My crazy machine is called "Hickory Dickory Dock". Here is a close-up...

The goal of the 1999 Rube Goldberg contest at the Museum of Scientific Discovery, Harrisburg, PA was to build a machine (with at least 10 steps) to put coins into a bank.
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1. Release Chitty Chitty car with mouse driving it and it bumps a rubber ball. |
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2. The ball knocks down the dominoes. |
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3. The dominoes trigger the first mousetrap. |
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4. The mousetrap pulls a string to turn on a toy record player. The music is "Hickory Dickory Dock"! |
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5. The record player spins the colorful gears. |
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6. The gears wind slowly wind a string that pull up a paperclip. |
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7. The paperclip is no longer in contact with another paperclip, which breaks the circuit on an electromagnet. |
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8. The electromagnet releases a mouse in a car down the ramp. |
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9. The moving mouse runs into a string, making it vibrate. |
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10. The string triggers mousetrap number 2. |
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11. This mousetrap pulls a string which pulls a hook (paperclip). |
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12. The hook releases a red parachute man and he flies down the incline. |
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13. The man pulls another string from a tube. This string has a pencil on the end. |
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14. The pulled pencil/string lets a heavy ball drop down the tube. |
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15. The dropping ball pulls an attached string up, making another mouse "go up the clock". |
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16. As the mouse moves, two small ball bearings are released down a marble track. (His tail was holding them in place). |
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17. The ball bearings land on mousetrap number three. |
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18. The mousetrap pulls a wire to trigger the mechanical bank, and with a tiny picture Rube Goldberg watching closely, a dog puts the coins into the bank! |
My pal Peter Knepp of Mount Holly Springs won First place in the 1999 contest! His machine was built from toys, string, coins and a bank and performed flawlessly. The bad news: My mom videoed his machine, but in all the excitement, forgot to take a picture. Peter, if you read this, please send me a picture!
Other winning machines....
I like to get
In second place was Mr. Richard Kelley, and his wife, Lois. They are a retired couple from Boiling Springs. Their contraption was built from pieces of wood, with many ramps, a pendulum, and a loud bell.
Honorable mention went to a team from my same elementary school. First grade sisters, Emily and Elizabeth, built a machine with 10 steps. It worked perfectly and had toys, water and rolling balls in it.
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