The final project for the Theater Tech Class of 2004 at Southern Oregon University. The machine worked once, but we never actually got it ... all » on film because of time constraints. the most successful run on film is at 14:00 on this video.
A Rube Goldberg machine or device is any exceedingly complex apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way. Rube devised such pataphysical devices. The best examples of his machines have an anticipation factor: the fact that something so wacky is happening can only be topped by it happening in a suspenseful manner.