMS FOR CONVERTING RECIPROCATING INTO ROTARYMOTION WILLIAM F. GOODWINPatent number: 214645Filing date: Mar 23, 1879Issue date: 1879IMPROVEMENT IN TOWING CANAL-BOATS WILLIAM F. GOODWINPatent number: 171793Filing date: Dec 14, 1875Issue date: Jan 4, 1876

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANICAL MOVEMENT FOR CONVERTING POWER INTO SPEEDWILLIAM F. GOODWINPatent number: 72842


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Issue date: Dec 1867This last patent is interesting. It is actually a planetary gear-box, later used in automobile automatictransmissions.

Footnotes:1. The first ever walking doll (called Autoperipatetikos) was invented in 1862. Most other walking dollscame in about 1880, even in Europe by such luminaries as Jumeau and Decamps So Goodwin, if fact, wasone of the first in inventing walking mechanisms for toys. Previously, toys were wheeled toys, trains, etc.2. Toys can also be considered as models for a scaled-up construction. My friend David Buckley Robotdesigner and builder - has always said that toys, from any era, are usually proven ideas for modernbuilders and developers to learn upon. Simply speaking, most toys actually work, so they are a workingdesign.

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Tags: 1867, 1876 Centennial Exhibition, American, Mechanical horse, W. Farr Goodwin, Walking Doll,William Farr Goodwin

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1867-8 Steam Man Dederick & Grass (American)

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Zadoc P. Dederick's Steam Man appears to be the first of the Steam Men. The Steam Man from Newarkwas so inspirational it generated many more Walking Machines, steam or otherwise, and also fictionalstories, now seen as some of the earliest Science or Speculative Fiction (SF) written.


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US Patent number: 75874Issue date: Mar 24, 1868Inventor: ZADOC P. DEDERICK & Isaac Grass

The name of the co-inventor on the patent is Isaac Grass, but he rarely gets amention in any of the press.

Dederick's name is often mispelt e.g. Deddrick in the newspapers and Drederick onthe patent. The name Dederick is from the German "Dietrich", which is probablyresponsible for how it is pronounced. Even in one census document, Dedrick has


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been corrected to Dederick. Like a lot of name changes throughut history, it is downto the interpretation of the scribe. Further, Dederick, in his three found patents, aswell as on patents where he was a witness and/or the Patent Attorney (yes, hebecame a bona fide Patent Attorney), he always spelled his first name as Zadoc,whereas other official documents have him as Zadock, Later, he moved to theconvention of initials only i.e. Z.P. Dederick. Although I've seen no direct evidence

that his middle initial of "P." stands for Pratt, there are several other Z.P. Dedericks ofwhich Pratt is the second name. Note that their first names are spelled Zadock (witha k).

See Joseph Rainone's book "Art & History of American Popular Fiction Vol 1." for amore complete story on Dederick's life.

I have used 1867 as the date for Dederick's Steam Man, as although the patent andmost other articles are 1868, the first full article appeared in the Newark Advertiser,

Jan 8 1868, so the Steam Man had to have been built before then. Here's the fullreference and the OCR'd text:

Deddrick Steam Man

A Remarkable Mechanical Invention A Steam Man.'-Mr. Zadock Deddrick, a Newark machinist, has invented a man; one that,moved by steam, will perform some of the most important functions ofhumanity; that will, standing upright, walk or run as he is bid, in anydirection, and at almost any rate of speed, drawing after him a load whose

weight would tax the strength of three draught horses. The history of thiscurious invention is as follows: Six years ago Mr. Deddrick, the inventor,who is at present but twenty-two years of age, conceived the novel idea ofconstructing a man that should receive its vitality from a perpetual motionmachine. The idea was based on the well-known mechanical principle that,if a heavy weight be placed at the top of an upright slightly inclined fromvertical, gravitation will tend to produce a horizontal as well as verticalmotion. The idea was unsuccessful. However, by observing carefully thecause of failure, persevering and perfecting the man-form, and by

substituting steam in place of the perpetual motion machine, the presentsuccess was attained.

