[Mechanical Marvels] Crafting Thread [Karrin]

by **Alistair deGrey** on January 13th, 2010, 7:04 am

OOC Information :

29th of Winter, 509 AV

Components

The large stacks of metals, woods, parchments, charcoal, and several other important tools lay in carefully stacked in the courtyard. deGrey rubbed his head, these start up supplies were becoming quite the thorn in his side. Regardless, they were free. The metallic ring of metal ingots and the clatter of wood had rung across the cobblestones for nearly two hours as the porters slowly brought in the supplies. Apparently they were not too concerned with speed or courtesy, seeing as Alistair was not paying them. So now deGrey stood in the courtyard, laying down on a small stack of wooden boards. Scents of freshly cut wood and that of the bazaar mingled in the courtyard, a startling contrast between nature and humanity. Alistair was always up for a bit of introspection, and would have liked to pursue the connections between the two; however, there was work to do.

Earlier Alistair had cleared out most of his living quarters to make room for raw materials. All that remained was a small area with his records and a bed. Now deGrey picked up a stack of wooden panels and began the long process of transporting the materials from his courtyard to the prepared space. In hindsight, Alistair thought, it wouldn't have hurt to actually ask the porters to bring these supplies in. However, it was not easy for deGrey to ask boons of strangers. In fact, it was not easy for him to speak with many strangers. Alistair lay the wood down next to his bed, and bent to pick up a small parchment with scribbles and chicken scratch all over it. This was the latest testament to introversion. Since having acquired this shop deGrey had been planning to build some toys and donate them to The Welcome Home, a local orphanage. These scrawlings were what deGrey planned to say when he met the owner.

After several more hours of hauling supplies in, Alistair was exhausted and lay down on his bed. Although he had done much work today, there was still one more monumental task to do. deGrey had spent much of his budget on raw supplies, but now he needed to cast his parts. His still young but already aching joints declared their protest as he lifted himself up off the bed. Back in the workshop, Alistair took a small brush and swept the cold ashes left over from the previous owner into one of the sacks the parchments came in. Unfortunately some of the soot fell to the floor, just one more thing to clean later. With that Alistair put some a small amount of wood and a majority coal into the furnace and lit it.

Within thirty five minutes or so, it was time enough for deGrey to begin pumping the bellows. Soon enough the fire was roaring, and the heat bathed the workshop. deGrey stuck a metal rod in, left it for twenty seconds or so, and when he pulled it out it was red hot. The temperature was alright, deGrey fed the fire and fetched the ceramic pot and iron ingot. Alistair took the tongs and held the iron ingot in the fire. Fives minutes later he introduced the ingot into the ceramic pot, and stuck it in the fire. deGrey let the ingot to melt in the ceramic pot whilst he arranged his molds. Each of these molds had cost him a pretty penny at the Bazaar, and therefor he was exceptionally careful with each. Alistair gripped the tongs and pulled the pot out of the fire. Within its depths the sound of liquid metal sloshing against the sides could be heard. Quickly, Alistair poured the molten metal into the ceramic molds and put the remaining quantity back in the furnace. The heat quickly dissipated from the ceramic molds, and a little after five minutes had passed, Alistair turned out his first gears. Excellent, only fifty more to complete.

For the rest of the night, deGrey repeated this process with differing sizes of gears and other complex parts such as escapements. For simple parts such as bars of anything else, he decided it would be more productive to forge it at that time without casting the iron.

When the sounds of people in the courtyard began to resume with the dawn and deGrey finally collapsed on his bed, fast asleep.

OOC & Expenditure :

by **Alistair deGrey** on January 17th, 2010, 5:27 am

30th of Winter, 509

Mechanics :

Clock

Sun, yes, the sun must have risen. However, Alistair did not see this, for not only were his eyes shut tight, but there was no natural lighting in Mechanical Marvels. Despite the lack of sunlight, he could however make out the sounds of a waking Syliras creeping into his living quarters from underneath the door. Strange, I must have been working later than I believed... It was not often that he woke to sounds of people. Usually Alistair was up before others; although, he was not accustomed to working late into the night either. Alistair rubbed his weary eyes and stood up, quickly putting on his breeches and tunic. deGrey hesitated before leaving his living quarters, filled as it was with materials for building. Where... Ah, there it was, Alistair found the apple he had been planning on eating and put it in his pocket. He'd eat while he worked.

