Rube Goldberg machine
Encyclopedia
A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine
that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American
cartoonist
and inventor Rube Goldberg
(1883-1970).
Over the years, the expression has expanded to mean any confusing or complicated system. For example, news headlines include "Is Rep. Bill Thomas
the Rube Goldberg of Legislative Reform?" and "Retirement 'insurance' as a Rube Goldberg machine".
Rube Goldberg's cartoons became well known for depicting complex devices that performed simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The example on the right is Goldberg's "Professor Butts and the Self-Operating Napkin", which was later reprinted in the postcard book, Rube Goldberg's Inventions!, compiled by Maynard Frank Wolfe from the Rube Goldberg Archives. The "Self-Operating Napkin" is activated when soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C), which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin.
In 1931, the Merriam–Webster dictionary adopted the word "Rube Goldberg" as an adjective defined as accomplishing something simple through complex means.
In early 1987, Purdue University
in Indiana
started the annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
, organized by the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau
, a national engineering fraternity. In 2009, the Epsilon Chapter of Theta Tau
established a similar annual contest at the University of California, Berkeley
.
Since around 1997, the kinetic artist
Arthur Ganson
has been the emcee of the annual "Friday After Thanksgiving" (FAT) competition sponsored by the MIT Museum
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Teams of contestants construct elaborate Rube Goldberg style chain-reaction machines on tables arranged around a large gymnasium. Each apparatus is linked by a string to its predecessor and successor machine. The initial string is ceremonially pulled, and the ensuing events are videotaped in closeup, and simultaneously projected on large screens for viewing by the live audience. After the entire cascade of events has finished, prizes are then awarded in various categories and age levels. Videos from several previous years' contests are viewable on the MIT Museum website.
On Food Network's TV show "Challenge", competitors in 2011 were once required to create a Rube Goldberg machine out of sugar.
One of the events in Science Olympiad
involves students building a Rube Goldberg-like device to perform a certain series of tasks.
Undated and incomplete references:
Machine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
and inventor Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
(1883-1970).
Over the years, the expression has expanded to mean any confusing or complicated system. For example, news headlines include "Is Rep. Bill Thomas
Bill Thomas
William Marshall Thomas , commonly known as Bill Thomas, is an American politician, and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979–2007, finishing his tenure representing California's 22nd congressional district and as the Chairman of the House Ways and Means...
the Rube Goldberg of Legislative Reform?" and "Retirement 'insurance' as a Rube Goldberg machine".
Origin
In 1931, the Merriam–Webster dictionary adopted the word "Rube Goldberg" as an adjective defined as accomplishing something simple through complex means.
Similar expressions worldwide
- Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
— a Heath Robinson contraption, named after the fantastical comic machinery illustrated by British cartoonist W. Heath Robinson, shares a similar meaning but predates the Rube Goldberg machine, originating in the UK in 1912. - FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
— a similar machine is called usine à gaz, or gasworksGasworksA gasworks or gas house is a factory for the manufacture of gas. The use of natural gas has made many redundant in the developed world, however they are often still used for storage.- Early gasworks :...
, suggesting a very complicated factory with pipes running everywhere. It is now used mainly among programmers to indicate a complex program, or in journalism to refer to a bewildering law or regulation. - DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
— called Storm P maskiner ("Storm P machines"), after the Danish inventor and cartoonist Robert Storm PetersenRobert Storm PetersenRobert Storm Petersen was a Danish cartoonist, writer, animator, illustrator, painter and humorist. He is known almost exclusively by his pen name Storm P.- Biography :...
. - BengalBengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
— the humorist and children's author Sukumar RaySukumar RaySukumar Ray , , was a Bengali humorous poet, story writer and playwright who mainly wrote for children. As perhaps the most famous Indian practitioner of literary nonsense, he is often compared to Lewis Carroll...
, in his nonsense poem "Abol tabolAbol TabolAbol tabol ; ; is a collection of Bengali children's poems and rhymes composed by Sukumar Ray, first published on 19 September 1923 by U. Ray and Sons...
