Word: rubes
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Blood is such a complex of substances that its viscosity changes unpredictably with changing conditions. Walder and his colleagues built elaborate, Rube Goldberg devices to measure viscosity changes against such variables as temperature, pressure and the rate of blood flow...
...achieve underground paving, the M.S.U. researchers designed a tractor-pulled Rube Goldberg device that lifts a 2-ft.-deep strip of earth from the field, sprays warm liquid asphalt underneath it, and then allows the soil to settle back in place. The asphalt solidifies immediately into a 34-in.-wide, ⅛-in.-thick ribbon. Adjacent ribbons are overlapped to ensure that the entire layer will be watertight. To reduce costs, Engineer Hansen is now working on a machine that will lay down lO-ft.-wide strips...
Those who pursue this detective story to its finish may be reminded of a Rube Goldberg invention, not because it is comically ingenious but because the elaborate machinery of its plot does not justify the picayune results. The awesome bulk of Author Thorp's contraption is achieved by extraneous detail; he is one of those authors who, having informed the reader that some character has picked up a phone, cannot get on with the story before informing the reader that the character has put the phone down. Thorp, his publisher and the Literary Guild (whose June selection...
...ELDO is meant to give Europe a space capability of its own and not leave all the glory to the U.S. and Russia. The trouble with ELDO, aside from the shortage of capital and technological resources in Europe, is that its Europa-I vehicle has the feel of a Rube Goldberg totem pole. The British are to pay for 38.79% of the costs and provide the first stage; the French, 23.93% and the second stage; the Germans, 22.01% and the third stage; the Italians, 9.78% and the payload; the Belgians 2.85% and the downrange guidance station; the Dutch...
During the past five years, some 15,000 backyard mechanics have bolt ed souped-up engines onto skeleton aluminum frames, stuck on a couple of tractor seats and suspended the entire Rube Goldberg contraptions on bloated airplane tires - sometimes two up front and four in back. Organized into a par cel of clubs, the enthusiasts range from young mothers to 70-year-old business men, from hard-nosed competitors to misty-eyed naturalists. They all have one thing in common - a child's impatience for the next rally or picnic...