Alistair decided not to open his shop for the first part of the day, he had much work to do. He set the apple down on a table, and began gathering parts he needed. Groggily he remembered the night before, and making all these little monstrosities. It was difficult to determine whether he had more pride or enmity for the array of components that lay before him. Alistair began picking up handfuls of pieces, a pendulum, lantern gears, spur gears, and a variety of other things. Today, he was making a clock.

Back at his work station, deGrey began assembling the case for his clock. It consisted of a copper box approximately 2 feet tall, 1 foot wide, and half a foot thick. The top half of the box was covered except for a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter. The lower half of the box was completely open. As deGrey examined his box he noticed something odd, "Damnation" escaped his lips as he remembered what he had forgotten. He had intended to make a small hole on the right side of the box. This would allow the clock owner to pull a gear outward, disengaging the gear train, upon which they could rewind the clock.

Looking guilty, deGrey took a bolt and a hammer and closed his eyes, then quickly punched a hole in the correct place. Alistair opened his eyes and flinched at his handy work. It was crude, but it would work.

First and foremost was the weight. Alistair picked up a solid cylinder made of iron, it felt to be about four pounds. Near the top of the iron weight was a loop that Alistair had begun threading thin rope through. After he had secured the rope to the weight, deGrey placed the rope over a hole on the edge of an iron wheel and nailed the rope into place. This made it so that if the wheel was wound, the weight would be wound up with it was well. Sort of like a spool with a weight attached to the end of the yarn, Alistair thought.

Alistair grabbed the apple, and brushed it off on his shirt. After examining it for any conspicuous spots, he took a great bite out of it and set it back on the table. Alistair moved his hand off the apple and grabbed his escapement and anchor, and subsequently knocked his apple off the table. Piss, Alistair bent to pick up the apple now coated with dust that deGrey had not yet swept up. He looked around the workshop for somewhere to toss to apple and realized he had no such place, so he put it back onto the table. The smell of apples was beginning to reach deGrey's nose, wafting up from where the apple had partially smashed itself on the floor. Alistair brought the escapement and anchor to his right side and placed them in the bottom of the box.

Gear Train in a similar invention

Yes, let us think for a second. I believe the gear train will come next. deGrey grabbed 8 gears of two different sizes. One type had a diameter of approximately six inches, while the others were about one fifth of that. He then reached around his box and fumbled for five metal axles that he would attach all of the mechanisms to. On three of the five bars he attached one large and one small gear, two with the small on the outside and one on the inside. This way he could arrange them in more compactly within the clock. deGrey then inserted the three rods and their gears inside the clock.

As much as Alistair wanted to push on and finish the clock, he needed a break. For the next fifteen minutes or so deGrey rummaged around his living quarters for something to eat, and contentedly lay on the bed considering the poor turn out of this project. He would need to perform better next time.

by **Alistair deGrey** on January 17th, 2010, 5:28 am

Continued...

An escapement gear and anchor. The anchor is the latter, escapement gear the former.

Alistair awoke and immediately sat bolt upright as soon as the realization hit him, Pox upon me I have fallen asleep! He scrambled out of his bed and checked the area outside his courtyard. It must be late, not as many people about the castle.

Returning to his work station, Alistair grabbed another rod, inserted one end into a large gear, and another end into the wheel with the weight attached. He was frantic from losing so much time, and set to work immediately. However, deGrey realized that he had put the axle rod into one of the auxiliary positions on the gear. He quickly disassembled the two pieces and reattached them in the correct position. Before Alistair continued, he took a deep breath and sat down, realigning his thoughts. Now, this mechanism was finished so he inserted it into the clock in such a way that it interlocked with one of the small gears on the outside of its axle. deGrey released it, and the weight flew like a lead zeppelin, hitting the bottom of the box with a loud clang. Alistair jumped at the sudden sound, and lifted up the weight to see if any damage has been done to the box. Thankfully only a bit of scuffing was apparent where the weight had impacted.

