Nice one! I wonder where it came from?

It would not have been easy to design.

Hi Alan, the man chopping wood is available from various places on the Internet, tried to send a link with a photo but failed.

However, it would appear to be driven by a propeller with a crank at the other end attached to the figure which is fixed at the feet and jointed at the hip.

Andy.

The windmill driving a figure is quite common in various forms.

The most common seems simply to be of a man turning the propellor!

For that he is jointed at the hip and shoulders, his hands bearing on the crank-handle, his feet fixed to the base-plate.

The figures I’ve seen are quite two-dimensional, with the limbs both sides of a plate body, but both pairs sometimes single parts of clevis form so everything moves in unison.

I’d suggest designing such mechanisms is by analysing the centre-line and joint loci, then putting the figure around those. You can test the basic centre-line design in strip form by a CAD model that allows rotation, or by simple card-strip models. (Years ago we’d have all suggested “Meccano”!)

This model dog though is quite a bit more advanced than those simple “wind-mill” ornaments.

Another one from Instructables

3D printed robo-dog

John

You’re right, of course, Alan

… Glad you found what you were looking-for

MichaelG.

I think there is a significant difference between Animatronics and Automata – the clue being in the names.

Automata have been around since Classical Greek times, because they are purely mechanical, perhaps with some basic hydraulics.

One example often cited was the temple doors that magically opened after the sacred fire on the altar had been lit. The concealed “works” were air heated in a sealed vessel pushing water into another vessel that acted as a weight attached via cords and pulleys to the doors.

Others are the quarter-jacks on late-Mediaeval church clocks; and the stiffly-animated conductor figurine on some fairground organs.

Animatronics are modern, with as the name implies, largely electrical and electronic drive. They are or were used commercially in films but also for some shop displays.

So rather different skills involved, but looked at simply as amateur engineering challenges, both worthwhile in their own right.

Ferinfo …

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/animatronics-world-review#

MichaelG.