By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The contraption would have made MacGyver jealous.
Pieces of wood, rubber bands, pencils, a coffee maker, a computer printer and much more were used to construct the giant paper shredder.
Seven Brandywine High School students - sophomores Cameron Roth and Shane DeMeulenaere; juniors Erin Sinkoff and Ray Young; and seniors Jake Ernsperger, Matt Skornog and Chris Harrison - spent four months constructing the science project for the 2006 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. The object of the event, which was held at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., was to find a way to shred five pieces of paper in a minimum of 20 steps.
The “machine” was started by dropping a quarter into a slot, which began a chain reaction and triggered a long series of snaps, pulls and pokes, including about a 45 second wait for a coffee pot to pour. A message was eventually sent to a lap top computer, which then signaled a computer printer to send paper through to the waiting paper shredder. The project was hooked up to a regular electric outlet.
The task had to be completed twice within nine minutes in order for a project to place. The team, working under science club advisor Jim Derucki, took second place against 40 other teams in the multi-state division. Holding them back, Derucki said, was a “teeny, tiny glitch” with a string that snapped during the paper shredder's first run.
However, Derucki's science club was awarded the distinguished Bronzed Duct Tape Award for excellence in field engineering for their work on repairing the slip.
The team started work on the project in January and spent four days a week working after school to compete in the April 28 competition. Many of the other projects at the Goldberg contest were equally impressive.