Le Perroquet: The silent Parrot

my own color fantasy

I found an article in an old French technical magazine La Nature from 1894 about a tin parrot made by Martin.
This one is very rare and I do not have any photos of it myself, but there are pictures in the book by Francois Marchand THE HISTORY OF MARTIN MECHANICAL TOYS on page 87 and in the book by Lourens Bas FERNAND MARTIN TOYMAKER IN PARIS on page 66.
Since the original images presumably carry copyrights, I cannot show them here.
This special piece is put in motion by the well-known Martin “rubber band” method, the winding is done by the winding handle at the end of his tail, under the tail is the “rubber band” that goes to the movement mechanism in the body.
It was first made in 1893
length approx 28/30cm ( 11/12 inch)

Picture from the magazine La Nature 1894, Source: (Cnum – Digital Conservatory of Arts and Crafts – http://cnum.cnam.fr)

A FREE TRANSLATION:
The toy that we represent below was one of the successes of the New Year’s shops on the boulevards of Paris.
The parrot in question is mute, silent, it does not cry out and does not tire by its chatter.
On the other hand, he does mimicry, pantomime; proudly encamped on his perch, he swings and greets as much gracefully as possible.
This parrot is one of those mechanical toys whose movement is caused by the reinsertion of a cable or assembly of rubber threads twisted by means of a small crank.
The transmitted motion shifts the parrot’s center of gravity and gives it the swaying motion. –
This toy is available at Mr. A. Wolter, 9 bis, passage Kuszner, in Paris.

Geef een reactie

Het e-mailadres wordt niet gepubliceerd. Vereiste velden zijn gemarkeerd met *