What Happened 133 Years Ago on July 4th?

July 4, 1883: Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist was born. He satirized our American preoccupation with technology. His name became synonymous with any simple process made outlandishly complicated because of his series of "Invention" cartoons which use a string of outlandish tools, people, plants & steps to accomplish everyday simple tasks in the most complicated way. Goldberg applied his training as a graduate engineer & used his engineering, story-telling, and drawing skills to make sure that the "Inventions" could work, even though dozens of arms, wheels, gears, handles, cups, and rods were put in motion by balls, canary cages, pails, boots, bathtubs, paddles & even live animals for simple tasks like squeezing an orange for juice or closing a window in case it should start to rain.