However, this did bring good news. The gear train was completely aligned with the weight, because the gears had spun and not come apart when the weight spun down. deGrey eyed the metal rod sticking out of the hole he had punched through, he would cap that off shortly and be done with it. A quick glance over the table informed deGrey that this was easier spoken than accomplished. Errr... The cap he had cast seemed to have become lost somewhere. Which was irritating, because Alistair had purchased an especially ornate mold that would allow him to cast caps for sharp or exposed metal rods.

Alistair only had two more pieces to finish. This was momentous, and his widened eyes lit up the gloom as he stood up and walked back into his quarters. Now, where did I place the clock face.... Ah, there we are." deGrey grabbed the relatively plain clock face numbered one through twelve. What good was a clock that the owner could not read? He returned to his work table and placed the face into the large circle he had made for it. It snugly fit into place with a small bit of hammering and pushing. Excellent, only one more mechanism.

Cursing his forgetfulness, Alistair stalked back into his living quarters. He quickly grabbed the pendulum he had left behind and trotted back out. deGrey was almost finished and anxious to be on with the next project. Back at his work station, Alistair took the anchor and affixed it to the apex of the pendulum. Like this, whenever the pendulum swung the anchor swung with it. But before he could attached the pendulum into the clock, he needed to affix the escapement gear. The escapement gear was placed onto its own axle, and then inserted into position so it locked with the small gear on the opposite side of the gear train, directly behind the clock face. A small bit of the rod stuck out, to which he attached a hand. This was the hand that told the time.

deGrey reached into his component pile and pulled out the last rod he would need. He then inserted this into the apex of the anchor, so the pendulum and the anchor could swing freely on it. The anchor/pendulum mechanism was then delicately positioned right above the escapement gear.

That was it, deGrey had his rudimentary clock. Of course, it needed refinement with superior parts and more forethought. But this was a good template.

As a final test, Alistair wound the weight up and released it. Instead of dropping to the floor, it barely moved. As it pulled down, the wheel it was attached to began to spin, which in turn spun the gear that shared its axle. All of the gears along the gear train began to spin, which slowed down the weight's fall. At the end, the escapement gear was turned. When the escapement turned, it forced the pendulum to swing and then the anchor would lodge itself into the teeth of the escapement until the pendulum reached center position again. If deGrey had designed this clock correctly, it would cause the hand to do one full revolution every minute. This clock only ran for one hour before the weight hit the ground though, so it was not a high ticket item. However, Alistair felt as if he knew how he could fix this problem. But for now he just sat and marveled at his clock. For all the calamitous happenings that came with this clock, Alistair had not been this entertained by a single activity for a long while.

A copper clock face

by **Alistair deGrey** on February 8th, 2010, 4:05 am

31st of Winter

Automata and Components

deGrey unlocked the heavy door of Mechanical Marvels, and stepped into the interior. Light from outside flooded into the workshop and seeped through the small windows into the display room. The shop's innards were composed silhouettes and shadows, and the complexity of this artistry was doubled as the front door allowed more light to enter the room. Darkness still pooled in the corners, but for the most part the room was light enough to indicate his presence.

The day had been grey. Clouds had enveloped the sky, casting a greyscale upon the world below. Alistair enjoyed this weather, though he did not know. Shortly he found himself walking through the streets of Syliras, hoping to find inspiration for his first endeavor as a shop owner. He wandered the crowded avenues and alleyways, examining the various storefronts and housings of Syliras. Nearly the entire morning was spent doing so, deGrey plagued with an inability to find the perfect idea. Finally, he found it in the exquisite wood and stone work of The Welcome Home that Alistair found his inspiration. Everybody loves charity. deGrey had hurried back to his workshop, eager to begin on his new project.

