Zadoc Dederick

Zadoc Pratt Dederick (August 8, 1849 - February 22, 1923) was an American patent attorney and inventor who, in 1868, was the co-patenter (with Isaac Grass) of a carriage pulled by a steam-driven mechanical walking machine given the appearance of a man and advertised as the Newark Steam Man.

Selected Patents

 * US75874. Dederick, Zadoc P., Grass, Isaac. Steam-Carriage. Published 24 Mar. 1868. "A steam engine is connected to a system of levers which move, in imitations of the human legs, by the reciprocation of the piston. The mechanism is attached to a wheeled carriage which serves to steady the figure upon its legs, and is drawn thereby." https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=75874A&KC=A&FT=D



Press Coverage

 * "Mr. Zadock Dederick has brought his 'steam man' to New York, and will exhibit him in Broadway, in a building nearly opposite to the ruins of Barnum's Museum. This steam man is seven feet nine inches in hight, weighs 500 pounds, and measures 200 inches around the waist. The motion of the legs is quite natural. The abdominal region is occupied by a good-sized furnace, which was in full blast. The boiler is concealed from the public gaze, but is presumed to be somewhere above the furnace. The steam whistle is fixed in the rear of the hat, just above the brim, and the safety valve in an appropriate position. He wears a large, stove-pipe hat &mdash; stove-pipe literally, for it is through the cranium the funnel passes. The steam man proper is but the figure-head, as it were, of a handsome phaeton, capable of accommodating four persons, together with a tank to contain half a day's supply of water, and a bunker for a day's coal. The entire driving machinery is at the rear of the steam man, and within easy grasp of the driver seated on the front seat, who, any time, can increase or diminish the speed, turn, stop, curve, etc. Twenty pounds of steam will set the man in motion, and twenty cents' worth of coal will work him for a day &mdash; so the inventor says. The engine is four-horse power, and the man takes thirty inches in each stride. Perhaps the most extraordinary attribute of this animal is the faculty of stepping over all obstructions not higher than a foot. The inventor proposes also to produce shortly a steam horse adapted to ploughing and the heavier kinds of draft and burden. In consequence of objections on the part of insurance companies, the owner of the building where the new invention is now exhibited refuses to allow any perambulatory movements of the iron man, and he was seen yesterday in a fixed position, with the legs moving backwards and forth. In a short time the inventor will be able to show the machine in another location, where free motion will not be proscribed. As soon as the weather will permit, the iron man will set out on his travels to Chicago to demonstrate the entire success of the invention."
 * "The inventor and exhibitor of the Newark Steam Man (Mr. Zadoc Dederick,) has improved the occasion of the Barnum fire excitement by hiring rooms in the opposite house &mdash; on Broadway &mdash; for tho purpose of exhibiting his eighth wonder of the world. As a speculative enterprise, the idea must have been a success, for at 10 o'clock this morning, a large number of persons had congregated at the door clamorously seeking admission. Mr. Steam Man is a person of commanding presence, standing seven feet nine inches in his stocking vamps, weighs five hundred pounds, measures two hundred inches round the waist, and decidedly bucolic in general appearance.&mdash; The legs are made of iron cranks, screws, springs, ad infinitum, not quite as attractive in exterior as those we see iu the weekly pictorials, but evidently of greater durability and strength.&mdash; The motion of the legs is almost fac simile to that of the human extremities. The abdominal region is occupied by a good sized furnace, which was in full blast. The steam man's boiler is delicately concealed from the profanity of the public gaze, but is presumed to be somewhere above the furnace. The steam whistle is fixed in his mouth, the gauge at the back of his head, and the safety valve in an appropriate position. He wears a large stove pipe hat &mdash; stove pipe literally, for it is through the cranium the funnel passes. The steam man proper is but a figure-bead, as it were, of a handsome phaeton, capable of accommodating four persons, together with a tank to contain half a day's supply of water and a bunk for a day's coal. The entire driving machinery is at the rear of the steam man, and within easy grasp of the driver seated on the front seat, who, at any time, can increase or diminish the speed, turn, stop, curve, etc. Twenty pounds of steam will set the man in motion, and twenty cents worth of coal will work him for a day&mdash; so the inventor avers! Mr. Dederick says that he can easily accomplish a mile in two minutes on a level course, and offers to test this on Long Island Course as soon as the weather gets fine. The engine is four-horse power, and the man takes thirty inches in each stride. Perhaps the most extraordinary attribute of the animal is the faculty of stepping over all obstructions not higher than a foot. (Of course all these assertions are the inventor's, and not the result of the reporter's investigations.) It or he may he detached from a phaeton and yoked to a sleigh or any kind of wagon. Mr. Dederick is ready to procreate &mdash; without any regard to the conventional idea of nine months parturition &mdash; steam men at a cost of $300 apiece. He will also shortly produce a steam horse adapted to ploughing, and the heavier kinds of draught and burden. Whether the steam man prove of any practical good or not, he is unquestionably a great curiosity.&mdash; N. Y. Express."