Video of Clayton Boyer's marble strike movement

Take a look at this fascinating mechanism designed by wooden clock designer, Clayton Boyer. The marbles are lifted such that they count out an ever-increasing number of hours.

[ Thanks Christoph! ]

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Upcycled! A human-powered tree house elevator made from a bicycle and pulleys!

This human-powered elevator is cool on many levels. First of all, this guy needed an elevator for his tree house! That, in my opinion, is a good problem to have. Secondly, his solution is elegant and fun.

From the video description:

I have built a tree house (though it is not finished yet) that is nearly 30 feet up a tree. I got tired of climbing a ladder six and a half million times a day, so I made a bicycle powered elevator to solve this problem. Don't you wish you had one?

He's counter-weighted the bicycle on the pulley system so less power is required to raise and lower the rider. Next, he has threaded a thin cable that runs around the bike's back wheel and up a tube in front of the rider. When the bike is pedaled in the forward direction, the bike "rides" up the cable. The weight of the rider and bike, keep the back wheel tight against the cable. This means he can also used the hand-brake on the bike's back wheel when descending, as you will see in the video. This is a beautiful bit of engineering and I wouldn't be surprised to see it used elsewhere in the years to come.

Here's a link to a post about the bike elevator on the Colossal blog.

[ Thanks Christoph!]

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Laser-cut marble machine kit with a catapult lifting arm

Check out this nifty little marble machine kit from the folks at RetroTime. The most unique feature of this little marble track is the arm that lifts the ball bearings to the top of the run. A geared hand-crank powers a small arm, something like one you might see on a catapult. No, it doesn't throw the ball bearing. (Sorry, if I gave you the wrong idea.) It simply places the steel ball at the top of the track with a smooth motion. It looks as if you can effortlessly keep marbles flowing down the track at more that one per second. It creates a nice rhythmic motion and sound that I find soothing.

The kit includes laser cut wood components, steel balls, a screw pack, sandpaper and wood glue. The product page for the kit also features a nice tutorial video.

Here is where you can get this laser-cut marble machine kit.

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Opportunity - a welded steel rolling-ball sculpture by Tom Harold

Here is a new rolling ball sculpture from artist Tom Harold titled Opportunity. I really like the tone-emitting ball drops!

From the video description:

It measures 52.5" x 33" x 11" and is made entirely of welded steel, clear coated to prevent rust. It features a motor-driven chain lift effortlessly supplying marbles to the topmost track that then divides into two tracks via a tipper-style track splitter. Once on their way, the marbles encounter a number of entertaining devices including a chime, four tone-emitting ball drops, three 360-degree loops, two spirals, wavy track, a four-ball collector, and a coil plus elements made from tubing, welded rings and over 51 feet of track with dips, curves and bends.

To check out additional kinetic art by Tom Harold on his web site or inquire commissioning a piece of fascinating by the artist.

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