Produced from 1908
Product number 209
Hand lacquered
Mechanism: clockwork
Height approx. 21 cm / 8,3 inches
Note: Unfortunately, the fish has often disappeared and replaced by another specimen, the original model can be seen in the museum in Paris where Martin’s gift in 1908 with this “The Perfect Fisherman” is on display.
The French magazine La Nature from 1909 contains an article with the description and two drawings about the technique of this fisherman
Here is the little fisherman: seated comfortably at the edge of an imaginary watercourse, he throws his line to the left, the current, or rather the mechanism, takes him back to the right, along the flow of the water; then suddenly the fisherman picks it up, throws it to the left again and so on. The mechanism is easy to understand: when released, spring A activates a series of gears controlled by an transmission via the connecting rod B and the rod T it gives the fisherman’s body a back and forth movement.
But Martin was already working on an idea for a fisherman in 1906, he has already used a fisherman in his film (see photo below), he took the “Le Pochard” ( the drunk) for it, gave him a sitting position and a fishing rod in the left hand where the drinking cup would normally be.
The entire film can be seen in my blog:
film-from-1906-with-a-lot-of-martin-toys
