The Rube Goldberg Machine Component
What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?
Reuben Goldberg (1883-1970) was a cartoonist and inventor who created a series
of drawings of comic “inventions”. These machines were convolutedly designed
contraptions to be used for simple everyday tasks like the opening of a window, or
the ringing of an alarm clock. The essence behind any Rube Goldberg machine is
putting together different materials lying around the place in an overcomplicated
manner to achieve a very simple objective.
What is the objective of this RG machine?
The uncomplicated task of rotating the polarizer at the back
of the fish tank to change the color spectrum observed is
achieved by the rotation of the axle of the see-saw lever,
powered by the weight of the ball launched through tubes.
Image Source: http://www.getsetsite.org/mst/Rube/5000.jpg
How does the machine work and what is it made of?
Using elementary principles of kinematics (simple concepts like gravity, friction,
torque, etc.) we designed and built a fun series of launches and twists and turns
using everything from PVC tubing to paper and plastic cups, pieces of bath mat,
wire and scotch tape (lots of it!). The initial position of the ball is resting atop the
spring launcher that sets it in motion when pulled back, much like a pinball
machine launcher. The ball flies up the tubes and into a plastic cup fixed to one end
of the lever. It rotates the lever until it tilts the cup enough to escape. It then rolls
through a tunnel to reach the original launch tube. Meanwhile, The swing of the
lever balanced by a counterweight rotates the axle which in turn rotates the
polarizer.
Many thanks go to Greg Widberg for making this project possible.
- by Svati Goyal