On his way back, he had decided that five automata would suffice for the orphanage. Truth be told, he had not the faintest idea as to how many children resided within; however, that was not a concern at the moment. I can always make more A drummer, a tea pourer, a dancer, a dog, and two knights. That seemed like a good mixture to please everybody. deGrey was almost vibrating with excitement, finally a use, finally a purpose.

deGrey piled tinder and wood into the gaping mouth of the forge, and looked about for a torch. He had stupidly forgotten a majority of his torches outside, and the dew had soaked them through. Alistair pursed his lips as he picked up the wet torches and moved them inside to dry. Luckily, he kept a cache of three torches in his room. The wood felt cold as he dug one from underneath his cot, and proceeded to submerge the end in the low fire he kept alive during most of the day. Alistair pulled the blazing torch out of the fire and moved back to his forge. The tinder caught instantly and curled as the flames licked it black. deGrey rested the torch in a bracket attached to the side of the small forge, and went back in to collect some ingots. Coal had been left out of the forge intentionally, for the substance made the fire much hotter than he would need it. These toys would be made of copper, which was less durable than iron; however, it was also cheaper, lighter, and easier to work into the complex shapes he would need. The entire project would take a remarkable amount of time. For the most part, his time would be spent forging the casings for these machines. He already had enough gears cast, but each automaton would require a unique metal case. Arduous, these petite monstrosities will not be pleasant to make.

While the forge was heating Alistair moved back into the workshop, which had brightened slightly as the clouds thinned. The tea pouring girl seemed as if it would be a good start. First deGrey sketched out what he wanted from the machine, excluding specific gears and mechanisms. What he had now was a stick mounted on a base. Said stick would bend at specific intervals, accomplishing the task of pouring tea. By the side of this he included functions he would require of the tea pouring girl. Bending consistently, and returning to its former position.

deGrey began a more complicated sketch, beginning with a scale and an outline. The components had to fit within the girl, so he would need to dip into his cache of smaller gears. Yes, it is fitting together rather nicely. He sketched her body and face with the most detail, for the girl had to look pretty for the children and deGrey could barely forge human anatomy in the first place, let alone extemporaneously. The sketch was poor, to say the least, but it gave him a plan. Alistair began drawing the innards, each with tremendous detail. Next to each gear and axle he drew ratios of teeth, lengths, and various other measurements he would need to keep in mind. Each gear had the correct number of teeth, and the axles were to exact scale. Pretty drawings were not his forte, however he was more than able to create geometrical figures.

After deGrey was finished with his ten minute sketch, he found himself arching his eyebrows at it. Her face was very cherub like, if that could be said of an outline. Most of the girl was hollow, the innards consisting of a few gear trains, a pair of geneva mechanisms, and some other miscellaneous components. This will do, yes, I do believe so.

Alistair stood up, the forge should be ready by now.

by **Alistair deGrey** on February 14th, 2010, 3:30 am

Continued

]forge assaulted deGrey's brow, where beads of sweat began to swell. His nostrils flared as they became dry and hot, burned from the wavering heat of the open furnace. Alistair took a sheet of copper and plunged it into the fire, letting the metal rest for a few seconds within the hot ash and wood found at the heart of the flames. The sheet was thin enough that it took no more than thirty seconds for the copper to become pliable. He used his tongs to pull the glowering metal straight out of the forge; however, out came a few coals that had been resting on the copper sheet. deGrey had not pulled it out at an angle, and dropped the metal with a loud "Damnation!" as one of the coal's inertia caused it to slide over the sheet and onto him. Alistair jumped back and kicked the burning coal away. And then scrambled over to the side of the forge. The grass where he the coals and copper lay had ignited, a small fire to accompany the sweltering heat of the furnace above it. The metal was no longer red, an oily sheen remaining as it lean against the base of the forge. Alistair picked up a bucket of water he kept for emergencies, and doused the fire. Hissing steam escaped the coals and disappeared into the shimmering air, the fire was doused.

deGrey moved into his shop, and found the old leather apron the previous proprietor had utilized. It is too loose... was his first thought as he reached around his back to secure it, but that may not be such a bad thing. The apron smothered nearly his entire body, enveloping his sides and hiding most of his legs from view. Decidedly safer, Alistair reembarked upon his mission.

