Goldberg machine

Throughout the 20th century, caricaturists in various countries used the image of very complex machines that perform unexpectedly simple actions to create a comic effect. As a rule, such mechanisms are named in these countries, associated with the artist depicting these mechanisms.

In 1915, the New York artist Rub Goldberg, who has engineering education, creates cartoons for newspapers depicting mechanisms that perform very simple actions in an extremely confusing, complex and often comical way. Among these works, the cycle of inventions of the insane professor Lucifer Gorgonzola stands out ^[1] . These works become popular, and already in 1931, “Rube Goldberg” was included in Webster’s dictionary as an adjective, meaning the achievement of something simple by complex means ^[4] .

A little earlier, English artist William Heath Robinson ( English ) publishes caricatures of crazy inventions in newspapers, which in a complex and confusing way produce ridiculously simple results, parodying various senseless inventions of the First World War. He gained fame by illustrating Norman Hunter's books on Professor Brainstom, an eccentric and forgetful inventor of complex mechanisms. In the UK, such complex mechanisms are known as Robinson machines ^[1] . The name Robinson was named Heath Robinson (codebreaking machine) a , used during World War II to crack the German Lorenz cipher machine ^{[5] [6] [7]} .

At the same time, Danish artist Robert Storm Petersen, known under the pseudonym Storm P , creates drawings with similar complex machines. Therefore, in Denmark, such mechanisms are called “Storm P machines” ^[1] .

In India, the humorist and children's writer Sukumar Rai in his poem “Strange and Random” shows the character Uncle, who creates an absurdly complex mechanism. In the colloquial Bengali "Uncle invention" began to denote a complex and useless subject.

In Spain, mechanisms similar to Goldberg’s machines are called the “Invention of TBO” ( isp. Inventos del TBO ) or the abbreviated “tebeo”, so named because of the comic book “ TBO ”, where the “great inventions of Professor Franz from Copenhagen” were shown.

In Norway, caricaturist Chell Aukrush created the cartoon character of Reodor Felgen, who constantly creates sophisticated techniques from various improvised means that work in incredible ways.

In Turkey, such devices are known as Zihni Sinir Projeleri, on behalf of their inventor, fictional professor Zihni Sinir (Irritable mind), created by Irfan Sayar in 1977 for the comic book magazine Gırgır. The cartoonist later opened a studio selling working implementations of such mechanisms.

In the USSR, for the children's magazine " Murzilka " caricatures of Goldberg's cars were drawn by artist Alexander Semenov for many years.

In Japan, there is a similar concept - mind , it includes all the less useful inventions, regardless of complexity.

American sculptor Tim Hawkinson created several installations using the domino principle.

Fishley and Weiss - a duet of Swiss artists, best known for the short film “ The Way of Things, ” which shows a complex machine consisting of everyday things.

There are several regular contests for building Goldberg cars.

In 1949, at Purdue University (Indiana, USA), a tradition of competitions in the construction of Goldberg machines between the student fraternity of the Triangle engineers and the department of Te The Tau technical fraternity arose. They were held annually until 1956, when they temporarily ceased. In 1983, the competition was revived by the department of Pi, but for all Purdue students ^[8] . Since 1988, the competition has become national and takes place in Purdue every March with the participation of winners of local competitions organized with the support of Theta Tau ^[9] . In 2009, the Epsilon branch of the same fraternity created a similar annual competition at the University of California, Berkeley ^[10] . During the competition, various teams compete in a specific task, for example, pour juice into a glass or replace a light bulb.

Since 1998, kinetic sculptor Arthur Hanson has been leading the annual competition “Friday after Thanksgiving,” sponsored by the Museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts ^[11] .

In the American short film “Hook and Ladder” (1932) from the series “ Shotgun ” several similar mechanisms are shown.

In the cartoon Leopold the Cat Summer , mice build a cat trap that looks like a Goldberg machine. But Leopold accidentally disrupts the plans of the mice, as a result of which the trap works in the opposite direction, and the rodents themselves fall under its action ^[1] . In a computer game based on the cartoon, building a trap is the main task.

In the 12th edition of the animated series “ Well, wait! "The museum shows the situation of the machine Goldberg. The wolf takes the tiniest ball, shoots Hare and misses: the ball bounces off the wall next to Hare’s head, who dodged at the last moment, and hits the African archer’s mannequin. He pierces the mannequin of the ancient Greek hoplite with an arrow, which, in turn, throws a spear at the arbalester’s mannequin; the latter shoots with a crossbow bolt directly at the cannon that fires, after which the real cannonade begins in the hall.

