An unlimited source of power.

February 29, 2012 9:40 AM

Something For Nothing.(1940)
Cartoonist Rube Goldberg discusses the perpetual motion device, celebrates America's inexhaustible supply of fossil fuels, and mocks hydroelectric power and other whacky inventions. (A 1930s Jam Handy/GM production.) Previously.
posted by Stagger Lee (14 comments total)

I love that there's an international genre of "weird impractical machine" cartoons - q.v. Heath Robinson and Storm P.
posted by zamboni at 9:48 AM on February 29, 2012

I don't know why I said that was a 1930s production, and from 1940. I guess it was probably filmed in the 39s. :)
posted by Stagger Lee at 9:50 AM on February 29, 2012

Aaaah Jam Handy!
posted by ShutterBun at 9:55 AM on February 29, 2012

archive.org is the best.
posted by DU at 10:22 AM on February 29, 2012

Cartoonist Rube Goldberg discusses the perpetual motion device, celebrates America's inexhaustible supply of fossil fuels...

Eponysterical?
posted by Verdant at 10:31 AM on February 29, 2012

When I leaned about 'Rube Goldberg Machines' as a kid, I automatically associated them with that complicated hive of unidentifiable equipment under the hood of my parents' gasoline-driven car(s). I was obviously on the right track.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:35 AM on February 29, 2012

I always assumed that 'Rube Goldberg' was just some kind of pejorative, anti-Semitic pun. I didn't know that he was supposed to be a real person.

That said, there is a linear realism to those cartoons -- they are unpowered devices, but they SHOULD work. The drawings describe linear, Cartedisn processes albeit sans friction and a power source. In a pre-undusstrial period they'd probably be taken at face value as a design for an object that might actually function. (Think Leonardo Da Vinci.)

(There's an artifact that J.J. Abrams hasn't dug up yet.)

Ironic it is that this spot on Rube Goldberg's Perpetual Motion Device is brought to us by the Kool-Aid vendors at the American Petroleum Institute!

Gasoline, the limited resource of the past.
posted by vhsiv at 10:59 AM on February 29, 2012

I like the idea of a Cartedisn process, which only works following a right shift.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:30 AM on February 29, 2012

Back in the day, Marx Toys issued four do-it-yourself models based on his work.

Ebay demands high prices.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:08 PM on February 29, 2012

zamboni, I got these books as birthday gifts a few years ago. They're fantastic.
posted by phong3d at 1:06 PM on February 29, 2012

Jam Handy: keep your fruit based spread in a convenient location!
posted by The Deej at 11:35 PM on February 29, 2012

and mocks hydroelectric power

Was this a joke, or are you being deliberately disingenuous? He doesn't do this at all. He does look at a perpetual motion machine design based on water. He also goes on about how great gasoline is. To say that this means he's mocking hydro power is ridiculous.
posted by CaseyB at 1:00 PM on March 1, 2012

Was this a joke, or are you being deliberately disingenuous? He doesn't do this at all. He does look at a perpetual motion machine design based on water. He also goes on about how great gasoline is. To say that this means he's mocking hydro power is ridiculous.
posted by CaseyB at 1:00 PM on March 1 [+] [!]



This is old, but hey, maybe that means I get the last word. :)

Skip to 8:20. There's a shot of a cartoon in which water from Niagara Falls powers a Rube Goldberg device. (Which isn't a perpetual motion machine in this case, since it has an external power device.)

It's a political cartoon, and it's no accident that the comic is so specific, especially in the context of the rest of the clip. Give that some thought. Why Niagra Falls?
posted by Stagger Lee at 8:29 AM on March 20, 2012

So that the paddle-wheel could say "Slowly I turned..."
posted by ShutterBun at 4:46 PM on March 20, 2012