John Joseph Merlin (1735 to 1803), born Jean-Joseph Merlin in Huy in the Prince-Bishopric of Liege, was a clockmaker, instrument maker and inventor who moved to England in 1760. By 1766 he was working with the jeweller James Cox and making automata, among them the Silver Swan of 1773, and he also built clocks, including a timepiece driven by changes in atmospheric pressure, and improved keyboard instruments. In 1783 he opened Merlin's Mechanical Museum in London, where visitors could see his automata and instruments. After his death one of his automata, a dancer with an automated bird that Charles Babbage had seen as a child at the museum, was bought by Babbage at auction. He is also credited with early inline skates, a self-propelled wheelchair and an odometer fitted to a mechanical chariot.
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Source John Joseph Merlin (Wikipedia)Early lifeQuote, Early life
was born on 6 September 1735, in Huy, in what was then the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and is now in Belgium, Wallonia.
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1. John Joseph Merlin (Wikipedia)
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John Joseph Merlin (born Jean-Joseph Merlin, 6 September 1735-8 May 1803)
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Merlin is noted for the manufacture of ingenious automata, in particular the Silver Swan that he developed with London jeweller and entrepreneur James Cox.
In Group: Mechanical and Pre-Electronic Computing Pioneers, Body, placement
Merlin is noted for the manufacture of ingenious automata, in particular the Silver Swan that he developed with London jeweller and entrepreneur James Cox.
In Field: Robotics, Body, field
Merlin is noted for the manufacture of ingenious automata, in particular the Silver Swan that he developed with London jeweller and entrepreneur James Cox.
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