A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg (1883–1970). [source] In this creative spot by Japanese firm au…
Photograph by Freekee on Wikimedia Commons Seen here is a rotary snowplow which is used for clearing train tracks after heavy snowfalls. The machine’s precursor was the wedge snowplow. The one seen above was built in 1899, retired in 1964 and later restored in 1995, getting occasional use on the White Pass and Yukon…
An automaton (plural: automata or automatons) is a self-operating machine or robot. Seen above is the Writer, an automaton built in the 1770s by world-renowned Swiss watchmaker, Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790). Made from nearly 6000 parts, the Writer is a self-operating, programmable machine, capable of writing letters and words with a quill pen. The 240-year-old…
Photograph by Bert Kaufmann Located in the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands is Slauerhoffbrug (English: Slauerhoff Bridge), a fully automatic bascule bridge sometimes referred to as a ‘tail bridge’. Slauerhoffbrug, which is affectionately known as the ‘Flying Drawbridge’ can be quickly and efficiently raised and lowered from one pylon (instead of hinges). This…
This LEGO Mold Made 120 million Bricks Photograph by Zane Thorn @ LegoGod.com In the historic photo above we see a retired LEGO mold on display at the LEGO Factory in LEGOLAND California. The mold made a staggering 120 million bricks before being decommissioned. The photograph was taken by Zane Thorn, operator…
Block paving (also known as brick paving) is an alternative to an asphalt road. It’s typically used for aesthetic purposes on roads where traffic is relatively slow. Unfortunately, the process of laying these roads is manually intensive and can by quite harsh on one’s back and knees. Dutch-company Vanku BV sought to address this…
Photograph via mejjad The $100 million Bagger 288 (Excavator 288), built by the German company Krupp (now ThyssenKrupp) for the energy and mining firm Rheinbraun, is a bucket-wheel excavator or mobile strip mining machine. When its construction was completed in 1978, Bagger 288 superseded NASA’s Crawler-Transporter, used to carry the Space Shuttle and Apollo…
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