W. Heath Robinson

W. Heath Robinson

William Heath Robinson (May 31 1872 – September 13 1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator, who signed himself W. Heath Robinson. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption.

Career

Born into a family of artists in Islington, London, his early career was as a book illustrator, for example in Hans Christian Andersen's "Danish Fairy Tales and Legends" (1897); "The Arabian Nights", (1899); "Tales From Shakespeare" (1902), and "Twelfth Night" (1908), "Andersen's Fairy Tales" (1913), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1914), Charles Kingsley's "The Water Babies" (1915), and Walter de la Mare's "Peacock Pie" (1916).

In the course of this however, he also wrote and illustrated two children's books, "The Adventures of Uncle Lubin" (1902), and "Bill the Minder" (1912); these are regarded as the start of his career in the depiction of unlikely machines. During the First World War he drew large numbers of cartoons, collected as "Some "Frightful" War Pictures" (1915), "Hunlikely!" (1916), and "Flypapers" (1919), depicting ever-more-unlikely secret weapons being used by the combatants. Besides these, he produced a steady stream of humorous drawings, for magazines and advertisements. In 1934, he published a collection of his favourites as "Absurdities", such as:

*"The Wart Chair. A simple apparatus for removing a wart from the top of the head"
*"Resuscitating stale railway scones for redistribution at the station buffets"
*"The multimovement tabby silencer", which automatically threw water at serenading cats

Most of his cartoons have since been reprinted many times in multiple collections.

The machines he drew were usually kept running by balding, bespectacled men in overalls. The machines were frequently powered by steam boilers or kettles, heated by candles or a spirit lamp; often there would be complex pulley arrangements, threaded by lengths of knotted string. Robinson's cartoons were so popular, that even to this day in Britain, the name "Heath Robinson" is used as shorthand for an improbable, rickety machine barely kept going by incessant tinkering. (The corresponding term in the US is "Rube Goldberg machine", after an American cartoonist with an equal devotion to odd machinery.)

One of his most famous series of illustrations were those that accompanied the Professor Branestawm books by Norman Hunter. The stories told of the eponymous professor who was brilliant, eccentric and forgetful and provided a perfect backdrop for Robinson's drawings.

One of the automatic analysis machines built for Bletchley Park during the Second World War to assist in the decryption of German message traffic was named "Heath Robinson" in his honour. It was a direct predecessor to the Colossus, the world's first programmable digital electronic computer.

In 1903 he married Josephine Latey, the daughter of newspaper editor John Latey. [ [http://www.brinsmead.net/HeathRob.htm The Heath Robinson Connection ] at www.brinsmead.net] Heath Robinson moved to Pinner, Middlesex, in 1908. His house in Moss Lane is commemorated by a blue plaque. A project is now (2007) in hand to restore West House, in Memorial Park, Pinner, to house a Heath Robinson Collection. More information is available at [http://www.heathrobinson.net/ The West House & Heath Robinson Museum Trust]

In popular culture

His name became part of common parlance in the UK for complex inventions that achieved absurdly simple results from about the time of the First World War. [ [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea4.htm World Wide Words: Heath Robinson ] ] Though less common today, Heath Robinson was referred to in the BBC's "Planet Earth" documentary series, where devices used to create smooth camera movements, such as the effective steadicam made out of bicycle wheels and rope used to sail up a 100 metre high mound of bat droppings, were said by David Attenborough to be "Heath Robinson affairs". It has also been used by Jeremy Clarkson in his programme Speed (episode 5 - Superhuman speed) when describing the piping in a space-rocket's engine. And most recently in an episode of the BBC's long running astronomy programme "The Sky at Night" to refer to a box like device used for observing colour fractions of the Sun's light.

During the Falklands War, British Harrier aircraft lacked their conventional "Chaff" dispensing mechanism.cite book |author=Sharkey Ward |title=Sea Harrier Over the Falklands (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |publisher=Sterling*+ Publishing Company |location= |year= |pages=pg 245 |isbn=0-304-35542-9 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=2008-03-20] Therefore Royal Navy engineers designed an impromptu delivery system of welding rods, split pins and string which allowed six packets of Chaff to be stored in the airbrake well and be deployed in flight. It was often referred to as the "Heath Robinson Chaff modification", due to its complexity.cite book |author=Morgan, David L. |title=Hostile Skies: My Falklands Air War |publisher=Orion Publishing |location=London |year= |pages=pg 59, 73 and photo section |isbn=0-297-84645-0 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=2008-03-20]

