Ball Stairway

Based on a whacky German machine, this manually-powered little mechanical marvel does “nothing” - except entertain!

Driven by hand crank through a small planetary transmission, the rotating camshaft and roller lifters cause the balls to “roll uphill”.

The balls then deposit in the “dropper”, which directs them to the holding tilt-track (a feature borrowed from the Rolling Ball clock). When the sixth ball arrives, the track unbalances and the balls roll down the coaster track to start their journey again. The green and black balls provide further interest as they swap positions, get separated, and come back together again on successive trips around. Ball Stairway

My Niece loves my Rolling Ball clock, and thought she wanted one. I didn’t want to burden her with a clock that she has to listen to all the time (that thing is noisy!). I discovered this mechanism, and just had to build one, so I made this for her for Christmas.