Rotation Plate, Fischertechnik and Spirograph (1957-1970)
The three motifs Rotation Plate from 1957 are painted on paper that is mounted on a pressboard. It was drawn on it by hand by Franke while it was rotating on a record player. The inspiration for this method came from the documentary filmmaker Rolf Engler, in whose small castle in Kreuzpullach Franke lived for several years. Franke adopted this idea to draw small strokes on the rotating paper with a charcoal pencil, resulting in the typical spiral structures.
In the 1960s, Franke devoted himself to creating ornamental patterns and figuring out how to produce them mechanically. The history of such machines dates back two centuries to when guilloché machines first appeared. These machines had a system of interlocking gears that guided a stylus across a flat surface to create an ornamental pattern of intersecting lines. Guilloché designs, albeit produced by computers, can still be found on banknotes and securities today. Not only has Franke engaged with the generation of such “patterns of lines” from a mathematical-theoretical perspective and experimented with commercial ornamentographs, such as the Spirograph, but he has also been constructing his own homemade drawing machines since the 1960s. Franke built several plotter models for the automated plotting of CAM curves using an electrically powered control device. Franke maintained a close friendship with Arthur Fischer, the founder of the company and inventor of the famous Fischer dowel, from that time on.
Shown below: Images of a Fischertechnik plate that is easy to operate manually. The corresponding CAM plate made of Fischertechnik building blocks is ishown in the first image. Herbert W. Franke workded as a consultant for Fischertechnik and wrote the book “Little Inventors—Great Inventions”. Fischer had also developed the Fischertechnik building block system as a toy for young engineers. This system is still used today in universities for construction models. However, Franke’s fervent wish to bring a plotter to market using Fischertechnik did not come to fruition. Although the company founder was positive about the idea, the project failed due to resistance from the marketing department. They considered the project to have little chance of success.