", had a character (Uncle) with a Rube Goldberg-like machine called "Uncle's contraption". This word is used colloquially in BengaliBengali languageBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
to mean a complex and useless object. - SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
— devices akin to Goldberg's machines are known as Inventos del TBO (tebeo), named after those that several cartoonists ( Nit, Tínez, Marino Benejam, Frances Tur and finally Ramón Sabatés) made up and drew for a section in the TBO magazineMagazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, allegedly designed by some "Professor Franz" from CopenhagenCopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. - NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
— cartoonist and storyteller Kjell AukrustKjell AukrustKjell Aukrust was a Norwegian author, poet and artist. He was the nephew of Olav Aukrust. He is most famous for his memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal in the books Simen, Bonden and Bror Min, and his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa and its cast of idiosyncratic characters...
created a cartoon character named Reodor Felgen, who constantly invented complex machinery. Though it was often built out of unlikely parts, it always performed very well. Felgen stars as the inventor of an extremely powerful but overly complex car, Il Tempo Gigante, in the Ivo CaprinoIvo CaprinoIvo Caprino was a Norwegian film director and writer, best known for his puppet films. His most famous film is Flåklypa Grand Prix , made in 1975.- Early career :...
animated puppet film Flåklypa Grand PrixFlåklypa Grand PrixFlåklypa Grand Prix is a Norwegian stop motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust...
(1975). - AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
— cartoonist Bruce PettyBruce PettyBruce Petty is one of Australia’s best known political satirists and cartoonists. He is a regular contributor to Melbourne's The Age newspaper...
depicts such themes as the economy, international relations or other social issues as complex interlocking machines that manipulate, or are manipulated by, people. - TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
— such devices are known as Zihni Sinir Proceleri, allegedly invented by a certain Prof. Zihni Sinir ("Crabby Mind"), a curious scientist character created by İrfan Sayar in 1977 for the cartoon magazine GırgırGirgirGırgır was one of the best selling cartoon magazines in Europe in the 1970s with nearly a million copies a week. It was founded by Oguz Aral.So many caricaturist was trained here like Metin Üstündağ....
. The cartoonist later went on to open a studio selling actual working implementations of his designs. - JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
— "Pythagorean devices" or "Pythagoras switch". PythagoraSwitch (ピタゴラスイッチ, "Pitagora Suicchi") is the name of a TV show featuring such devices. Another related phenomenon is the Japanese artJapanese artJapanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
of chindōguChindoguis the Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem. However, chindōgu has a distinctive feature: anyone actually attempting to use one of these inventions would find that it causes so many new problems, or such...
, which involves inventions that are hypothetically useful but of limited actual utility. - AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
— Franz Gsellmann has worked for decades on a machine that he named the Weltmaschine ("world machine"), having many similarities to a Rube Goldberg machine. - GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
— such machines are often called "Was-passiert-dann-Maschine" ("What happens next machine") for the German name of similar devices used by Kermit the FrogKermit the FrogKermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
in the children's TV show Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
.
Professional artists
- Tim HawkinsonTim HawkinsonTim Hawkinson is an artist from the United States of America who mostly works as a sculptor.- Education :Hawkinson was born in San Francisco, California, and graduated from San Jose State University; in 1989 he earned an MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles.- Work :Hawkinson′s work is...
— has made several art pieces that contain complex apparatuses that are generally used to make abstract artAbstract artAbstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
or music. Many of them are centered around the randomness of other devices (such as a slot machineSlot machineA slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
) and are dependent on them to create some menial effect. - Peter Fischli & David WeissPeter Fischli & David WeissPeter Fischli and David Weiss , often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, are an artist duo that have been collaborating since 1979. They are among the most renowned contemporary artists of Switzerland...
— Swiss artists known for their movie Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things GoThe Way Things GoThe Way Things Go is a 1987 art film by the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss. It documents a long causal chain assembled of everyday objects, resembling a Rube Goldberg machine....
).
Competitions
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
started the annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is a contest that seeks to be "a way of helping students transcend traditional ways of looking at problems", by using a challenge that "must be completed in as creative a way as possible"...
, organized by the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau
Theta Tau
ΘΤ Fraternity was founded in 1904 by four engineering students at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As defined by the fraternity, the purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of...
, a national engineering fraternity. In 2009, the Epsilon Chapter of Theta Tau
Theta Tau
ΘΤ Fraternity was founded in 1904 by four engineering students at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As defined by the fraternity, the purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of...
established a similar annual contest at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Since around 1997, the kinetic artist
Kinetic art
Kinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.-Kinetic sculpture:...