The man stands seven feet and nine inches high, the other dimensions ofthe body being correctly proportioned, making him a second DanielLambert, by which name he is facetiously spoken of among the workmen.He weighs five hundred pounds. Steam is generated in the body or trunk,which is nothing but a three-horse power engine, like those used in oursteam fire engines. The legs which support it are complicated and

wonderful. The steps are taken very naturally and quite easily. As the bodyis thrown forward upon the advanced foot the other is lifted from the groundwith a spring and thrown forward by the steam. Each step or paceadvances the body two feet, and every revolution of the engine produces


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four paces. As the engine is capable of making more than a thousandevolutions a minute, it would get over the ground, on this calculation, at therate of a little over a mile a minute. As this would be working the legs fasterthan would be safe on uneven ground or on broad street cobble stones, itis proposed to run the engine at the rate of five hundred revolutions perminute, which would walk the man at the modest speed of half a mile a

minute.

The fellow is attached to a common rockaway carriage, the shafts of whichsupport him in a vertical position. These shafts are two bars of iron,fastened in the usual manner to the front of the carriage, and are curved soas to be joined to a circular sustaining bar, which passes around the waist,like a girth, and in which the man moves so as to be faced in any direction.Besides these motions, machinery has been arranged by which the figurecan be thrown backward or forward from a vertical nearly forty-fivedegrees. This is done in order to enable it to ascend or descend all grades.To the soles of the feet spikes or corks are fixed, which effectually preventslipping. The whole affair is so firmly sustained by the shafts and has soexcellent a foot-hold, that two men are unable to push it over, or in any waythrow it down. In order to enable it to stop quickly it is provided with twoappliances, one of which will, as before stated, throw it backward from thevertical, while the other bends the knees in a direction opposite to thenatural position.

An upright post, which is arranged in front of the dash-board, and within

easy reach of the front seats, sustains two miniature pilot wheels, by theturning of which these various motions and evolutions are directed. It isexpected that a sufficiently large amount of coal can be stowed away underthe back seat of the carriage to work the engine for a day, and enoughwater in the tank under the front seat to last half a day.

In order to prevent the giant from frightening horses by its wonderfulappearance Mr. Deddrick intends to clothe it and give it as nearly aspossible a likeness to the rest of humanity. The boiler, and such parts as

are necessarily heated, will be encased in felt and woolen undergarments.Pantaloons, coat and vest, of the latest styles, are provided. Whenever thefire needs coaling, which is every two or three hours, the driver stops themachine, descends from his seat, unbuttons Daniels vest, opens a door,shovels in the fuel, buttons up the vest and drives on. On the back,between the shoulders the steam cocks and gauges are placed. As thesewould cause the coat to set awkwardly, a knapsack has been provided thatcompletely covers them. A blanket, neatly rolled up and placed on top theknapsack, perfects the delusion. The face is molded into a cheerful

countenance of white enamel, which contrasts well with the dark hair andmustache. A sheet iron hat with a gauge top acts as a smoke stack.

The cost of this first man is $2,000 , thought the makers, Messrs.


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Deddrick & Grass, expect to manufacture succeeding ones, warranted torun a year without repair, for $300. The same parties expect to construct,on the same principle, horses which will do the duty of twelve ordinaryanimals of the same species. These, it is confidently believed, can be usedalike before carriages, street cars and plows. The man now constructedcan make his way without difficulty over any irregular surface whose ruts

and stones are not more than nine inches below or above the level of theroad.


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It has been difficult in getting the full story around Dederick's Steam Man. Did it actually work? As far aswhether or not it worked, the press of the time offers some contradictory evidence. It did work, but only inideal conditions. It struggled on cobblestones, and was sometimes exhibited suspended off the ground by asling, mainly due to conditions put on the exhibtion by the insurers.


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Down the bottom of the above article gives light to why the Steam Man was in a sling. It makes sense really, i.e.when in a hall or room, and you want to show the Steam Man in operation, the smoke would be a big problem. Sothere's probably a rigid stove-pipe venting the smoke either up a chimney or outside some how. You can't have thecontrivance walking around with a f ixed smoke exhaust attached to its "hat"! Other reports suggest the premiseinsurers would only allow the Steam Man to operate when slung up. So saying it only works with its feet off theground is, I now think, a misnomer by the reporters in thinking it didn't work any other way.


