“Professor Butts and the Self-Operating Napkin” (1931), by Rube Goldberg (1883-1970). Soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C), which throws cracker (D) past toucan (E). Toucan jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and ignites lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K), which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M), allowing pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin.
Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways.
“We are swallowed up in schemes for gain and engrossed with contrivances for bodily enjoyments, as if this particle of dust were immortal —- as if the soul needed no aliment, and the mind no raiment.’’
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet, translator and literature professor at Harvard. He was a native of Portland, Maine
