Frosh engineering students demo Rube Goldberg devices

If that course is “Introduction to Mechanical Engineering” (MEEG) 101, they might construct a device in which water is poured into a funnel that directs the water into a cup sitting on a platform. The weight of the water makes the platform drop tripping a toggle switch that activates an air cylinder that tilts a ramp holding a steel ball. The ball rolls down a series of ramps completing a circuit that turns a fan that blows a sailboat into a ping pong ball knocking over a series of dominos triggering a mousetrap that's attached to a piece of rope that pulls the book to its finale.

This device was one of 24 MEEG projects that were part of the course's final exam, and it was one of three winning entries in the MEEG 101 end-of-the-semester Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Trabant University Center. All of the devices can be seen online at [www.me.udel.edu/meeg101/06/celebration].

Twenty-four teams put together outlandish contraptions to accomplish the final closing of their textbooks that would have made Rube Goldberg proud. Goldberg was an inventor of exceedingly complex devices that performed simple tasks in indirect and convoluted ways.

Team 11.7 (from left): James Sargianis, Sam Hunter, Chris Gray and Tom Malone

Dick Wilkins, professor of mechanical engineering, teaches the course. He said the Rube Goldberg devices “were the second design project that provided an opportunity for them [students] to practice the design process that we teach. The first was building water balloon launchers, which can be seen at [www.me.udel.edu/meeg101/06/wbl-06].”

The task this year was to build a Rube Goldberg device that took at least seven steps to close the MEEG textbook in no less than 15-seconds and no more than one minute. Each machine could weigh no more than 40 pounds, cost no more than $50, be no taller than 4 feet, contain no animals, explosives, firearms or fire and be designed to eliminate the possibility of anyone being inadvertently injured.

Among the entries were devices made mostly of cardboard and duct tape, one that had a box of Apple Jacks cereal as a main component and many that used multiple mousetraps, balloons and plastic cars.

After lengthy deliberations (approximately 3 minutes), the winners were announced:

Team 11/7--Chris Gray, Sam Hunter, Tom Malone and James Sargianis;
Team 11/1--Adam Eby, Luke Kaczmarek, Patrick McQuaid; and
Team 12/1--Allan Burleigh, R.J. (Raymond) Sharpe, Philip Zandona.

Thomas S. Buchanan, professor and chair of the mechanical engineering department, was there to purchase the winning contraptions for $50 each.

Article by Barbara Garrison

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