Rube Goldberg (1883 to 1970) and Heath Robinson (1872 to 1944) were more or less conteporaries and their work, although obviously creative and individual in both cases, does share a set of similarities.
To what extent were they aware of each other’s existence and output?
A candle burns through a piece of string, releasing a weight, which falls onto a seesaw, propelling a bowling ball onto a shelf, where it rolls to the end and knocks over a bottle; the contents of the bottle pour into a suspended jug below; the extra weight causes the jug to pull on a piece of string attached to its handle; the string passes through a pulley to the trigger of a rifle, which fires; the bullet knocks out a wedge that was chocking the wheel of a small trolley on a ramp; the trolley rolls down the ramp and knocks over a broomstick, which falls on a hamster cage, startling the hamster, which begins to run frantically on its wheel; a piece of string wrapped around the wheel’s spindle is wound in, pulling a cork from a barrel of milk, which pours into a trough; attempting to get to the milk, a pig strains against its tether, pulling over a stack of books, which fall on a computer mouse, clicking the ‘Submit Reply’ button.
Or in other words. <bump>
i got nothin’, but i had to give you a free bump and a nomination for “Most Original Revival Posting”.
that was beautiful. Rube would be so proud.
I had no idea that either of the two gentlemen were in fact real people!
I can assure you that the spirits of both of them are alive and well in the contraption I’m currently using to find leaks in a bundle of heat exchanger tubes. The epoxy is setting as I type…