More recently, such machines have been fully constructed for entertainment (for example, a breakfast scene in Peewee's Big Adventure) and in Rube Goldberg competitions. The design of such a 'machine' is often presented on paper and would be impossible to implement in actuality. Usually, these machines consist of a series of simple unrelated devices the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal. Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and ignites lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K), which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M), allowing pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin.Ī Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction–type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and (impractically) overly complicated way. Toucan jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C), which throws cracker (D) past toucan (E). Deliberately complex contraption Professor Butts and the Self-Operating Napkin (1931).
