Rube Goldberg is an American cartoonist well known for his illustrations depicting overly elaborate devices designed to accomplish relatively simple functions. These types of devices became widely known as Rube Goldberg machines.
His creations were ludicrous, committed to paper but often expressed as unachievable in any real way, not to mention that these machines took a long, drawn out approach to something that can be achieved by simple human motor skills. They remind me—and most likely inspired—the board game Mousetrap. One of Goldberg’s creation from 1931 is “Self-Operating Napkin.”