In the screensaver of the Japanese television show for children “Pythagorean Switch” (by Pythagoras Suit ピ タ ゴ ラ ス ッ チ) бер )) , the Goldberg machine is shown, which is the name of the show. ^{[1] The} screensaver changes many times, introducing the new Goldberg cars. ^[12]

In the 10th special edition of the TV show “ Destroyers of Legends ”, the hosts created an abstruse car from Coca-Cola, Mentos, a bowling ball, toys, roast turkey and trash in the workshop, 30 meters long with 60 moving parts ^[1] . Later, the main presenters, Jamie Heineman and Adam Savage, created the TV show “Chain Reaction” ( Unchained Reaction ), in which two teams of enthusiasts compete in creating Goldberg machines on a specific topic from the materials provided, and Heineman and Savage themselves evaluate them on the basis of ingenuity , respect for the topic and aesthetics.

In 2003, the commercial “Cog” (from English - “Gear”) was released, advertising the car “ Honda Accord ”, in which the Goldberg machine was created from car parts ^[1] . Fishley and Weiss threatened Honda with plagiarism ^[13] , but in the end did not sue ^[14] . Nevertheless, the video has received numerous awards, positive reviews from critics and popularity among viewers.

One of the episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files ( Goldberg Variant ) tells about a man whose extraordinary luck consists of intricate sequences of events.

Goldberg machine is used in the screen saver of the series " Elementary ."

In the short film " Designs on Jerry " from the " Tom and Jerry " series, Tom's cat creates a project of a complex mechanism for catching Jerry's mouse , but he changes one number in the drawing, which results in a cat after launching the built machine. In the short film " Shutter Bugged Cat " (which is a compilation of several past ones, including Designs on Jerry), Tom analyzes his mistakes in past attempts to catch a mouse and builds the same trap and again Jerry changes one number and the safe falls on Tom. In the movie “ Back to the Future ”, one of the main characters, Dr. Emmett Brown, creates a Goldberg machine for feeding the dog, and in “ Back to the Future 3 ”, a similar machine for producing ice ^[1] .

In the movie “The Big Adventure of Pee-Wee, ” the main character uses a sophisticated breakfast-making machine ^{[15] [16]} . Pee-Wee's “Breakfast Machine” was parodied in the animated series “ Family Guy ” in the episode “ 8 Simple Rules for My Childage Daughter ” ^[17] .

In “ Edward Scissorhands ” one of the main character’s memoirs is shown, in which in the castle of its creator there is a complicated cooking machine ^[1] .

Such a machine is also shown at the beginning of the movie "The Rock" (used to extinguish the flame).

In Chicago, the American rock band OK Go uses Goldberg’s car as the main idea in one of the video clips for the song “This Too Shall Pass” ^[18] . It includes metal balls, lamps, umbrellas, a piano, a desk, a cart from a supermarket, the band members themselves and much more.

An American rock band from New York, The Bravery, in the video for the song "An Honest Mistake" uses the Goldberg machine throughout the clip.

The Kaplamino video blogger creates Goldberg machines ^[19] .

Goldberg machines are shown in the Japanese television show ^[20] .

In the computer games " The Incredible Machine ", " Crazy Machines ", " Fantastic Contraption ", the player needs to create Goldberg machines from available items to complete the tasks ^[1] .

In the games “ Armadillo Run ”, “ World of Goo ”, “ Crayon Physics Deluxe ” the game process is similar to the creation of Goldberg mechanisms ^[1] .

There is an Android game called Rube works. Gameplay is the creation of Goldberg machines from a given set of objects. The machines are repeated according to the work schemes of Rub, and after passing the level, the original drawing is shown - an image of this machine.

In the game “Amazing Alex”, created for the Android and iOS operating systems, it is necessary to assemble “mechanisms” from everyday objects, the details of which are not always physically related to each other (more often - by physical laws). What to some extent can also be called the creation of just entertaining machines ^[21] .

Garry's Mod is a modification of Half-Life 2 that allows the player to manipulate objects and experiment with physics. With it, many enthusiasts create Goldberg virtual machines. It is also used for training and experimentation by competitors at Purdue University. ^[one]

In the game " Fallout 3 " a similar machine is located in the location "Grocery" Golden Ribbon. "By activating it, the player can get several useful items.

In the 60s of the 20th century, the board game “Mousetrap” appeared in sale, in which the players' goal was to drive the opponent’s “mice” into the mousetrap by building the Goldberg machine. There are various game options, including three-dimensional options. ^[one]

Currently available for sale is the game " Screwball Scramble " (known as "Stubborn Ball", "Funny Labyrinth", etc.) from Tomy . In the game you need to hold an iron ball through the maze, which is a Goldberg machine.

• Good, Jack ; Michie, Donald & Timms, Geoffrey (1945), HW 25/4 and HW 25/5 , < http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/archive /index/tunnyreportindex.html > . Checked September 15, 2010.   Archived copy from September 17, 2010 on Wayback Machine