"Electrophants" at Goldhanger
In the 1960s electrically driven full size
and half size robotic elephants was developed at Follyfaunts at Goldhanger. . .
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extracts from a USA magazine |
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The main people involved in the enterprise
appear to have been:
Frank Stuart -
the designer
Maurice Radburn -
employee of Frank Stuart, he later lived and worked at St Osyth, Essex.
Karl Nelles -
employee of Frank Stuart and driver who was an ex German P.O.W.
Colin
Chapman - it not know if this is the same person who founded of Lotus
Cars, but the timing seems right. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Chapman.
. .
"Colin Chapman joined the RAF in 1948,
being offered a permanent commission but turning it down in favour of a swift
return to civilian life and After a couple of false starts Chapman
joined the British Aluminium company".
Lord
Hillingdon - Director of Electrophants company. He was probably Charles
Hedworth Mills 4th baron 1922-1978. An inscription in St. Martin's
Cemetery, Feering, Essex, reads "Charles Hedworth Mills, 4th Baron
Hillingdon, 1978"
Frank Stuart was the engineering expert
behind the work and appears to have been involved in two phases of development
of the robotic elephant, the purpose of which was to offer seaside and
fairground style rides to children. The original developments took place at
Thaxted in the late 1940s and early 50s which produced a Ford petrol engine
driven version of which up to 25 full size and half size models were produced
using several engineering companies in the Thaxted area. This version suffered
from the drawback of the exhaust fumes emitted from the elephants trunk causing
the children to choke.
The second version developed and marketed
from Follyfaunts was electrically driven using conventional car batteries as
the only source of power. Only a few models of this version seem to have
produced before the company went bankrupt, probably resulting of an incident in
the USA when the elephant fell over. It was most likely that it toppled due to
the weight of the batteries held within the body combined with the weight of
the children being carried. The electrical version had the advantage that it
could be operated indoors and photographs available show it being used for
children's rides in a departmental store. To overcome the problem of a large
turning circle, a turntable system can be seen in some of the photos which was
use to rotate the machine is a confined space. There were both full and half
size versions of the electric model.
Both the large and small size elephants
were to be seen in many holiday resorts in the summer months in the 1950s and
60s, including at Maldon which is just 3 miles from Goldhanger.
"Jessica" appeared on her first "Blue Peter" show in 1967
and mechanical elephants appears again on "Blue Peter" in December
1975 and in April, 1976. One was also featured on the ITV London programme 'The
Way We Were', in May 2006 and in the BBC Top Gear programme in 2008. A
mechanical elephant was also auctioned on the Channel 4 programme
"4-Rooms" in 2011. The ones seen indoors tend to be the battery
driven variety. The machines were sold and shipped around the world and cyberneticzoo records many examples of destinations such as
the USA, Australia, Sweden, etc. Today some reside in museums and, as the more
recent videos listed below indicate, some even occasionally take to the roads
for special events. It is difficult to track particular models as most seem to
be named Nellie or Jessie and many have been re-built.
There is much
more information about these mechanical elephants and Electrophants at. . .cyberneticzoo.com/great-britain
and there are now many
video clips available on the web showing these mechanical
elephants over the years on the move...
1949 www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Z4YApl06Y
small 2-stroke petrol versions at Humberside
1950 www.britishpathe.com/thaxted-news
Frank Stewart at Thaxted
1950 www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSdZCmm6Vgk as
above but on YouTube
1967 www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/954
Jessica with Lord Hillingdon at Stratford St Mary, Suffolk
1975 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKyY34D-O98
from BBC Blue Peter, large electric version (poor quality
video)
1980 www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlDq6nIl9Ag
Jessica (formerly Nellie?)
+comments about its poor centre of
gravity
2008 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4HMzpbTS68
BBC Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson with a large petrol version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAmeCblFTk Nellie in a Christmas Pageant, Adelaide
Australia, large petrol version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdV1oNlBoL8
Jumbo at Michigan, USA with a large electric version
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hFrchgE_k Larry Gavette and Eric go for a ride down in
the USA
2011 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSapsltKS0o
Jumbo 1st walks after rebuild
2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbtK1AD614Q Off
Bros USA, large electric version
2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqWwxI_qpCI Wendall in Auburn, Indiana, USA with a
large electric version
2015 www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-XPIzBkCYQ in the USA – maybe the same machine and event
as Off Bros
2015 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEnXc3UI0UU Richland 4th of July Parade the same machine
again
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