Rastus Robot, the Mechanical Negro (1931)
Monday, February 15, 2010 at 12:11AM ;)
I love humanoid robots from the 1920s and 30s. They were going to fight our wars, drive our cars, and be gigolos for lonely women. In the early 1930s Westinghouse created a robot named Rastus, the "mechanical Negro." And what was Rastus going to do? Nearly take an arrow to the eye, it would seem.
The photo above appeared in the September 6, 1931 San Antonio Light (San Antonio, TX) and shows Samuel Montgomery Kintner playing William Tell with the robot. The photo below is from the blog Dull Tool Dim Bulb, though I'm not sure who is pictured with Rastus.
Mr. S. M. Kintner, of the Westinghouse Research Laboratories, creates a mechanical Negro known as "Rastus Robot." Mr. Kintner is here enacting a modern scientific version of the famous episode of William Tell, who shot the apple from his son's head. In this demonstration a flash of light is sent out from a tiny bulb concealed in the arrow, the light is picked up by an "electric eye" on "Rastus," which ignites a charge of powder that blows the apple from the robot's head. The arrow does not leave the bow.
;)
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- Robots for Romantic Old Maids (1928)
- Have You A Little Robot? (1929)
- Mechanical Wonder Maiden (1930)
- Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (1934)
- When Wars Are Fought With Robot Soldiers (1935)
- A Whole World of Metal Men? (1937)
- Metal Man Comes to Life (1939)
mechanical negro, rastus robot, robots, san antonio light, westinghouse in 1930s 
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Reader Comments (8)
This is surely the most fucked-up thing I've seen here yet.
Wow. I feel icky now. And think of the mental context for a contemporary reader of this article -- we're talking 66 years after the end of the Civil War, the equivalent of 1944 for us. The article might as well say "Engineers at Westinghouse are just steps away from creating mechanical slaves! Imagine the day when you can own a darkie without shame - or maintenance!"
Blimey O'Riley. I'm totally speechless! Thank heavens the world has changed a lot since then!
�Uf, me gust�! Tan clara y positiva.
Have a nice day
Garretot
Happy Black History Month.
To think of what could have been. That should be Obama the mechanical Negro
"And think of the mental context for a contemporary reader of this article -- we're talking 66 years after the end of the Civil War, the equivalent of 1944 for us. "
Are you saying you wouldn't buy a mechanical Jew to do your bookkeeping?
That's just sick!