Contraptions, etc.

Self operating napkin    www.wikipedia.org

  When I was a child a long time ago (or, once upon a time), I heard people talk about Rube Goldberg.  Mr. Goldberg was educated as an engineer, but he was a cartoonist, inventor and political cartoonist.
He is best remembered for his cartoon drawings of ways to do simple task in the most complicated way.  In the drawing above A. The man eats a spoonful of soup, B. his arm movement lifts the spoon (C), which throws the cracker (D) to the parrot (E).  The parrot gains weight to tip the scale (F) which releases sand into the little bucket (H) which lowers and pulls string (I), in turn it opens the recipe box (J) which fires a rocket (K) to which a sickle (L) which cuts string (M) and causes the pendulum to swing and wipes the mans mouth with the napkin.
  He is most well known for things such as that cartoon, however it was his political cartoons which led people to dislike him during World War Two (I have no samples), he wanted the US to enter the was sooner than it did to save Jewish lives (in summary).
  The annual award for "best cartoonist" is named the "Reuben" in honor of Mr. Goldberg, and family members still run a museum to honor him as well.
  During WWII, he instructed his two sons to change their last names, they chose the name George as a surname and the family that remains still use that name.
  Here are a couple more cartoons:

Pencil Sharpener - click to enlarge

A back scratcher