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As I recall it was indeed Marcia Rudy, working with Jane Safer, who
thought up and arranged Big Machine Summer at the New York Hall of
Science.  We were doing a series of summer special events we arranged
ourselves, as a way of saving money over traveling exhibition rentals.
Joe is also right that visitors couldn't operate the machines, although
there were demonstrations from time to time.  Case Construction Equipment
provided many earth-moving machines, big and bigger, and held the "Backhoe
Rodeo" Joe mentioned, with operators coming from around the country to
demonstrate how they could, for example, pick up an egg and deposit it on
a plate without breaking anything, using a 10 ton machine.  They also
taught some of our staff how to operate a backhoe so we could do
demonstrations on our own, every day.  So visitors did get to see machines
operate, along with a patter about how they worked and what they could do,
every day.

[Disclaimer:  I was one of the staff who got trained, and the joy of
learning to operate a big backhoe and show off for the public may have
colored by memories of Big Machine Summer in a positive way.]

I recall much more visitor happiness than Joe does.  Just seeing those
machines up close was fun, and being able to climb up into them was a real
treat for nearly everyone.  I recall lines waiting to get into the super
pumper firetruck, and lots of cameras clicking around kids sitting behind
the big steering wheel.  In hindsight, this is much the same as the
attraction of aviation museums, where you never get to fly a plane, or
even taxi one on the tarmac, but you do get to see them up close, even
touch them in most cases, and sit in cockpits in a few samples.  We also
had Explainers doing demonstrations, as Joe mentions, including hands-on
activities for visitors, around common features of the big machines.
Levers, for example, are everywhere on any big machine, so we could do
hands-on, table-top activities on building leveraged devices, as well as a
"lever treasure hunt" poking around the machines themselves.  So I think
there was enjoyment and learning happening aplenty.

What didn't happen were the huge crowds we were looking for.  Attendance
was only average, I think.  I recall we had a quality food service set up
an outdoor tent, tables and chairs, and sell good quality sandwiches and
other food and drink.  But the crowds, while reasonable for a typical
summer weekend, were not what they needed to turn a profit, so they pulled
out after a week or two.  But let us borrow their tent, tables, and
chairs, for us to offer a more modest food service for the rest of the
summer.

My take-away was to keep doing things like this, but work harder on the
marketing and PR, and find more ways to have more visitor physical
involvement.  I see a lot of small backhoes and material handling machines
around now, and if I were doing this again I'd look for a manufacturing
partner who would provide several of each, along with volunteer
instructors/safety superintendents, so we could give everybody a chance to
experience the joys of hydraulic controls and serious leverage.

I also see indoor exhibits of small, custom-made devices that work like
backhoes, operated directly by visitors or through remote controls. Yes,
these demonstrate the principles, but like model airplanes, they lack the
dimensions of sheer size and authenticity of the real thing. So I like
them best in close conjunction with actual big machines.

Cheers,
Alan 
________________________________________
Alan J. Friedman, Ph.D.
Consultant for Museum Development and Science Communication
29 West 10th Street
New York, New York 10011 USA
T  +1 917 882-6671
E   [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
W www.FriedmanConsults.com <http://www.friedmanconsults.com/>
 
a member of The Museum Group
www.museumgroup.com <http://www.museumgroup.com/>



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