Arthur Ganson
Arthur Ganson
Arthur Ganson is a renowned kinetic sculptor. Ganson makes mechanical art demonstrations and Rube Goldberg machines with existential themes. Ganson has held residencies in science museums, collaborated with the Studebaker Movement Theatre, and been featured in one-man shows at the MIT Museum,...
has been the emcee of the annual "Friday After Thanksgiving" (FAT) competition sponsored by the MIT Museum
MIT Museum
MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, artificial intelligence, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. Its holography collection of 1800 pieces is the largest in...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Teams of contestants construct elaborate Rube Goldberg style chain-reaction machines on tables arranged around a large gymnasium. Each apparatus is linked by a string to its predecessor and successor machine. The initial string is ceremonially pulled, and the ensuing events are videotaped in closeup, and simultaneously projected on large screens for viewing by the live audience. After the entire cascade of events has finished, prizes are then awarded in various categories and age levels. Videos from several previous years' contests are viewable on the MIT Museum website.
On Food Network's TV show "Challenge", competitors in 2011 were once required to create a Rube Goldberg machine out of sugar.
One of the events in Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...
involves students building a Rube Goldberg-like device to perform a certain series of tasks.
Examples in media
Where possible, works are arranged in a loose chronological order, so priority of invention and influences can be inferred.- Our Gang (a.k.a. Little Rascals), "Hook and Ladder" (1932) - and various other Little Rascals Film Shorts contained various seemingly-functional examples of Rube Goldberg Machines.
- Betty Boop and Grampy (1935)- a cartoon featuring animated character Betty BoopBetty BoopBetty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
. Betty Boop goes to a party where Grampy uses a variety of impractical machines, notably to play music. The cartoon itself is available on YouTube. - Designs on JerryDesigns on JerryDesigns on Jerry is the 93rd one reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1953 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge with backgrounds by John Didrik Johnsen...
(1953) — an episode of Tom and JerryTom and JerryTom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
which featured a blueprintBlueprintA blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
plan for an elaborate mousetrap, which magically comes to life - Hook, Line and StinkerHook, Line and StinkerHook, Line and Stinker is a 1958 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series featuring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Production number 1487.-Plot:...
(1958) — Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon character Wile E. Coyote builds a Rube Goldberg machine in attempt to catch Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese... - Chitty Chitty Bang BangChitty Chitty Bang BangChitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car is a children's book written by Ian Fleming for his son Caspar, with illustrations by John Burningham...
(1968) — includes a sequence near the beginning of the film where breakfast is "made" by eccentric inventor Caractacus PottsCaractacus PottsCaractacus Potts is one of the main characters in the family film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He is an eccentric inventor who lives with his twin eight-year-old children, Jeremy & Jemima, and Grandpa Potts, on the Potts' hilltop farm...
. - In the late 1960s and early 70s, educational shows like Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
and The Electric CompanyThe Electric CompanyThe Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
routinely showed bits that involved Rube Goldberg devices, including the Rube Goldberg Alphabet Contraption, and the What Happens Next Machine. - Back to the FutureBack to the FutureBack to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
(1985) — shows Doc Brown (Christopher LloydChristopher LloydChristopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
) using a Rube Goldberg machine to start cooking his breakfast and feed his dog when the clock turns to a certain time in the morning. Doc Brown also creates a similar machine using 1885 technology in Back to the Future Part IIIBack to the Future Part IIIBack to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction comedy Western film. It is the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The film...
(1990). - The GooniesThe GooniesThe Goonies is a 1985 American adventure-comedy film directed by Richard Donner. The screenplay was written by Chris Columbus from a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. The premise surrounds a band of pre-teens who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon hoping to save...
(1985) — has an early scene where 'Chunk' (actor Jeff Cohen) has to perform the 'truffle shuffle' to be allowed entry in the Goonies house. The door is opened through a Rube Goldberg device. - Brazil (1985) — directed by Terry GilliamTerry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
and set in a dystopian totalitarian bureaucratic society, features many Rube Goldberg machines with specific household uses. - Pee-wee's Big AdventurePee-wee's Big AdventurePee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his full-length debut and starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman. Reubens also co-wrote the script with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. Supporting roles are played by Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane...
(1985) utilized a Rube Goldberg Machine for the "Breakfast Machine" sequence. This scene is also parodied in the season 4 Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter. - The Way Things GoThe Way Things GoThe Way Things Go is a 1987 art film by the Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss. It documents a long causal chain assembled of everyday objects, resembling a Rube Goldberg machine....