His tongs clamped securely on the iridescent metal sheet. Oils from something or another glossed over the surface of the metal, and reflected the dancing flames. deGrey waited tensely for another thirty seconds, and cautiously pulled the copper sheet up and out of the embers. Agh, stay right there. Alistair pushed his charge back onto the edge of the fire, and ran back into his workshop. There he snatched his hasty drawing and hastened back to his work station. Alistair examined the paper for a second before pulling the girl to be out of the fire. A hammer found deGrey's hand and he began beating the metal on the side of the forge. Each blow came from a different angle, slowly but surely forming a vaguely humanoid shape. He now had far too much excess on what would become the sides of the girl. Thrusting her back into the fire gave Alistair another short while to study to drawing. It is strange, working from a picture. He had never went from picture to metal, it had always came straight from his mind.

The girl was pulled from the flames once more, and degrey pinched off the excess metal with his tongs. The long nubs that were left would form the arms His design called for a dress, so he had folded the metal sheet in such a way that it resembled a cloth draped over one's hand. This of course caused for some excess, which as stated, became the girls arms.

Gears and cords may deform if heated, so it was important that he finished the girl's body before putting her frame on the the mechanism. Alistair took his hammer and pounded the figure more, bending her arms forward in what looked like a plea for a hug. A tea pot would go here, but first he needed to ensure the arm's were at proper dimension. From his pocket, deGrey pulled forth a small cord with two ink marks on it. Earlier today he had measured the diameter of a teapot at Inner Fire Glassworks, and recorded it on this cord. Much of the heat from the forge was dissolving into the air, so Alistair quickly arranged the girls pleading arms to the correct dimensions. Back to the furnace with her.

The girl glowed like the evening sun as Alistair set her back down in the furnace edge. Her general shape was done, and deGrey picked up a smaller hammer that was used for details. Carefully chiseling out her face took away most of the heat, and she was plunged back in. Out she came, a sun revived, now he began to form the bell curve of her dress. Many rapid strikes with the small hammer smoothed out the surface or the most part. It was not a very good dress, but it concealed most of her features which made the entirety of the process quicker. Back to the inferno once more, and he pulled her out to shape her arms.

A second sheet of metal was plunged into the forge, pulled out to fulfill its destiny as a box. deGrey folded the sheet onto itself to make a fix sided cube. However, there was still one more task. The flames licked the cube for another half minute, after which Alistair pulled it out and punched a hole in the top with a chisel.

Woodclunked and the fire crackled as the inventor threw another piece of wood into the furnace. He needed to keep it warm for the next pieces. deGrey sighed heavily, metalworking was tiresome work indeed.

by **Alistair deGrey** on March 18th, 2010, 1:09 am

Images of Syliran Knights and drummer boys and dancers drifted through deGrey's head. Alistair's small bed had never before felt quite as warm as it did at this moment, but there was work to be done. A long groan escaped his lips he heaved his tired body up off the mattress and onto his feet. After he had lain down for a few minutes, the day was changed. It became one of those afternoons where his greatest desire was simply to lay lazy in one spot and just be. It was not a day to work. Oh but it is, in practice at least. Alistair stretched and walked into his workshop, snatching a pear. Quite possibly the most delightful fruit in existence. Alistair meandered out by the forge, there the fire still burned albeit timidly. The juices from his half eaten pear sizzled after he tossed it into the embers.

Returning to the workshop, Alistair flipped over his diagram of the tea girl and began sketching out three shapes. One was a stately Syliran knight, another was a boy with a drum, and the last a dancer balancing on a cylinder. At first, deGrey planned on leaving the sketches unrefined like he had done with the tea pouring girl. However, Alistair had time if nothing else. He began by copying each design below the first one. A second drummer boy, dancer, and soldier appeared beneath their counterparts. These new ones would become the cut away figures that displayed the mechanism beneath. On the original set, deGrey began to solidify the frame of each character. The metallic helmet, the slender legs, the taut drum. Each began to take on a new definition on the paper as deGrey slowly added details. For every line he added, the inventor hesitated and pondered the consequences of the addition. Truth be told he was entirely unsure if this was the way to go about drawing, but it was working for him. His pencil began to fill in the details of each character, showing the convexity of the knight's armor, the wooden braces of the drum, the frills on the dancer's dress. The characters still remained lifeless to him though, even if they did look mildly realistic to his eyes.
It took him nearly forty five minutes to complete the drawings. The resultant paper littered with eraser marks where he had removed details. Some things did not fit or were unnecessary to make the sketches seem finished. An architect knows his work is done not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Just enough details to make the drawings look clean and crisp. Or rather, clean and crisp to Alistair’s untrained eyes. Regardless, he was done with today’s artistry.

