The "ScaraBooth" Remarkable House-cleaning Automaton
| < previous work | next work > |
"...sumptuous... the detailing is magnificent! It's the patina, the
detail in the shell resonates depth... and it's the polish that
exposes that exquisite surface... and you have used high-quality
Tecalemit parts... altogether yielding a unique piece of engineering
in a pure art form... Congratulations on another meisterwerk!"
Mark de Jong - Auckland, New Zealand
"It really does look as though it would scurry round the house
cleaning into every corner."
Steve Woodbridge, Sculptor - Buckinghamshire, UK
"This is an awesome piece of work! A bizarre Steampunk household
sidekick. Brilliant!"
Ed Elliott, Sculptor - Herefordshire, UK
(Click on any image to enlarge)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
When this astounding appliance first hit the Edwardian marketplace,
it was extremely popular with, not only the toffs, but also the middle
classes - with this device pootling around their suburban villas,
continuously and completely-automatically hoovering up (whoops, that
word not invented yet!) everything on the floor, it allowed them to
fire at least one servant (who would otherwise have spent most of
their time cleaning) - and maybe spend the money saved on one of them
new-fangled "automobile" contraptions instead....
Once you had trained your remaining staff in the vagaries of the
ScaraBooth's slightly temperamental methanol-steam propulsion system,
you could go out for a ride around the countryside in your new
horseless carriage, to while away the time you'd saved!
Hubert Booth was credited with the invention of the powered vacuum
cleaner - but not many people know that he collaborated with Charles
Babbage (by some, considered to be the "father of the computer") to
create this little mechanical-brain-on-legs for the specific purpose
of taking on drudgery that nobody else wanted to do (except servants,
who were desperate for the money). Alan Turing, eat your heart out!
Materials: brass, copper, safety-valve, grease-guns, blow-torch parts,
fire-hose, bed-frame parts
Dimensions: 20" x 22" x 12" (51cm x 56cm x 30cm)
Weight: 12lb (5Kg)
This piece is currently on display in the gallery at The Sculpture Park near Farnham in Surrey.
If you would like to buy any sculptures or are interested in including work in an exhibition, please contact us for details of viewing and/or shipping arrangements.
New sculptures are being created all the time, and pieces can be sold or go off to exhibitions at any time, so please check back here regularly for updates.
For details of exhibitions of work by Nigel Williams, please click here.