(1987) — a short film by artists and sculptural collagists Peter Fischli & David WeissPeter Fischli & David WeissPeter Fischli and David Weiss , often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, are an artist duo that have been collaborating since 1979. They are among the most renowned contemporary artists of Switzerland...
; features an elaborate chain reaction made from old junk in an empty industrial space. - Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989) — in this TamilTamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
language film, Appu (Kamal HaasanKamal HaasanKamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...
) kills Francis Anbarasu (Delhi GaneshDelhi GaneshDelhi Ganesh born in Tirunelveli as a veteran Tamil film actor, who mostly acts in supporting roles and is perhaps best known for his role in Kamal Hassan comedies and films like Nayagan and Michael Madana Kama Rajan. He has acted in more than 400 films from 1980 to present...
) using a Rube Goldberg machine. - Wallace and GromitWallace and GromitWallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
(1989?—2010) — a series of films featuring many contraptions that qualify as Rube Goldberg machines. - Edward ScissorhandsEdward ScissorhandsEdward Scissorhands is a 1990 romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. The film shows the story of an artificial man named Edward, an unfinished creation, who has scissors for hands. Edward is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with their teenage daughter...
(1990) — the Inventor, Edward's "father" (Vincent PriceVincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
), looks on as puppet-like robots prepare cookies. He then takes a heart shaped cookie and holds it to the hollow chest of his lifeless anthropomorphic creation, inspiring him to create the creature Edward Scissorhands. - The Thief and the CobblerThe Thief and the CobblerThe Thief and the Cobbler is an animated feature film, famous for its animation and its long, troubled history. The film was conceived by Canadian animator Richard Williams, who worked 28 years on the project. Beginning production in 1964, Williams intended The Thief and the Cobbler to be his...
(1993)/(1995) — in the climax, the protagonist Tack causes the machine of the evil One-Eye to collapse by firing a tack at the machine which causes a Rube Goldberg-like destruction. - Of Course, You Know This Means Warners / Up a Tree/ Wakko's Gizmo (1994) — in episode 57 of AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, Wakko builds a Rube Goldberg device which results in a whoopee cushionWhoopee cushionA whoopee cushion, also known as a poo-poo cushion and Razzberry Cushion, is a practical joke device, used in a form of flatulence humor, which produces a noise resembling a raspberry or human flatulence. It is made from two sheets of rubber that are glued together at the edges...
being set off. - Dexter's Lab — In the 2001 episode, A Failed Experiment, Dexter is too impatient to hang around and watch his grandfather's Rube Goldberg contraption, missing exactly the kind of finish he'd been longing for.
- PythagoraSwitch (2002?) — a Japanese children's show which features contraptions several times in an episode and features both machines constructed by the show's staff and videos of machines created by viewers.
- Cog (2003) — a HondaHondais a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
television commercial featuring a complex Rube Goldberg machine made with Honda parts, utilising ideas from The Way Things Go; accused of plagiarismPlagiarismPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous... - Dead Like MeDead Like MeDead Like Me was an American-Canadian comedy-drama television series starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers who reside and work in Seattle, Washington. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, the show was created by Bryan Fuller for the Showtime network, where it ran for two seasons...
(2003-2004) — in this Showtime series, many deaths occur through Rube Goldberg scenarios. - An Honest MistakeAn Honest Mistake"An Honest Mistake" is the debut single by New York City-based American indie/alternative rock band The Bravery. The song is the lead track on the band's self-titled debut album The Bravery as well. It was released in the UK on February 28, 2005 and charted as high as #7 in the UK Singles Chart...
(2005) — music video by the alternative rockAlternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The BraveryThe BraveryThe Bravery is an American rock band from New York City that consists of Sam Endicott , Michael Zakarin , John Conway , Mike Hindert , and Anthony Burulcich... - Waiting... (2005) showed a Rube Goldberg machine in the end credits
- El HormigueroEl HormigueroEl Hormiguero is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and politics running since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos and aired on Cuatro, a Spanish television station, until June 11, 2011 but since September 5, 2011 is...
(2006—present) — in this Spanish TV show, at least once a week in the segment El Efecto Mariposa (The Butterfly Effect), a Rube Goldberg machine is developed whose final part tends to show something related to that day's guest. - The New CupThe New Cup"The New Cup" is the second episode of the second season of the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords. This episode was first aired in the United States on January 25, 2009.-Plot synopsis:...
