The Mechanical Horse

In the second half of the 19th century, the project of a passionate biologist was to create a mechanical horse which would use the new technologies of that pre-industrial era. A piston engine, located on the centre of the horse back, is powered by a distilled liquid contained in a water-cooled barrel fixed on the horse withers, while 6 condensers, arranged beside the piston, provide electricity to the system. His wife, a mechanical engineer, conceived the metallic frame and the articulation of the legs thanks to her passion for mathematics and geometry. From a platform mounted at the extremity of the test bench, the test pilot can access the cockpit in the horse head thanks to the lowerable neck. A small scale prototype of the horse can be seen on a wooden desk. This 780-part model features a functional mechanism that can be activated by a manual crank connected to a cascade of pinions to appreciate the complex cinematics of the legs.