Alistair moved his work out to the forge, placing the sheet of paper on a stack of wood by the forge. Four or five copper sheets were required, and the inventor jogged into his living quarters to obtain them. However, it was not until he returned with the copper, that he realized the poor position of his paper. Upon seeing his work station, it was evident by the missing paper that it had blown into the forge. Alistair manically ransacked the entire courtyard, hoping against all odds that the paper had been blown somewhere close by the wind. But it was a futile search. Back to square one.

Elaborate drawings be damned this time. deGrey redrew the sketches on another sheet, this time excluding the details. A rough outline of the soldier, drummer, and dancer rematerialized on the paper before him. Alistair left well enough alone and began to draw the innards. This was the artistry he was familiar with. Geometric shapes were not difficult to draw when you had a straight edge and protractor; deGrey made short work of the mechanisms that powered the automata.

This time a hammer held deGrey’s sketches firmly in place while he pulled his materials. Copper, gears, a weight and cord… Before Alistair moved back to the forge, he dropped the mechanical pieces he would use back into their respective places. For now a focus on the metalworking would be desirable. His previous distractions having wasted so much time, Alistair noticed it was four o clock. The afternoon sun beat down overhead while the forge’s heat engulfed him doubly so. It was not the most pleasant position to be in. The copper sheet degrey had just picked up dully reflected the sun and firelight as he plunged it into the furnace. Not thirty seconds later he pulled it and quickly folded it over an iron cylinder. The copper folded easily over the circumference and top of the cylinder. However, there were still quite a few irregularities in the metal from the folding. The copper cylinder found itself in the fire once more, to be pulled out and beaten with the hammer. deGrey took an iron spike and punched a hole through the center of the cylinder, providing a place for the dancer’s axle. The same process was repeated for the base of the drummer boy, except this time a larger hole was made between a point along the circumference and the radius.

The soldiers would be the most difficult, so deGrey set aside the materials for them and worked first on the drummer. The drummer needed four parts: the body, the drum, and the two arms. Alistair thrust one of his copper sheets into the wood fire and let it warm for a half minute or so. After he pulled it out, the inventor began to quickly pound the sheet into what could be called a vaguely humanoid shape. Back into the fire, the ringing of his hammers, and then back into the fire with the boy. This continued until Alistair had a humanoid shape, minus the fine details. Now he plunged the device’s casing back into the fire, and began working on the details with a chisel and small hammer, alternatively. Soon enough, the uniform of a drummer emerged as well as a cherubic face. The arms followed, which were significantly easier than the body; though they were not attached yet. Last for the drummer was the drum itself. For this Alistair replicated the creation of the bases, except he used a smaller iron cylinder to form it. Although a slight problem occurred, the way the hands were made, they would not come down right above the drum when attached. A quick fix was in order, so deGrey stuck the copper appendages back into the furnace to heat. Alistair removed the arms from the sweltering fire and tapped them inward slightly. This gave the boy a more hunched look than the inventor was aiming for, but it was not entirely disparate from the concept in any case.

by **Alistair deGrey** on March 20th, 2010, 6:24 am

OOC :