(2009) — this episode of Flight of the ConchordsFlight of the Conchords (TV series)Flight of the Conchords is an American television comedy series that debuted on HBO on June 17, 2007. The show follows the adventures of Flight of the Conchords, a two-man band from New Zealand, as its members seek fame and success in New York City. The show stars the real-life duo, Jemaine Clement...
includes a Rube-Goldberg accident that destroys a mug. - This Too Shall PassThis Too Shall Pass (song)"This Too Shall Pass" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The single was released in January 2010. The band took the unorthodox route of creating two official music videos for the song, both of which premiered on YouTube. The first features a live...
(2010) — the promotional music video for OK GoOK GoOK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
's single features a giant Rube Goldberg machine working in sync with the song. Members of the band are bodily moved about and splattered with colored paint near the end of the video. - MythBustersMythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
made a Rube Goldberg Machine in their 2006 Christmas Special that concludes in dumping the crash test dummy Buster on the floor. - Final Destination (film series)Final Destination (film series)The Final Destination series is a series of horror films based on an unproduced script written by Jeffrey Reddick for the X-Files television series. Distributed by New Line Cinema, all five films are centered on the themes of fatalism, predestination, and precognition, in relation to death...
In each Final Destination, a group of people die in a series of elaborate, invariably fatal and often gory scenarios that frequently resemble Rube Goldberg machines in their complexity.
Undated and incomplete references:
- In the episode iDon't Wanna Fight of the Nickelodeon TV show iCarlyICarlyiCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
, Carly's older brother Spencer builds a Rube Goldberg device to feed his goldfish. - In an episode of the Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
show Ed, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n Eddy is an original animated television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by Canadian-based a.k.a. Cartoon. It premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999. Ed, Edd n Eddy was one of Cartoon Network's longest running and most successful franchises and the longest-running...
, Edd and Eddy constructed a giant Rube Goldberg machine disguised as the Statue of LibertyStatue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
in order to destroy Ed's violin, but it failed because Edd purposely sabotaged it by luring Ed away from the target. - On July 4, 2010, GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
changed its logo into a Rube Goldberg machine in honor of Rube Goldberg's birthday. - In the cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Mystery Inc. often used a Rube Goldberg trap designed by Fred to capture the villain of the episode, for such things as throwing a net. Often, however, the said trap would fail, with the outcome usually being that ShaggyShaggy RogersNorville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character from the American animated television series Scooby-Doo, about the adventures of four crime-solving teenagers and Shaggy's pet great dane, Scooby-Doo. Shaggy is a cowardly slacker more interested in eating than solving mysteries. He is the only...
or Scooby-DooScooby-Doo (character)Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and the protagonist in the Scooby-Doo animated television series created by the popular American animation company Hanna-Barbera...
would be captured instead, or the trap would miss. - In the Suite Life on DeckThe Suite Life on DeckThe Suite Life on Deck is an American sitcom that aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008 to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/spin-off of the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody...
episode "A London Carol", Zack constructs a Rube Goldberg machine to trick Mr. Moseby instead of waking up and getting to work on time. - In the Cartoon NetworkCartoon NetworkCartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
TV series Adventure TimeAdventure TimeAdventure Time was a local children's television show on WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1959 to 1975. It was hosted by the late Paul Shannon, with guitarist Joe Negri and puppeteer Jim Martin...
, Finn makes a Rube Goldberg-like machine to help everyone who needs to solve their problems. - The 2010 Times Square SUV bomb was referred to as a "Rube Goldberg contraption" by James Cavanaugh, a former ATF agent working with New York City to investigate the attempted terrorist act.
- Rube Goldberg machines are featured repeatedly in the movies of Jean-Pierre JeunetJean-Pierre Jeunet-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
. They are a major topic of the black comedy film DelicatessenDelicatessen (film)Delicatessen is a 1991 French black comedy film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It is set in an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the building and their desperate...
, most notably because of the contraptions with which Aurore Interligator unsuccessfully tries to kill herself. Much of The City of Lost ChildrenThe City of Lost ChildrenThe City of Lost Children is a dystopian French fantasy/drama film by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet released in 1995. The film is stylistically related to the previous and subsequent Jeunet films, Delicatessen and Amélie. It was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:A mad scientist,...
is set in a Rube Goldberg-like laboratory, and it's a prominent theme of Micmacs. - (Wakko's Gizmo) - in an episode of Animaniacs, Wakko puts together a Rube Goldberg machine that spans throughout the planet.
