Revised 3/9/2012
There is a monk at the center of the carriage in front of the seated Buddha. The rubbing the Buddha’s chest is an illusion when viewed from a distance. This illusion is created by a shaped disc mounted flush with, and colored to match, the Buddha’s chest. The hand of the monk is attached to the outer edge of the disc. The disc is connected to the carriage drive mechanism and rotates. Seen from a distance, the hand appears to move in a circular motion rubbing the Buddha’s chest. The arm, to which the hand is mounted, has a flexible shoulder joint hidden under the robe, allowing a 360º motion.
Chest Rub Mechanism
The gear mechanism provides the desired speed of chest-rub rotation rate (CRRR). The system is designed to slow the CRRR down to about 2 chest-rub rotations per minute (2CRRRpm) through two sets of beveled gears off the main drive shaft. This CRRRpm can be adjusted by changing the size of the horizontal bevel gear located at the bottom of the main chest rub vertical drive shaft.
By Peter Martin
Last edited on March 20, 2012