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Sci Am V18 N013 -1868

Update: 25 JUly 2010: The above article also points to the problem being one of extracting smoke from the "hat".

New York Times 19 Apr 1896 p28

THE HORSELESS CARRIAGE WILL THE PROBLEM BE SOLVED BY ELECTRICALAPPLICATION

An inventor of Newark, N. J., about 1868 created excitement by bringing out a steam man

that was to be placed in front of a carriage, and run along with it at racing speed. But it neverran, although it could be made to work its legs when hung up in the air.

There are so many objections to the use of steam for carriages or even ordinary businesswagons that it is difficult to see how it can be made successful, but the inventors working onthat line evidently have hopes, for they are attacking the problem with increasing energy.When one considers the care and attention a small steam engine requires, .

Scientific American was interested, but didn't get far with it

Scientific American Vol 17. No. 5 p74 1868

STEAM MAN.-A lengthy account is going the round of the newspapers of a wonderful pieceof mechanism in the form of a " Steam Man," invented at Newark, N. J., by one ZaddockDeddrick. We have taken the pains to investigate the truthfulness of the wonderful story and

we learn that,although an invention of the kind is in progress, it is far from being perfected


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; and we have the promise that as soon as the steam man is in a condition to travel we shallhave an opportunity of witnessing it, and the liberty of explaining its construction andoperation. In the mean time we advise our contemporaries not to get excited over the steamman for he is likely to remain harmless for the present.

Scientific American Vol 18. No. 13 p202 1868The Steam Man.This automaton, which has furnished a number of pant- graphs for the press, is on exhibition

at 538 Broadway, New York City, nearly opposite the site of Barnum's Museum ; but owing tosome objection on the part of the owner of the hall, he is not permitted to " travel on his

muscle,"but is hung in slings and merely " marks time," as our military friends would say.We understand, however, that his managers have decided to test his powers more effectually,when we shall probably have more to say of him. (see actual image above)

Of a later Steam Man, the report is

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 134, 1 September 1870, Page 7GENERAL NEWS.

There is now on exhibition in New York a " steam man " which actually walks

not merely performs with the legs the movements necessary for walking, while

the body is suspended on a fixed support like the old " steam man" which made

so much noise about two years ago, and which, we suppose, is now defunct. It

was claimed for the old steam man that it was to be used for traction and other

useful purposes ; but the new one commences its career with no such

pretensions. All that is claimed for it is that it makes an interesting exhibition. Ithas the same walking mechanism as the clockwork walking dolls patented someyears ago. The mechanism is driven by one of Behren's rotary steam engines, which

has been found better suited than any reciprocating engine on account of itsproducing less vibration, and consequently being less liable to disturb the equilibrium ofthe man in the walking movement. As an ingenious piece of mechanism, the walking steamman is an object of interest.

Update 17 March 2010 I contacted the Newark Museum who supplied the following:

I did not find any record of an exhibition of this type ever being held at the Museum. We dohave a photograph in the collection labelled: "Mechanical man. Invented by Zadoc P.Dederick in 1868. Made under his supervision in a machine shop operated by Bolen andCrane on Broad St. near Cross St." According to our Registrars Department this appears to bea copy of the patent photo. Also, according to the Newark City Directory, a Zadoc P.Dederick, occupation patternmaker, resided at 87 Spring St. off of 105 River in Newark, NJ in1868.

from The Morning Chronicle 27Jan1868- Nova Scotia


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The above article confirms that the building of the Steam Man was at the works of Bolen & Crane.


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The text in the above advertisement suggests another Steam Man was built to thesame pattern and currently exhibiting in Paris, but no evidence of this Parisienne hasbeen found.

The above two images sourced from here: http://processandpreserve.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/wont-you-step-into-this-cloud-of-steam/


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The above ad, from The Quincy, in Quincy, Illinois, 20 Feb 1869 suggests that theSteam Man had already been exhibited in New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis andNew Orleans.