Unjudgemental. It was how Alistair deGrey felt when creating his machines. As Alistair thrust the copper sheet that would compose the ballerina, his mind began to wander. Perhaps that is why I enjoy creating. It seems to allow me to drop all prejudice, and simply be. To know what needs to be done, and not be hampered by the petty judgments and stereotypes of society. It was not something deGrey often contemplated, but when he did his conviction grew. He did not like people. Regardless, the copper was warm now.
The copper had been let to sit in the embers for too long, and Alistair found it to be glowering much brighter than it usually was when he pulled the sheet out. Regardless, the inventor began to work on the dancer’s form. The copper conformed to the pinch of his tongs and forceful taps of his hammer far easier than it had ever before. This is interesting… Apparently, Alistair had been underheating the metal the entire time for fear of damaging it. However, no apparent harm had been done to the copper. This was an exceptionally pleasant surprise to deGrey, or at least he hoped. It was possible that the copper would become too brittle now, but honestly Alistair could not tell at this point in time.
The dancer’s body began to form, even more slowly than the other two automata. She, unlike the others, was supposed to be graceful and beauteous. However, that concept would not come to fruition if Alistair botched her. His tongs crimped and clutched at the glowering girl as he continually thrust her into the furnace before him. The light hammer formed the curvature of her hips and a sharp spike to etch the lines and contours of her dress. She stood on one leg, with a deep hole in the bottom of her foot. The gap awaited an axle that would spin the dancer about like the whirligig seeds that fell from trees.
The soldiers were possibly the easiest of them all. Their straight bodies and unremarkable plate armor made the job exceptionally quick. Alistair pulled up part of the sheet to form legs, and crimped the edges together to close the gap. The plate cuirass and pauldrons ended with a tight crimping which formed a sort of crevice where the upper body armor ended and the skirt began. The face was a simple helmet, lacking any of the standard issues or complications a human face could present. Soon enough Alistair had hammered out two copper soldiers.
The bellows sighed with Alistair as he deflated them by pressing his weight against them. The inventor clutched the three casings and moved into the workshop to begin assemblage of the innards. Each device required a different set of mechanisms, but deGrey had a general idea for each.
The teapot pouring girl was the first of the five. Alistair pulled a Jeurer Mechanism, along with a gear and a crank. deGrey inserted the crank through the hole in the girl’s back, and then inserted the Jeurer Mechanism into the girl where she would rotate. The crank and mechanism were connected by a gear, which was edged between the two. When the crank in the girl’s back was turned the gear attached to said crank would churn the Jeurer Mechanism and bend the girl over, which would accomplish her only goal, to pour tea. This mechanism did not wind, it simply bent as you turned the crank. This is because of the difficulty a person would have in judging how much to crank the girl, if would be very unfortunate if one spilled tea all over the table because they over wound the girl.

A Jeurer Mechanism. This device turns constant rotational motion into periodic rotational motion. Note that only one crossed gear and one wheel is required as opposed to the two crossed gears represented here

The drummer reminded deGrey of a clock. A crank was inserted into his back that would wind up the mechanism. The crank would wind a weight attached to a cord around the axle, which was attached to a gear train. The gear train ended with two Jeurer Mechanisms that were attached at opposite angles so the forward motion would occur at different times. The gear train attached to an escapement, similar to one found in a clock. There was a pendulum attached to an anchor by the escapement, which was also similar to what could be found in a clock. However, what was different was that on each side of the anchor could be found two metal rods that attached to the drummer boy’s arms. When the anchor rocked back and forth, the rods would move the arms up and down as well. The drummer was finished.

The dancer was as easy as the drummer. By winding the key, you also wound a small weight that would wrap around an axis. A large gear train was attached to a gear on the end of the axis, making each revolution of the weighted axis, four to five for the dancer. The gear train then interlocked with a gear placed horizontally, with an axle sticking vertically out of the hole placed on the top of the box. The dancer, when placed on the axle, would spin.

A pendulum, anchor, and escapement mechanism is used most often in clocks. While that is the most common example, this grouping is extremely versatile.

The soldiers were tricky because of their balance, but after much experimentation deGrey found a place that would allow them to balance when wound or unwound. As in the previous few inventions that required a source of energy over an extended period of time, the soldiers utilized potential energy. When wound, the crank and weight would wrap around the axle, which connected with a gear train. The legs of the soldiers worked similarly to the drummer boy’s arms. Except this time there was an escapement, anchor, and pendulum mechanism on each side, one for each leg. The pendulum periods were the same, but they had different starting positions and thus swing forward at different times. The weight of the soldier shifting forward prevented the anchor from swinging the leg back. The soldiers did not move well, but instead marched like poor animations.

Regardless, deGrey was finished now. He set the five toys on the table, sparing no time to admire his handiwork. This day had been very long, a definite challenge to his patience and metalworking skills. It is a wonder I did not burn down half the castle deGrey thought as he pulled a piece of dried venison from his stores and reclined on his bed.