A Steampunk Robot's Heart displayed on awooden base
Alphabot, the robot, was a creation of Godfey Etooc Northern Victoria's mad scientist. Godfrey lived on his small farm at Yawong on the River during the 1860’s and was forever experimenting with all manner of inventions.
His favourite robot, Alphabot, was an early prototype and the heart, which is displayed here, was often a source of unreliability in an otherwise fully functioning machine.
Down one side of the preserved heart can be seen the piping of the ground-breaking by-pass surgery performed by Godfrey after it suffered a serious failure during heavy labour. This creative farmer-cum-scientist also pioneered the radial cylinder format of the heart pump unit and mounted the gear drive externally for ease of maintenance.
Sadly Alphabot’s heart was often in need of said maintenance and Godfrey installed a special port for the performance of keyhole surgery when it was necessary.
In spite of the many breakdowns Godfrey was proud of his invention and after Alphabot was fitted with a later model heart this original apparatus was kept for many years in a musty drawer at the back of the Etooc workshop. I thought it worthy of a new home and it now resides under an illuminated glass dome.
