Rube Goldberg Information Sources

• About Rube Goldberg Machine Contests
• How to Build a Good Rube Goldberg Machine
• Books, Toys and Other Information about Rube Goldberg
• Starting a Rube Goldberg Contest
• Commercial and Private Use of Rube Goldberg's Name or Cartoons
• Back to the Rube Goldberg Contest Home Page
• Comments and Questions

About Rube Goldberg Machine Contests

The national collegiate competition is held each year by the Phi Chapter of the Theta Tau engineering fraternity at Purdue University.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory sponsors an annual high school contest in the Chicago area.

You can find other Rube Goldberg machine contests by searching for "Rube Goldberg Contest" on Google or Yahoo or the many other excellent World Wide Web search services.

How to Build a Good Rube Goldberg Machine

There are no plans or blueprints for Rube Goldberg machines. In fact, the essence of a Rube Goldberg machine is that you make it up out of whatever items and materials you have available. Still, the following sources provide information on how others have built Rube Goldberg machines and tips on what makes a successful machine.

• How to build a Rube Goldberg Machine
• What makes a good Rube Goldberg machine?

Books, Toys and Other Information about Rube Goldberg

The National Cartoonist Society has a number of World Wide Web pages with biographical information and many sample cartoons at www.unitedmedia.com/ncs/goldberg.html. You can also find sample cartoons scattered throughout the Argonne Rube Goldberg Web pages.

Rube Goldberg Inc. has two books in progress on Rube Goldberg and his work, and another in progress on the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, with a CD-ROM planned for next year. Currently the only publication in print is

• Rube Goldberg Inventions (ISBN 1-55670-524-7) by Stewart, Tabori and Chang, under license from Rube Goldberg Inc.

It's a book of 30 color postcards illustrating Rube Goldberg's inventions.

You can check your local library for:

• Rube Goldberg, His Life and Work by Peter C. Mazio; published by Harper & Row 1973. ISBN 0-06-012830-5.
• Rube Goldberg vs. the Machine Age by Clark Kinnaird; published by Hastings House, 1968. SBN 8038-6305-5.

There are also a number of other books on Rube Goldberg. We suggest you check your library for what is available in your area.

Magazine stories about Rube Goldberg have appeared in the last year or two in Boy's Life, Discover, and the Smithsonian Institute's Time Machine. A Rube Goldberg invention appeared in Life Magazine's February 1997 issue.

Marx Toys (1-800-808-MARX) has issued four hobby/craft kits of Rube Goldberg's inventions, under license from Rube Goldberg Inc. These are models of classic Rube Goldberg inventions that can be assembled. See the Marx Toys web site at www.marxtoys.com.

If you would like to receive updated information about new books, etc., or be advised as new material becomes available, you may e-mail your name, mailing address and e-mail address to Rube Goldberg Inc. at 74513.1464@compuserve.com or fax them the information at 212/371-3761.

Starting a Rube Goldberg Contest

To start your own contest, you will need a model set of rules, background information on the contests, entry forms, judging forms and timer's sheets. These are available at Argonne National Laboratory's Rube Goldberg Web site. You should also contact Theta Tau, which runs the national competition. For further information, you may also contact Rube Goldberg Inc., which holds the Rube Goldberg copyrights and trademarks.

Commercial and Private Use of Rube Goldberg's Name or Cartoons

"Rube Goldberg" is a trademark of Rube Goldberg Inc., which holds the Rube Goldberg copyrights and trademarks. Before reproducing Rube Goldberg's drawings, or using the trademark ("Rube Goldberg") in any commercial media (including presentations, training materials, etc., both in-house and to clients), you must secure permission in writing from Rube Goldberg Inc. (Permission is normally granted free of charge to educational institutions who want to sponsor Rube Goldberg machine contests.) For permission to use and/or other intellectual property licensing considerations, please e-mail Rube Goldberg Inc. at 74513.1464@compuserve.com or fax them the information at 212/371-3761.