singing bird cage automaton

This singing bird automaton belongs to the collection of the Edward James Foundation, it was a favourite toy of James as a child, belonging to his father originally.

The object arrived in the workshop in a semi-functional state, the movement was very dirty and covered in old oil and corrosion, and the small sub-mechanism within the bird that controls the action of the beak, head and tail was sluggish and inconsistent - a result of congealed old lubrication within.

In order to address the functionality issues of the bird, the feathers and body shell needed to be completely removed. The original feathers were fairly tattered and sun-bleached, but it was agreed that as many of them as possible should be retained and replaced in their original positions. This was made much more feasible by the fact that the feathers were all stuck to a paper-composite ‘skin’, which was able to be removed as one piece by making a single incision on the underside of the bird.

The inside of the bird was cleaned, but not relubricated - the mechanisms that work the birds actions are so light that oil is not needed; it was old lubrication that had caused its action to fail in the first place. The bird was then reassembled, some pre-existing bald patches and minor losses from the removal process were covered with plain white feathers (ethically sourced from the natural moulting of parakeets) in order to differentiate them from the historic feathers.

The worm gear in the main movement was also not meshing correctly with the wheel due to wear, so the depthing of the two arbors was addressed with new bushes. The movement was cleaned and relubricated, and small leaks in the bellows were patched with Japanese tissue in order to retain the original skin.