There was a fascinating programme on BBC4 last evening about the clockwork powered automata of the 18th century. Beginning with the clock towers of medieval Europe it moved swiftly on to it's main focus, examining the processes of minaturisation that made these devices possible.

This is a sample from the programme;



another model which featured was the silver swan made by John Joseph Merlin; this is another video, not from the programme.



One of the most famous of all was The Turk, an automtan that played chess. This, however, turned out to be a fake, as a real chess master was concealed in the cabinet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk

The full programme is available on youtube;

Not adding anything but I've found the original "Mechanical Automata" thread.  I didn't dream it then.