- In a Halloween episode of Wishbone, one of the main characters presses a button, setting off a goldberg machine, revealing a clue. Wishbone comments "Well, that was kind of cool!"
- In the 23rd episode of the 6th season of FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, The tip top of Zoidberg where Bender, Lila, Fry and the others make a goldberg killing machine to prevent the professor turning into a yeti - At the end of the episode 'Revenge of the Ghostmaster' from 'The Real GhostbustersThe Real GhostbustersThe Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. The series ran from 1986 to 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. "The Real" was added to the title after a dispute with...
', Ray, Egon and Slimer use a relatively simple Rube Goldberg Machine to trap the Ghostmaster from over forty feet away.
Games
- Mouse TrapMouse Trap (board game)Mouse Trap is a board game first published by Ideal in 1963 for two or more players. Over the course of the game, players at first cooperate to build a working Rube Goldberg-like mouse trap...
(1963) — classic board game in which a Rube Goldberg style mousetrap is built and operated - The Incredible Machine (aka TIM), a video game
- Garry's ModGarry's ModGarry's Mod is a sandbox physics game using the Source engine. Garry's Mod has been available on Steam's content delivery service since November 29, 2006...
, another video game mod which can create Rube Goldberg machines - Armadillo RunArmadillo RunArmadillo Run is the title of a transport puzzle video game created by Peter Stock. The game is currently in version 1.0.6, and is only legally available from the .-Objective:...
, a videogame where the goal is to move a ball to certain point - Marble DropMarble Drop- Gameplay :Players are given an initial set of 42 marbles divided evenly into six colors. These marbles are picked up and dropped by the player into funnels leading to a series of rails, switches, traps and other devices which grow more complex as the game progresses. The aim is to ensure that...
(1997) - Crazy MachinesCrazy MachinesCrazy Machines is a puzzle computer game created by a FAKT Software GmbH. Crazy Machines based many of its ideas on The Incredible Machine series of games...
(2005) - Fallout 3Fallout 3Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and the third major installment in the Fallout series. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia in October 2008, and in Japan in December 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
, in the Gold Ribbon Grocers at the location Jury Street Metro Station - Halo 3Halo 3Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
and Halo Reach, Rube Goldberg machines have been created in both games using Forge - Tinkerbox, a Rube Goldberg-esque game for the iPad
- MinecraftMinecraftMinecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
, as Rube Goldberg machines are very popular - The Powder Toy, It is possible to create Rube Goldberg Machines
See also
- TurboencabulatorTurboencabulatorThe Turboencabulator or turbo-encabulator is a fictional machine whose alleged existence became an in-joke and subject of professional humor among engineers...
- W. Heath RobinsonW. Heath RobinsonWilliam Heath Robinson was an English cartoonist and illustrator, best known for drawings of eccentric machines....
- Storm P
- Rolling Ball SculptureRolling Ball SculptureA rolling ball sculpture, sometimes referred to as a marble run, a ball run, a gravitram, or a rolling ball machine is a form of kinetic art – an art form of that contains moving pieces – that specifically involves one or more rolling balls...
- DeathtrapDeathtrap (plot device)A deathtrap is a literary and dramatic plot device in which a villain, who has captured the hero or another sympathetic character, attempts to use an elaborate and usually sadistic method of murdering him/her....
- Booby trapBooby trapA booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...
- Gyro GearlooseGyro GearlooseGyro Gearloose is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic chicken created by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. He is part of the Scrooge McDuck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge and anyone who is associated with them. He was also a frequent star...
- Domino effectDomino effectThe domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...
- VeeblefetzerVeeblefetzerVeeblefetzer is a word usually used facetiously as a placeholder name for any obscure or complicated object or mechanism, such as automobile parts, computer code and model railroad equipment....
External links
- The Official Rube Goldberg Web Site
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Oral History Interview, 1970
- Annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
- Detailed specifications of an award-winning Rube Goldberg machine from the New York City science fair
- Friday After Thanksgiving (FAT) chain reaction competition at the MIT MuseumMIT MuseumMIT Museum, founded in 1971, is the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, artificial intelligence, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. Its holography collection of 1800 pieces is the largest in...