The Rolling Ball Web
An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.
By David M. MacMillan et. al.
[The name "Carnival" is just my identifier here, not Saunders' name for the piece.]
Dick Saunders exhibited a rolling ball toy/sculpture at the 1997 North American Model Engineering Society Exposition ("The NAMES Show") held in Wyandotte, Michigan. The piece consisted of an entire miniature amusement park with a variety of rides powered by a "finger treadle" flywheel. Separate from these, insofar as it was not powered by the same mechanism, was a "roller coaster" which began with a gumball machine dispenser which dispensed spherical gumballs. These gumballs then rolled down a track. The track was relatively simple, but more complex than that of an average gumball machine; there was a set of chimes over which the ball rolled, and at one point the track split into two. The track was composed of metal rod bent to shape and brazed or soldered in place.
In conversation with Mr. Saunders, it became apparent that he considered this piece a toy populated by "my kids" (miniature figures) rather than a work of art. He appeared either unaware of or unconcerned with other rolling ball sculptures.
This rolling ball amusement park was only one of several interesting mechanisms constructed and displayed by Mr. Saunders. His business card gives his address as: 145 Delhi Road, Manchester, IA 52057.
This sculpture was exhibited again in February 1998 at the "Cabin Fever Expo" model engineering show. A photo of the sculpture is online (the image is titled "Treadle powered children's carnival.")
In a conversation at the 1998 NAMES show, Saunders said that he had given "Carnival" to a young relative for use in her doll house layout.
At the 1997 Pacific Rim Model Engineering show ("PRIME show") in Eugene, Oregon, Saunders exhibited both the "Carnival" sculpture and a new piece, Ball Machine. A photograph of this model (along with a slice of "Carnival") appeared on page 12 of the November 1997 issue of Modeltec magazine.
I had the opportunity to photograph Ball Machine at the 1998 NAMES show. These photographs are rather poor, but do show much of the mechanism. While it is difficult in some of these photographs to make out particular ball paths, it should be noted that in the actual sculpture this is often difficult as well.
The piece is driven by a hand-turned knob; it takes a fair number of turns of this handle to advance balls up the entire lift. There are several wire-made "binary switches" in the piece (which don't show up well in the photos, unfortunately). The xylophone is apparently an actual toy xylophone. The corrugated noisemaker at the bottom is apparently a large heat sink from a microwave oven.
Saunders said that he felt that in designing this piece (which was done on an as-you-go basis) he lost too much height too quickly in the ball paths. In future pieces, he thought that he might have the ball paths do more at the top of the machine before they lost too much altitude.
The overall construction of this machine is reminiscent more of "folk art" than of engineering. Several times while I spoke with him, Saunders had to clear jammed balls with a stick. I get the impression, however, that this is a conscious choice on the part of the artist. Saunders also displays two Stirling-cycle hot air engines. One, a very crude engine made out of old tin cans and scrap, works very reliably but is visually undistinguished. The other is a lovely transparent engine built of pyrex and other transparent materials; in a show full of Stirling engines, it is one of the nicest.
At the NAMES show, Saunders indicated that Ball Machine was for sale for $200. He found the piece too bulky to carry on his travels around the country. I don't know if he sold it at the time (or later). He did indicate, though, that he had begun work on a new rolling ball piece.
The label on the base of Ball Machine reads:
| Ball Machine | |
| Scratch Built | |
| Dick Saunders 1996-1997 | |
| Material List | |
| 29' 4" 1/2" x 1/2" | Aluminum Angle (frame) |
| 8' 3/4" x 3/4" | Aluminum Angle (frame) |
| 1/2" x 28" x 28" | Chipboard (base) |
| 1/4" x 1/4" x 5' | Hardware Cloth (cage) |
| 3/32" x 28" x 28" | Plexiglas (top cover) |
| 3/32" x 28" x 32" | Plexiglas (window) |
| 1 3/8" x 2" x 36" | Aluminum I Beam salvaged from sliding shower door (lift) |
| 1/2" x 1 3/8" x 16" | Aluminum Bar stock (I beam supports and bearing housings) |
| 72" Chain | Bicycle style - salvaged from copy machine. (lift) |
| 2 Chain sprockets | Salvaged from copy machine |
| 4 Bearings | Cranks and Idler shaft - salvaged from VCR |
| 1 Knob | From copy machine. |
| 5/16" dia. rod 6" | Salvaged from copy machine. |
| 1 Bowl | Stainless steel - Slinger - Stolen from kitchen. |
| 1 Lid | Stainless steel - Gong - Stolen from kitchen. |
| 1 Xylophone | Noise maker - Garage sale. |
| 1 Head sink | Noise maker - salvaged from microwave oven. |
| 1 Canning funnel | Aluminum - Stolen from kitchen. |
| 3 Table legs | Steel dingers - salvaged from coffee table. |
| 131 Coat hangers | Track - straightened out about 40" long |
| 24 Sticks .032 dia. | Silver solder. |
| 6 Tubes bupane [sic] fuel | For torch. |
| Size 6 wood screws | Whole bunch. |
| Size 8-32 pan head screws | Quite a few |
| .025 furnace wire | 3' |
| .025 x 1/4" flat spring | 3" |
| 1 Set pool balls | New. |
| 1 Hose clamp | New. |
| 1 5" square exercise band | Donated by Mike Twomey Physical Therapist. |
| Paint by ACE Body Shop | Donated by Tom Fangman. |
(10 photos, approximately 286.8 kilobytes total)
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Version
1.2, 1998/06/18.
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