"Deliciously detailed" -- The New York Times "Charming" -- U.S. News & World Report
"Amazing" -- The Christian Science Monitor
 "Impressive" -- Tim Gaskill, Star Trek.com
"Awesome" -- Robotics Society of America "Cool" -- NASA Space Telerobotics Program
"Extremely funny" -- The Mercury
"This is VERY cool" -- Mike Carlin, VP DC Comics
BOILERPLATE
NEWS & NOTES
BOILERPLATE
AS SOLDIER
BOILERPLATE
GIFT SHOP
VICTORIAN
ROBOTS
Boilerplate with Archibald Campion.
Click to enlarge photo.
Boilerplate was a mechanical man developed by Professor Archibald Campion during the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Built in a small Chicago laboratory, Boilerplate was originally designed as a prototype soldier for use in resolving the conflicts of nations. Although it was the only such prototype, Boilerplate was eventually able to exercise its proposed function by participating in several combat actions.
In the mid-1890s, Boilerplate embarked on a series of expeditions to demonstrate its abilities, the most ambitious being a voyage to Antarctica. Boilerplate is one of history's great ironies, a technological milestone that remains largely unknown. Even in an age that gave birth to the automobile and aeroplane, a functioning mechanical man should have been accorded more significance.

Boilerplate was first introduced to the public on May 23, 1893,
at the Machinery Hall of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
Above: Boilerplate and Lily Campion gaze southeast from the roof of the Manufacturers Building;
Machinery Hall can be seen at upper right.
Below: A souvenir postcard depicting Machinery Hall at sunset. Note the excursion boats. They ran on Edward Fullerton's fuel cells, the same technology that powered Boilerplate.
Above: Boilerplate pushes Lily Campion in a wheeled touring chair on the fair's Midway Plaisance. Archie is walking next to them. Ironically, the visual cacophony of this unique setting gave Boilerplate some respite from curiosity seekers.
Below: Boilerplate’s image appears on an admission ticket.



Explore the world of Boilerplate through these links:
BOILERPLATE'S
INVENTOR
BOILERPLATE
AS SOLDIER
BP'S
LEGACY
LETTERS TO
BOILERPLATE
BP'S
LAB
ANTARCTIC
BOILERPLATE
BOILERPLATE
NEWS &NOTES
BP'S
TIMELINE
REPRODUCING
BOILERPLATE
BUY
BP

Page under construction:
BOILERPLATE'S
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Page under construction:
BOILERPLATE'S 1905
WHITE FLEET TOUR

The Boilerplate Gift Shop is OPEN!

Click on image below for THE preeminent source of information on robots of the Victorian era.
Boilerplate was honored by the NASA Space Telerobotics Program!
RELATED SITES:
Robot Cafe - Robotics news, forums, links. They rate BP a 10 out of 10--thanks!
MachineBrain - Robotics and "smart machines". Boilerplate's listed in the fighting robots section.
Jeff's Robots - Pictures (Boilerplate among them) and links ranging from silver-screen, to real robots.
William Herod - He chronicles the history of a little know robot known as the Buffalo Iron Man.
Dead Bodies Inc. - America's token robot journal written by robots, for robots.
Robot World - An online dictonary of robots (Boilerplate's included).
Mars - a consise yet comprehensive ('cause BP's listed) robot link list.
Dug North - robotic art, automata, and links (w/Boilerplate, natch!).
Robots will rule the world - 'nuff said!
A DESIGN NOTE
This Boilerplate site was built with Adobe GoLive 4.0. If the green boxes below, or the link box and the header at the top of this page, or even this very box, do not have beveled edges and are instead surrounded by a black border, then your browser is not displaying a significant design element of this site!

All contents copyright 2000, 2008 Paul Guinan.
Boilerplate, Archibald Campion, and all related marks and indicia are trademarks of Paul Guinan.
Questions and comments: guinan@bigredhair.com
This Boilerplate site began in July 2000 with three pages and nine images--
it now contains twenty pages and over one hundred images!
See the site map for a complete list of pages and links

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