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article from THETRUE BLUES OF SCHENECTADY

Originally written by Reverand W.N.P. Dailey and Read Before the Antiquarians at theSchenectady County Historical Society in 1940A social order known as the True Blueswas organized in July 1867, and chartered in March 1869.

The press of Schenectady and Albany and adjacent cities devoted much space detailing the

parades, the concert and the bazaar held during these years. Also the New York Herald andFrank Leslies News featured the various events conducted by the mystic order.

The second carnival and parade of the Mystic Order of the True Blues was held on Thursday

afternoon Sept 3, 1868. The Albany Post of September 4, 1868, says there were 20,000visitors in the city. The Albany papers, the Journal, Argus Express and Post devotedmuch space to a description of the same.The New York Herald featured the event while Leslies Illustrated Weekly showed a halfpage picture of the procession, reproduced in the Union as the parade, (or part of it haltedbefore the building occupied by the Union, and also the Carley House next door. Fourhundred and fifty costumes; Charles Campbell, in Roman Chariot, a brilliant equipage, led the

same.

..The Parade, a mile long, was started at 3 p.m. Those who were masked waited till thepublic dinner at the Carley House and Givens Hotel to remove them.

The Grand Marshall and his aides followed the Roman Chariot, built by Antonius, holding theGod of the Day: they were dressed in the costume of the period of Charles II; after them agiraffe, sixteen feet high from Gouriel, trained by Prince Van Horne, the first Euker ofAmerica. No-olah, the baby elephant, was well behaved, sturdy but fierce looking pioneerswere guarded by a burlesque police force, commanded by an artillery officer in Revolutionaryuniform, the property of Colonel Campbell. Burlingames traveling Chinamen came next,

followed by Neptune drawn by bespangled horses led by silver bedecked grooms. It made methink of a Roman myth. Beasts of the field and birds of the air were represented.

Ladies astride dappled equines received the crowds cheers. There was a human steam

engine eight feet high with stove pipe hat for smoke, fitted up with furnace and piston


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rods, and wheel at the side for extra power. We recall that at a certain point in the parade,

the engine got too hot and had to be removed to save the human from incineration.Anotherfeature we recall, but not mentioned in the press descriptions was great dray containing ahogshead of beer. Seated in front was a saloon keeper who held forth at or near Liberty andCenter Streets of large proportions: gaily dressed maidens drew the ale from the hogshead andgave it to the man to drink. At the close of the parade he had to be skidded into his place.

.Following the concert, the next day, came the final parade of the True Blues, September7, 1870Some of the features of this parade were an old Franklin press worked bycomically dressed pressmen and a printers devil and two female compositors sticking type.The Alaska purchase by Seward (a proven diamond mine) in the form of an ice berg,lambasted the governments investment. Ed Vrooman had a swaying Albany-Schenectady R.R. train (hauled by horses) passengers masked , who kept leaving and boarding their carswhile in motion. Neptune was again shown, this year its headquarters being at Neptune Engine

Company Number 4. A model of the Neptune float is at the historical society. There was

another steam man eight feet high, and the giraffe came out again with its sixteen feet height.A yacht club was in sailor garb; a sprinkling cart hauled by Susan B. Anthony (incognito);heat and cold were shown in costume representing fire and frost; . .

The last we know of Dederick's Steam Man being exhibited was in Fort Wayne, Indiana in May of 1869.

There is an advertisement in September, 1869 of a Steam Man for sale. There is another article in April of1870 that mentions a Steam Man being stowed away for non-payment of freight.

Was that the end of Dederick's Steam Man? Was it sold and re-incarnated as the W.W. Cole's circus SteamMan? Unfortunately we currently do not know for sure, but I suspect not.

See all the known Steam Men and early Walking Machines here.

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Tags: 1867, 1868, Dederick, Iron Man, Isaac Grass, Mechanical Man, Newark, Robot, Steam Man, SteamMen, Steam Punk, Steam Robot, Steam Walker, Steampunk, Walking machine, Zadoc P. Dederick

Posted in Steam Men, Walking Machines 1 Comment

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