Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. LENGTH: Medium
Five teams of Purdue University students faced off in the 9th annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest before more than 1,000 spectators Saturday.
The contest honors the spirit of the late cartoonist who specialized in drawing whimsically complicated machines to perform the simplest of tasks. In this year's competition, contestants had to use at least 20 steps and toast the bread within five minutes.
Extra points are awarded for creativity, extra steps and the use of related themes. Points were deducted for inedible toast or human intervention once the machine started.
The winner for the third consecutive year was the student chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, whose team, dubbed the Toast Masters, took home a $250 prize and a trophy.
The team will represent Purdue in the national contest to be held on the West Lafayette campus March 16 against teams from the University of Arkansas, the University of Iowa and Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.
The Toast Masters' machine, called "the greatest thing since sliced bread," used the Statue of Liberty, the space shuttle and a mouse trap to trigger an electric train that inserted two slices of bread into a toaster.
As the bread browned, a mechanical rabbit hopped down a bunny trail followed by a replica of the Purdue power plant smokestack, which fell into a bucket, causing the school's mascot, "Purdue Pete," to fly up a pole and raise an American flag.
Finally, a tank with a sign reading "SME is for our troops" turned around, triggering a switch to reverse the train, which pulled the toast from the toaster.
by CNB