W. Heath Robinson was born on the 31st of May 1872 and died ages 72 on the 13th September 1944, in his life he worked as a famous cartoonist and is very we
ll known for his illustrations of complicated machinery.
ll known for his illustrations of complicated machinery.
At the beginning of Heaths Career he illustrated many books such as the following(and many more);
DE LA MARE, W. (1916) Peacock Pie
CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, H. (1897) Danish Fairy Tales and Legends
KINGSLEY, C. (1915) The Water Babies
SHAKESPEARE, W. (1914 version) A Midsummers Night Dream (Fig 1)
Fig 1. The Arabian Nights 1899 publication illustrated by Heath Robinson |
Fig 2. Bill Minder (1912) Heath Robinson |
Fig 3. The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902) Illustration by Heath Robinson |
After Heath Robinson released The Adventures of Uncle Lubin he started to create more and more illustrations that depicted overly complicated machinery that yielded simple outcomes. For example, Fig 4 is an illustration by Heath that depicts a very large and complicated machine that looks as if it is made from odds and ends that peels potatoes. As Heath started to create more illustrations like this he started to become well known, so well known in fact that from around 1914 to 1918 complex machines that created simple outcomes were refereed to as 'Heath Robinson', his name became a slang phrase to describe such creations.
And also during WW2 there was an automatic analysis machine that was created for Bletchley Park to help them decode German message traffic, and this machine was named after Heath Robinson in his honour. This machine is also the direct predecessor to the worlds first programmable digital electronic computing machine.
Fig 4, Potato Peeling Machine by Heath Robinson |
Fig 5, Heath Robinson's Absurdities, 1934 |
Fig 6, The Wart Chair, Published in Heath Robinson's Absurdities, 1934 |
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson
ROBINSON, H. 1934, Absurdities
ROBINSON, H. 1902, The Adventures of Uncle Lubin
ROBINSON, H. 1922, Peter Quip in Search of a Friend
ROBINSON, H. 1934, Absurdities
ROBINSON, H. 1902, The Adventures of Uncle Lubin
ROBINSON, H. 1922, Peter Quip in Search of a Friend
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