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Mechanical Puzzles, Brainteasers & Ingenious Objects Including a POW Escape Aid in a Rolling Ball Puzzle

The Indiana University Lilly Library and the accompanying Digital Library Program hold the Jerry Slocum Mechanical Puzzle Collection which embodies a lifetime pursuit for the intriguing, the perplexing, and the compelling. "Unlike word or jigsaw puzzles, mechanical puzzles are hand-held objects that must be manipulated to achieve a specific goal. The Rubik's cube and tangrams are popular examples. Confounding and delightful, precise and whimsical, the puzzles in the Slocum collection represent centuries of mathematical, social, and recreational history from across five continents."

Jerry Slocum retired as Acting President, Transportation Sector, Hughes Aircraft Co. after a 38 year career at Hughes. His career began with Jerry designing cockpits and cockpit displays for military fighter aircraft. For the last six years at Hughes he was responsible for the application of Hughes aerospace technology and expertise to the development of General Motors automotive products. Jerry served as a member of the SAE Technical Board and the SAE Aerospace Board.

We chose some puzzle examples that intrigued us, many for their historical references:

The Maze Puzzle made in England of embossed brass in 1888 where the object is to remove the ring by passing it from hole to hole. Puzzle Pup, in the cast iron and sheet metal classification has a similar goal, that of removing the collar from the 'pup'. The American Way Rolling Ball Puzzle from 1930 had as its object the balance of the scales of justice. Another rolling ball example was The Dionne Quintuplets puzzle wherein the player must place the five 'babies' in the carriage.

A more intriguing and event-oriented 1914 puzzle from England was the Niagara Puzzle with File and Compass. The player was directed to "Roll all the balls from the bank into the whirlpool (hole). The hack saw blade and the compass, along with a map, were hidden inside Journet puzzles that were sent to British soldiers in German prison camps during WWI to help them escape."

Another wartime (in this case, WWII) puzzle was the 1942 Lock 'em Up version of a fold-up puzzle in which the goal was to "put two of the three villans of WW II behind bars" by the skill of folding.

The Greater Panama Canal puzzle in the dexerity classification was made of paper, glass and mercury in which the goal was to move the mercury from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and back. The 1898 US rolling ball [Commodore] Dewey Puzzle directions call for rolling the ball into Manila Bay.

Here are the Mechanical Puzzle classifications of the mechanical puzzles covered in the collection of some 30,000 items in the Slocum Collection:

Put-Togther Puzzles — Object: Putting puzzle together (e.g., Tangrams)
Take-Apart Puzzles — Object: Taking puzzle apart (e.g., Puzzle Boxes)
Interlocking Solid Puzzles — Object: Puzzle disassembly and assembly (e.g., Cube)
Disentanglement Puzzles — Object: Puzzle disentanglement and entanglement (e.g., Chinese Rings)
Sequential Movement Puzzles — Object: Moving puzzle parts to attain goal (e.g., Rubik's Cube)
Dexterity puzzles — Object: Manual dexterity to solve puzzle(e.g., Cup and Ball)
Puzzle Vessels — Object: Filling vessel or drinking without spilling (e.g., Puzzle Jugs)
Vanish Puzzles — Object: Explain vanished or changed image (e.g., Loyd's Get Off the Earth)
Folding Puzzles — Object: Fold object to specified pattern (e.g., Fifth Pig Puzzle)
Impossible Puzzles — Object: Explain how object was made or why it behaves in seemingly impossible ways (e.g., Arrow thru Bottle)

Puzzle Animations can be viewed after downloading Quicktime, free for PC and Mac.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the library and there is a celebratory exhibition, Treasures of the Lilly Library. Many of the library's celebrated treasures such as William Shakespeare's First Folio, George Washington’s letter accepting the presidency, Albrecht Dürer'sApocalypse, and the first printed edition of Geoffrey Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, will be on display.

Mechanical Puzzles, Brainteasers & Ingenious Objects Including a POW Escape Aid in a Rolling Ball Puzzle

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