Angus' Rube Goldberg Project.

1. Rube Goldberg
By Angus Illingworth

2. CHILDHOOD
Rube Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883 in San Francisco, California. He was the third
child of seven, three of whom died as children. His name is Reuben Garret Lucius
“Rube” Goldberg. Rube began tracing illustrations when he was 4 years old and took
professional drawing lessons at 11. He had Jewish parents, Max and Hannah (Cohen)
Goldberg. His dad was a San Francisco police and fire commissioner, who
encouraged Rube to be an engineer. Rube attended Lowell High School in 1900 and
graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1904 with a degree in
Engineering and was hired by the city of San Francisco as an engineer for the Water
and Sewers Department.

3. CAREER
After six months he resigned his position with the city to
join the San Francisco Chronicle where he became a
sports cartoonist. The following year he moved to the
San Francisco Bulletin, where he remained until he
moved to New York City in 1907, finding a job at the
New York Evening Mail. Arthur Brisbane offered Rube
$2,600 per year in 1911, trying to get Rube to go to the
William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper chain. The offer
was declined by Rube, and by 1915, he was earning
$25,000, being America’s most popular cartoonist. In
that same year, the business that had their offer
declined four years ealier, raised the offer to $50,000 per
year. Rather than lose Goldberg to Hearst, New York
Evening Mail matched the salary offer.

4. FAMILY
Rube married Irma Seeman on October 17th,
1916. They lived at 98 Central Park West in New
York and had two sons named Thomas and
George. During WWII, Goldberg’s sons
changed their name, at Goldberg’s insistence
because of the of hatred stemming from his
political nature of his cartoons. Thomas
changed his surname to George for his brother,
and George made his surname Thomas. Both
George and Thomas’ children run a business
called RGI (Rube Goldberg Incoporated) to
keep the Goldberg name alive.

5. WELL KNOWN FOR
Rube is best known for his popular cartoons
showing complicated gadgets that perform
simple tasks in an indirect way. He is also the
inspiration for various international competitions
where contestants are challenged to create a
complicated machine that performs a simple task.
Goldberg was a founding member and the first
president of the National Cartoonists Society. The
Reuben Award is named after Rube which the
organization gives to the cartoonist of the year.
Goldberg has received many honours in his life.
They include the Pulitzer Award in 1948 which was
awarded to him for his political cartooning and the
Banshees’ Silver Lady Award in 1959.
Flame from lamp (A) catches on
curtain (B) and fire department sends
stream of water (C) through window.
Dwarf (D) thinks it is raining and
reaches for umbrella (E), pulling string
(F) and lifting end of platform (G). Iron
ball (H) falls and pulls string (I), causing
hammer (J) to hit plate of glass (K).
Crash of glass wakes up pup (L) and
mother dog (M) rocks him to sleep in
cradle (N), causing attached wooden
hand (O) to move up and down along
your back.

6. MORE INFORMATION
Over the years, the expression “Rube Goldberg” has
expanded to mean any confusing or complicated
system. In 1931 the Merriam-Webster dictionary
adopted the phrase “Rube Goldberg” as an adjective
defined as accomplishing something simple through
complicated means. In 1930, Rube released a film
featuring his machines and sculptures called Soup and
Nuts that starred Ted Healy and The Three Stooges.
Rube Goldberg died in 1970 at the age of 87 while his
wife, Irma, died in 1990 at the age of 95.

7. Rube Goldberg
Simplified Pencil Sharpener
Open window (A) and fly kite (B). String (C) lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to escape and eat red flannel shirt (F). As
weight of shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on switch (H) which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in pants (J). Smoke (K)
enters hole in tree (L), smoking out possum (M) which jumps into basket (N), pulling rope (O) and lifting cage (P), allowing
woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil (R), exposing lead. Emergency knife (S) is always handy in case possum or the
woodpecker gets sick and can't work.

8. THANK YOU FOR
WATCHING!

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg
URL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine