A Rube Goldberg in [probably] every home!

[Well, every household with a digital camera and/or an iPhone and/or a PC or Mac or… probably has a version of the larger machine of which this is merely a component.] I'm extremely happy to report that nothing in this photo is broken, just the cover or panel that goes over it. Replacement panel ordered for "only" $75. Any guesses for the larger machine to which this assembly belongs?

I suspect (and secretly hope!) this will remind some of my peers of “Mouse Trap” (originally called “Mouse Trap Game”), by Ideal (originally in 1963).

Not sure I ever knew that Rube Goldberg (1883–1970) was actually a cartoonist! Indeed, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist. Learn more: http://www.rube-goldberg.com/

1 year ago (“Marking Epiphany…”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2014-01-10
2 years ago (“Moth Orchid: Come hither!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-01-10
3 years ago (“Through the drinking glass”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-01-10
4 years ago (“Town Square Market Market”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-01-10

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[MaryBeth Dailey]

I started out taking macros of a TV computer chip board "thingy" that my husband had out yesterday... It got power surged and quit working. He has found another one and ordered it to see if he can get TV working.

No pics were that good so I ended up taking a corkscrew pic.

This pic of yours is not computer board... It does look like Mouse Trap a bit.

What is it?

[Thom Mitchell]

@espyetta This is the underside of the compartment into which you pour detergent in your dishwasher! Ours is a Bosch and there are two panels covering the front: a large one that covers about 3/4 of the front and the other panel covers the timer and push buttons for the various settings. Two or three of the four cheap plastic tabs holding the panel to the door frame broke, so the dishwasher still worked, but the panel had to be replaced.

And as if it weren't obvious that it's a flawed design using plastic tabs for high-stress fasteners … one of the tabs on the replacement panel was creased and broke before I could install it. So we had to wait another week for the replacement-replacement to arrive. Poor design, folks!

[MaryBeth Dailey]

Oh brother! Sounds like a hassle. My machines are about 26 years old and atill doing well and no fancy dispenser to break

[Thom Mitchell]

@espyetta Perhaps some night when I'm desperate, I'll photograph the visible part. It's not fancy or complicated-looking from the user's daily perspective, but it has to be connected to a timer of some kind and some of the controls, too. We have a microwave that's really, really old. The numbers appear to be in Klingon! But it still works and "if it ain't broke, ..."!

[MaryBeth Dailey]

@espyetta I read your first comment and thought it was a LAUNDRY washer. Oh... A dishwasher. I got it. The machines I said were 26 years old are laundry.