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[00:00:00.02] (dreamy music) [00:00:16.01] - The great thing about Emett's work [00:00:18.04] is he manages to pull together art [00:00:21.08] and engineering and humor all at the same time. [00:00:27.05] He was right back at the beginning [00:00:30.01] telling stories with machines [00:00:32.00] and if you look at the lunacycle, [00:00:33.06] there is a story being told constantly. [00:00:37.08] The idea of the lunacycle was that it was [00:00:40.07] Britain's answer to the lunar rover, [00:00:42.06] which was intended to get an astronaut [00:00:44.06] across the surface of the moon. [00:00:46.09] Emett wasn't gonna do something as boring as a car. [00:00:51.01] He was gonna do something that took away [00:00:53.03] a lot of the functions that the astronaut needed to do [00:00:56.00] that might be tiresome. [00:00:58.04] This actually gathers the moon dust and rocks for him. [00:01:02.03] It has two legs, either side, with shoes on the bottoms [00:01:06.04] so that it can actually leave footprints for him [00:01:09.04] without him having to get out of the driving seat. [00:01:12.08] It has a device on the front [00:01:14.07] which is a zodiac navigating machine, [00:01:17.04] so that he can select wherever he wants to go [00:01:20.00] by selecting the right sign of the zodiac. [00:01:25.04] The cheese comparator is in front of the pilot [00:01:29.05] or the astronaut, Leo Capricorn. [00:01:32.03] It's some pieces of cheese. [00:01:35.01] Leo Capricorn can decide what the surface [00:01:37.07] of the moon is made of [00:01:38.07] because of course it is made of cheese. [00:01:42.04] At the back of the lunacycle, there is Astrocat. [00:01:46.09] Astrocat is there [00:01:48.02] because of course if the moon is made of cheese [00:01:50.07] then there are gonna be mice [00:01:52.03] and so something's gotta deal with the mice. [00:01:54.08] But it also has the secondary function [00:01:56.06] of making sure that because cats always fall on their feet, [00:02:01.06] they know which way is up and which way is down. [00:02:05.01] Most automata tend to be small tabletop machines. [00:02:10.04] Emett was unusual in that he built large-scale machines. [00:02:14.05] The other thing about Emett is he would [00:02:17.01] constantly use found objects in his work. [00:02:21.00] If you look at the pilot's helmet, it's a colander. [00:02:24.08] Colanders feature heavily in Emett's work [00:02:27.04] to the extent that it is said that his wife [00:02:29.05] could never keep one in the kitchen. [00:02:31.07] There are doorknobs, tea strainers, there's an apple corer. [00:02:35.02] It's an all-purpose lunar exploratory machine. [00:02:40.00] (dreamy music) [00:02:42.06]

Curious Contraptions

Rowland Emmet's Exploratory Lunacycle

Published:   December 13, 2019
Total Running Time:   00:02:57

Take a tour of this life-size celestial flying machine—The Exploratory Moon-Probe Lunacyle: M.A.U.D. (Manually Activated Universal Deviator). This centerpiece of Curious Contraptions: Flights of Fancy, is made of everyday objects and features several “scientific instruments": a dustpan to sweep up moon dust, a device to check the composition of cheese on the moon, a cat to provide guidance on gravity, and a rotary zodiac to aid in navigation. 

Rowland Emett (1906–1990) was a cartoonist and kinetic sculptor known for his fantastical machines. In 1968 he was hired to design many of the inventions in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and dreamed up new modes of transportation for the rest of his career. 

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