Herzmaschine

[Havercake]

Hello everyone.  This is my first post here - and, yes, it is related to FE, although in a slightly oblique way.

Have a look at this 7 minute youtube video clip from Fritz Lang's 1927 movie "Metropolis":

"Die Zerstörung der Herzmaschine / The destruction of the Heart Machine"

Does the Herzmaschine remind you of anything in particular?

(I'll add a comparison photo after you've had a chance to see the video clip.)

Cheers.

[JimBoot]

Hello everyone.  This is my first post here - and, yes, it is related to FE, although in a slightly oblique way.

Have a look at this 7 minute video clip from Fritz Lang's 1927 movie "Metropolis":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDjovyU9CLc "Die Zerstörung der Herzmaschine / The destruction of the Heart Machine"

Does the Herzmaschine remind you of anything in particular?

(I'll add a comparison photo after you've had a chance to see the video clip.)

Cheers.

sure this https://youtu.be/vOWPJEq42l4 testakia device

[Havercake]

sure this https://youtu.be/vOWPJEq42l4 testakia device

Instant recognition!    (glad it isn't just me)

Went to a screening of Metropolis (latest restored version) a couple of weeks ago, and nearly fell off my chair when it came to the "Heart Machine" scene.

Most people (myself included) have tended to assume that the Testatika is based on a Wimshurst machine. But maybe that is a red herring...

[Havercake]

A number of articles about the Testatika either don't mention, or generally down-play, Paul Baumann's "jail time".

However, as this article shows, he was a particularly vile and manipulative individual: (Warning - it is a rather stomach-churning tale)

It is said that Baumann got the idea for his energy machine while serving his prison sentence (1976-1982).

By subsequently presenting his "invention" to the Metheritha community, when rejoining after release from jail, it could be viewed as a cynical way to prove to the other members that he still had the "special powers" of a cult leader.

Regardless of whether it actually worked, to any extent, or was just a complete hoax, it probably still served its purpose.  And if it was "mainly for show", why not make it look like some piece of sci-fi movie stage scenery?  The guy was certainly warped, so maybe he found the idea funny.

[Havercake]

The curious design of the Herzmaschine prompted me to dig a little further into its background.

It seemed slightly odd that the Metropolis power station wasn't simply based on the appearance of a typical turbine & generator hall of the era.  After all, these would have probably looked reasonably "modern" to 1920s audiences.  Here is a typical example, which was build in 1922:



The set designer for the movie was an artist named Erich Kettelhut. It is now possible to see many of his original sketches for the Metropolis sets and models online. Interestingly, his original sketch for the 'heart machine' looked nothing like the final set:



Maybe director Fritz Lang wasn't keen on this design, and asked to see something that looked a bit more "futuristic" instead.



In 1918 a short fictional story appeared in the Electrical Experimenter magazine, called "The magnetic Storm".  It was written by Hugo Gernsback – who was also the publisher of this, and several other "popular science" magazines. The story can be read here.

It was also re-published in a 1926 edition of Amazing Stories – and both were accompanied by the following illustration:



Note that Nikola Tesla actually featured as a character in this story.  He and Hugo Gernsback knew each other well, and Tesla regularly wrote articles for various of Gernsback's popular science magazines.  It seems that the story was also annoted with the following:

                  "The above occurrences as well as the cited experiments and effects of the Tesla currents are
                    actual facts checked by Mr. Tesla himself, who saw the proof of this story.—Editor."

So it seems that there might be a distinct possibility that the design of the Herzmaschine could have been influenced by one of Hugo Gernsback's "scientifiction" story illustrations - and so, indirectly, by Nikola Tesla.

If you watch the movie clip, you will also see that during the destruction sequence large electric arcs are shown leaping between the coils, as well as from other parts of the machine.  The scene is reminiscent of the famous photos taken at Tesla's Colorado Springs laboratory.

Whether Paul Baumann knew any of this when he came up with the basic layout of the Testatika is anyone's guess.