Brooklyn pin boys (circa 1912) do work that would be automated four decades later.

I came across a 1954 article in Sports Illustrated about the then-booming game of bowling, which was becoming increasingly popular thanks to new machinery that automatically placed pins and returned balls. These machines were referred to in the article as “gadgets Rube Goldberg never dreamed of.” The opening of the piece explains the origins of the beer-soaked sport. An excerpt:

“The futuristic fantasy of steel and wire shown above is the pin-spotting machine developed by the American Machine & Foundry Co., a gadget which has revolutionized the bowling industry and started the pin boy on his way out after an unbroken tenure of some 17 centuries. It is a far cry indeed from the game originated around 250 A.D. by a Bavarian priest who first set up a wooden pin in the cloister of his church. He labeled the pin Heide (heathen) and called upon each parishioner to knock it down with a rounded stone. If the Kegeler (thrower) scored a hit, he was judged to be living a devout, pure life. If he missed, his soul was presumed to require cleansing at church.”