Rube Goldberg's Time Machine Constructed by: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers University of Texas at Austin Illustration of steps: Upper Level Go to Entire Machine Go to Middle Level Go to Lower Level Back to main Rube page Rube Goldberg's Time Machine begins in 1996, with the debut of the 5th generation Chevrolet Corvette. The person starting the machine turns a key, which releases the model, which is pulled up a ramp by a falling weight in the base. When the car gets to the end of the ramp, it hits a lever which starts the Exxon Valdez step. History: This particular model of Corvette had a design flaw that would sometimes cause the rear axle to fall off. Our re-enaction has the axle falling off as soon as the Corvette hits the Valdez activation lever. The next step is the Exxon Valdez. The purple lever that the Corvette hit previously tips over a small tub of ink, which diffuses through the water, and covers a light sensor in the white block below. The sensor completes a circuit, which opens an air valve for the next step. History: In 1989, the Exxon oil tanker Valdez was the cause of a huge oil spill near Prince William Sound. The spill caused many disruptions in nature, most visibly the deaths of many animals at sea and on the coast. The third section on the upper level of the machine is the Saturn rocket step. The light sensor opens an air valve, and pneumatic power pushes the rocket up from the bottom through the launch bay doors. History: In 1969, the American space exploration program made its first trip to the moon with the Apollo 11 launch, assisted by Saturn V booster rockets. The Saturn V rocket rotates a latch on launch, which drops a weight on a bed frame caster down the clear tube. The bed frame caster just happens to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the tube, and acts as a plunger in a sealed cylinder. The weight forces a charge of air through the orange hose, which pushes a float down from the upper boat. The float hits a lever, turning a magnetic couple, which begins the next step. The couple operates through a set of magnets on a small lazy susan - the magnets on the lever inside the tank rotate, and the attraction between the magnets pulls the outside magnets along with them, turning the outside half of the couple. History: During World War II, submarines were widely used for spy missions and stealth attacks. Our tank shows a battleship dropping a depth charge on a hostile submarine. The fifth section is the airplane step. The magnetic coupling starts a metal bearing rolling down a track, which drops onto and sets off a rat trap. The rat trap pulls a pin, releasing a falling weight, which causes an airplane on a wound up rod to start flying in circles. The plane hits the lever on the right side of the picture, which pulls a pin for the next step. History: 1903 marked the birth of manned flight with the Wright Brothers' famous launch at Kitty Hawk. The flight only lasted a few seconds, but it showed that humans could finally join the birds in the sky. Go to Middle Level These pages and all material on this server are copyright 1999 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin. If files from this page are reused elsewhere, please give credit where credit is due. Email the webmaster: vryce@mail.utexas.edu