The Rolling Ball Web

An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.

Rolling Ball Sculpture (detail) by Jeffrey Zachmann
Rolling Ball Sculpture (detail) by Jeffrey Zachmann
Photo by and Copyright © 1997 Mark Olejarczyk

By
David M. MacMillan

With Help from
Jim Allen, Simon Allen, Keith Anderson, Peter Bacon, Vance Bass, Ray Bates MBHI, Daryl Bender, Steven Berger, Robert Bray, David Brown, Nicholas Carter, Fred Crusade, Frank Deutschmann, Dale Bix Emery, Andy Fielding, Mark G. Forbes, Jim Gage, Gary Gunderson, "Steamboat Ed" Haas, Alan Heldman, Bob Holmstrom, David Ide, Eliot Isaacs FBHI, Falk Keuten, Rollande Krandall, Donn Lathrop, Shab Levy, A. J. LoCicero, Michael Loescher, Vernon MacMillan, Tad Mayer, Rick McKittrick, James J. Momenee-DuPrie, Fortunat F. Mueller-Maerki, Cindi Nicotera, James Nye, Mark Olejarczyk, Piet Reichwein, Gene Sizemore, Raul de Sorôa, Bill Thayer, Gordon Uber, Chris Vaulter, Hanns-Martin Wagner Roderick Wall, Matthias Wandel, Mark Wardle, Eugenia Weedon, Robin Whittle, Den Whitton

Ferndale, Michigan
1996-2001


The basis of ethics is man's right to play the games of his choice. I will not trample on your toys and you will not trample on mine; I won't spit on your idol and you will not spit on mine. (Isaac Bashevis Singer)

"There's no great work of art around here," he replied gruffly.
"Sure there is."
"Where?"
"In the Port Authority Bus Terminal, ... the thing with the balls."
"Oh that! That's a masterpiece."
(Reported in Kostelanetz)


Introduction

This is the main entry point to a web of online documents devoted to the subject of "rolling ball" devices.

What is a rolling ball device? Nick Carter suggests the following defintion:

A rolling ball device may be defined as a mechanism or group of mechanisms, for the sake of art or utility, which uses the action of a ball or balls moving in either a constrained or unconstrained path to actuate the various effects of the mechanism(s).

This definition is very broad, but that breadth is necessary. Rolling ball machines can be serious or playful, artistic or scientific, the product of engineering or the result of tinkering. No sooner does one list a taxonomy of all rolling ball devices when someone comes up with a new type.


What's New on the Site?

What Was New on the Site


Other RB Meta-Sites


Areas of the Rolling Ball Web

This webspace is divided into the following general areas (the first four of these are the same links as those which appear below):


(5 photos, approximately 53.2 kilobytes total)

Sculptures

Rolling ball devices may include sculptures, such as those of Gary Gunderson, George Rhoads, Shab Levy, or Jeffrey Zachmann. Often these sculptures are termed "ball run" sculptures (as indeed I termed them in an earlier version of this page) or "ball rolls," "marble runs," "marble rolls," and so forth. Rhoads terms his sculptures "audio-kinetic," Shab Levy terms his "Gravitrams."

Click on photo for larger image (25.6k)
Lalaballoosa (detail) by George Rhoads

Lalaballoosa (detail) by George Rhoads
Photo by and Copyright © 1997 Mark Olejarczyk
Click on photo for larger image (43.7k)
Rolling Ball Sculpture by Jeffrey Zachmann

Rolling Ball Sculpture by Jeffrey Zachmann
Photo by and Copyright © 1997 Mark Olejarczyk

If you haven't seen a rolling ball sculpture, then it's both very simple and very difficult to describe one to you. On the simple side: A typical rolling ball sculpture is one where many balls (marbles, billiard balls, ball bearings, spherical things) are raised to some height from which the individual balls follow one or more paths back down, encountering ingenious mechanisms on the way. On the complicated side: no written description is going to explain why it is that most people of any age just stop and watch these sculptures for a long time.

Clocks

Another major category of rolling ball device is the rolling ball clock. RB clocks appear in many forms. In some clocks, the rolling balls form the basis of the timekeeping mechanism itself. One form of a rolling ball timebase dates back to the 16th century, while the more common "Congreve" rolling ball timebase clock dates to the early 19th century. In another form, the rolling balls do not themselves participate in the timekeeping, but instead display the time by any of several arrangements. Rolling ball display clocks date back at least to the Medieval Islamic period, and are still in commercial production today. Beyond these two major types, rolling balls have appeared in various other types of clocks, including precision "free pendulum" clocks.

Click on photo for larger image (27.3k)
A Congreve Style Rolling Ball Clock

A "Congreve" Style Rolling Ball Clock
Photo by and Copyright © 1997 Ray Bates, MBHI
Click on photo for larger image (21.6k)
A Modern Rolling Ball Display Clock

A Modern Rolling Ball Display Clock
Photo by and Copyright © 1997 David M. MacMillan

Rolling Clocks

Closely allied to rolling ball clocks are clocks which themselves roll. As these are not really rolling ball devices, they are covered in a separate page.

Toys and Games

Throughout most of the Twentieth Century, rolling ball games and toys have been popular. Often these are termed "marble rolls" or "marble runs" because the balls uses are or resemble marbles. More recently, computer-based rolling ball games have become available.

Rolling balls are also integral to popular games such as pinball and pachinko. These are not covered in this webspace simply because I do not know them well, and they are well-covered by other web sites, organizations, and books.

Other

Rolling balls have also figured in scientific and scientific demonstration devices since well before the time of Galileo. As well, they have frequently been components of attempts at perpetual motion machines, both before and after the general acceptance of the second law of thermodynamics.

Rolling ball devices are also increasingly popular in gumball machines, and several types are currently available.

Rolling ball clocks, toys, and educational apparatus have appeared in various movies and books. This category necessarily overlaps others, since, for instance, a rolling ball clock appearing in a movie is also a rolling ball clock in its own right.


The rolling-ball e-mail Discussion List

This e-mail list no longer exists. The posting level on the list had fallen nearly to zero, and it did not seem to be meeting the needs of the rolling-ball community.

There is a Yahoo! Club, founded by Edward Boes, which is devoted to rolling-ball matters. It is at:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/rollingballsculptures


Legal Matters

With the exception of any material noted as being in the public domain, the text, images, and encoding of this document are copyright © 1996 - 1999 by David M. MacMillan, Mark Olejarczyk, and Ray Bates.

This document is licensed for private, noncommercial, nonprofit viewing by individuals on the World Wide Web. Any other use or copying, including but not limited to republication in printed or electronic media, modification or the creation of derivative works, and any use for profit, is prohibited.

This writing is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but "as-is," without any warranty of any kind, expressed or implied; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event will the author(s) or editor(s) of this document be liable to you or to any other party for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use of or inability to use this document or the information contained in it, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

In no event will the author(s) or editor(s) of this document be liable to you or to any other party for any injury, death, disfigurement, or other personal damage arising out of your use of or inability to use this document or the information contained in it, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such injury, death, disfigurement, or other personal damage.

All trademarks or registered trademarks used in this document are the properties of their respective owners and (with the possible exception of any marks owned by the author(s) or editor(s) of this document) are used here for purposes of identification only. A trademark catalog page lists the marks known to be used on these web pages. Please e-mail web@lemur.com if you believe that the recognition of a trademark has been overlooked.


Version 2.64, 2001/12/22. Feedback to web@lemur.com
http://www.database.com/~lemur/rb-rolling-ball.html


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