Date: Fri 21-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-Rube-Goldberg

Full Text:

Rube Goldberg Would Have Been Proud!

Sarah Letson (left) puts the finishing touches on the "Admission $8"

contraption she invented with partner Erin Mulrane. The two eighth-graders won

First Prize and a $100 savings bond.

-Bee Photos, Evans

Putting the penny in the bank was harder than you might think for Jeff Walcott

(left) and John Pantan, shown here with their "Search and Rescue" contraption.

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Rube Goldberg was the award-winning cartoonist creator of countless

complicated contraptions designed to "perform such basic tasks as scratching

your back or killing a mosquito," says John Vorous, Newtown Middle School

teacher of gifted students participating in the Discovery Program.

So, why not ask Newtown's most creative eighth graders to emulate Mr Goldberg?

Working in teams, they would gather inexpensive materials from every possible

source - from the garbage can to grandmother's attic, from a plumbing supply

house to a little brother's Lego set.

Make the most complicated device imaginable, but design it to perform the most

trivial task you can think of - like dropping a single penny into a cup - at

the end of a seemingly endless chain of mechanical events.

"We've been working eight weeks on this and we're still not ready. But it's

now or never," moaned John Pantan as he and his partner, Jeff Walcott, fussed

with their "Search and Rescue" machine, its components mounted on a brightly

colored wooden board.

A marble was poised to roll down a slot, knocking over a line of dominoes, the

last of which would trip a hammer and activate a pulley, etc... ultimately

dropping the coin into its designated slot at the end of the line.

But it was one thing for Rube Goldberg to make drawings of such contraptions.

Quite something else for the Newtown students to actually invent their own

machines and build them - ensuring that the sequence of mechanical events was

continuous so that the end result would be achieved.

There were bound to be mishaps, but the fun was non-stop.

The long-anticipated Rube Goldberg Competition was a three-hour exhibition

event that featured a team of judges, trial runs and a roving audience of

admiring parents and classmates.

There was also much scurrying around and last minute efforts at damage control

by the contestants as they struggled to fine-tune critical parts of their

machines, hoping to win a prize.

"Mostly, we're waiting around for the teams to be ready," joked Newtown High

School senior Max Bajracharya, who was a judge for the sixth annual Discovery

event.

When all was said and done and the last penny had dropped - either into the

bank, or onto the floor if things didn't go as planned - the 1997 Rube

Goldberg Competition was deemed a tremendous success. Even though only 3 teams

out of 23 could win a prize, everyone had put out a lot of effort.

The winning teams were: First Place - Team Nine (Sarah Letson and Erin

Mulrane, "Admission $8"); Second Place - Team Four (Erin Thomas and Leah

Blewett, "Angel of Music"); Third Place - Team Nineteen (Emily Moran and

Jessie McGlasson, "Back In The Saddle").