Dragon Clock
‘Can you design me a dragon?’ is easily one of the most unusual design requests Marble has had from their clients. Of course we rose to the challenge and undertook one of our most unusual engineering and design projects to date!
Concept Development
Dr John C Taylor commissioned Marble to work with him to convert a static clay sculpture into a colourful, glitzy, animated kinetic sculpture. The dragon was designed to sit on top of his existing gold chronophage clock base to provide a fascinating piece of modern art, illustrating the Harrison escapement mechanism and celebrating the hour with oriental chimes and trickery. The clock was first installed and shown at Design Shanghai in 2015, but now resides in John's house on the Isle of Man. Marble used 3D scan data and surface modelling techniques to translate the static model into a dynamic kinetic sculpture.
Mechanical Engineering Design
Marble designed, engineered, built and tested all of the mechanisms within the dragon. The mechanisms were designed to articulate at specific points in time and included tongue extension, head nod, jaw opening, pearl rolling, articulation of the back spines in a Mexican wave and rotary tail motion. The dragon's scales and body panels were designed to accommodate these articulations in a natural manner without exposing any of the internal mechanisms.
Build & Installation
The dragon clock was engineered and built in 6 months to meet the deadlines of the show in Shanghai. Shipping a precious cargo weighing almost 400kg half way round the world and installing it 5 metres up in the air is not something that you do on a whim. Detailed design and planning ensured a seamless installation where it soon became the star of the show - even appearing on the BBC.