Publications

* W.Heath Robinson, "Railway Ribaldry" ,originally published 1935, Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd , England, ISBN 0-7156-0823-1

* Heath Robinson, William , "My Line of Life" , 1938, Blackie & Sons
* W.Heath Robinson, "Heath Robinson at War" ,1942, London, Methuen
* Lewis, John , "Heath Robinson Artist and Comic Genius", 1973, Barnes and Noble
* De Freitas, Leo John, "The Fantastic Paintings of Charles and William Heath Robinson" , 1976, Peacock/Bantam
*Beare,Geoffrey , "W. Heath Robinson" , 1987, Chris Beetles
*Hamilton, James, "William Heath Robinson" , 1992, Pavilion
*Beare, Geoffrey , "The Brothers Robinson" , 1992, Chris Beetles
*Beare, Geoffrey, "The Art of William Heath Robinson", 2003, Dulwich Picture Gallery

See also

* Norman Hunter (author)
* Professor Branestawm
* Rube Goldberg

References

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/robinson_william_heath.shtml Historic Figures] at the BBC web site. Accessed May 2007

External links

* [http://www.heathrobinson.org The William Heath Robinson Trust]
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/heathrobinson Heath Robinson online exhibition]
* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/illustrators/whrobinson.html SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: Fairy Tale Illustrations of William Heath Robinson]
* [http://www.nocloo.com/gallery2 Children's Book Illustrators Gallery - Large Archive of W.H Robinson illustrations]
* [http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/whrobin.htm Tribute www site]


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  • Heath-Robinson — /hēth robˈin sən/ adjective Used to describe an over ingenious, ridiculously complicated or elaborate mechanical contrivance ORIGIN: Heath Robinson (1872–1944), an artist who drew such contraptions • • • Heath Robinsonesqueˈ, Heath Robinsōˈnian… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Heath Robinson (codebreaking machine) — Heath Robinson was a machine used by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War II to solve messages in a German teleprinter cipher, the Lorenz SZ40/42. It was the predecessor to the Colossus computer. It was dubbed Heath Robinson by …   Wikipedia

  • Heath Robinson — Heath Rob|in|son [ˌhi:θ ˈrɔbınsən US ˈra: ] adj BrE [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: William Heath Robinson (1872 194), English humorous artist who drew pictures of very complicated machines] a Heath Robinson machine, system etc is very complicated in… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • heath robinson — (UK) If a machine or system is described as Heath Robinson, it is very complicated, but not practical or effective, named after a cartoonist who drew very complicated machines that performed simple tasks …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • Heath Robinson — William Heath Robinson Dessin humoristique de W. Heath Robinson paru en mars 1915 William Heath Robinson (31 mai 1872 13 septembre 1944) est un illustrateur britannique. Il est resté célèbre pour ses dessins de machineries d une complexité… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Heath Robinson — (1872–1944) a cartoonist and illustrator who was known especially for his comic drawings of strange and complicated machines for doing very simple tasks. As a result, any machine that appears ridiculously complicated is now often referred to as… …   Universalium

  • Heath Robinson — British if a machine or system is Heath Robinson, it is very complicated in a way that is funny, but not practical or effective. My granny s got this great Heath Robinson device for slicing eggs …   New idioms dictionary

  • Heath Robinson — UK [ˌhiːθ ˈrɒbɪns(ə)n] / US [ˌhɪθ ˈrɑbɪnsən] adjective British a Heath Robinson machine or method is funny and clever but much too complicated for whatever job it is intended to perform • Etymology: Heath Robinson (1872–1944) was a British… …   English dictionary

  • Heath Robinson — /hiθ ˈrɒbənsən/ (say heeth robuhnsuhn) adjective 1. (of a mechanical device) excessively complicated in its design though intended to perform a simple function. 2. impractical and absurdly complex, as a scheme. Also, Heath Robinsonian. {after the …  

  • Heath Robinson — adjective Brit. ingeniously or ridiculously over complicated in design or construction. Origin early 20th cent.: named after the English cartoonist William Heath Robinson …   English new terms dictionary

  • Heath Robinson — adjective BrE a Heath Robinson machine, system etc is very complicated in an amusing way but not at all practical; rube goldberg AmE heating / hi:tIN/ noun (U) BrE a system for making a room or building warm; the heat AmE: a huge heating bill see …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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