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Creative Toy Walk of Fame
In the Spotlight:
Tinkertoy
Overview of Tinkertoy on Wikipedia.org
The Tinkertoy Construction Set was created
in 1914—one year after the A. C. Gilbert
Company's Erector Set—by Charles H. Pajeau
and Robert Pettit in Evanston, Illinois.
Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the toy after
seeing children play with pencils and empty
spools of thread. He and Pettit set out to
market a toy that would allow and inspire
children to use their imaginations.
The cornerstone of the set is a wooden spool
roughly two inches (5 cm) in diameter with
holes drilled every 45 degrees around the
perimeter and one though the center. The
perimeter holes do not go all the way
through. With the differing-length sticks,
the set was intended to be based on the
Pythagorean progressive right triangle.
The sets were introduced to the public
through displays in and around Chicago which
included model Ferris wheels. Tinkertoys
have been used to create surprisingly
complex machines, including Danny Hillis'
tic-tac-toe-playing computer (now on display
at the Computer Museum in Boston) and a
robot at Cornell University in 1998.
Hasbro owns the Tinkertoy brand and
currently produces both Tinkertoy Plastic
and Tinkertoy Classic (wood) sets and parts.
Links
The
TinkerToy Experience
A creative way to use Tinkertoy construction as
a metaphor for the workplace in an exercise in cooperation,
which teaches principles of good business management. It has
been used with groups from grade 2 through adults. Site
description:
Participants use and learn how to employ proven concepts to
maximize the effectiveness of any workplace and enhance
communication throughout the organization. Participants
experience and learn that the only way to improve a
product or service is for management to improve the system
that creates the product or service. Rewarding or punishing
individuals trapped in the system is pointless and
counterproductive. Using this simple activity, one is able
to demonstrate how to improve upon traditional American
boss-management, including school and classroom
management.
Tinkertoy videos on
YouTube.com:
Tinkertoy
Amusement Park
Juggling
Tinkertoys
Working
Tinkertoy Clock
Book
Kid Stuff:
Great Toys from Our Childhood
by David Hoffman, Viktor Budnik (Photographer)
Amazon.com Reviews
Excerpt:
San Jose Mercury News, December 1996
The pictures of
the toys offer some childish thrills; the stories behind
them offer adult lessons in optimism and perseverance. It's
a little bit insipiring to learn that an imaginative French
garage mechanic invented the Etch A Sketch, or that a Danish
carpenter begat Lego. Aren't you glad to know that
Colorforms were dreamed up, not by some giant corporation,
but by two hungry art students named Harry and Patricia
Kislevitz? The prototype was made out of a sheet of
discarded vinyl they got from a friend in the handbag
business.
If you don't
feel in the mood for inspirational stories about people
making fortunes, though, you can always page through the
pictures. Here's the Magic '8' Ball (along with some trade
secrets about just what's inside). The original
you'll-poke-somebody's-eye-out Mr. Potato Head parts. And
the great, immortal View-Master (along with a helpful source
for discs and discussion in Corte Madera. If you want to
subscribe to a collector's magazine, get a catalog or just
talk 3D, call (415) 924-3356 and ask for Dalia.)
The views those
plastic binoculars provided; however, are nothing compared
to the rosy visions of childhood that memories deliver.
Objects and events from those days can be viewed through the
foggiest and most flattering of filters.
Book Description
Ever wondered if
Barbie had a last name? (It's Roberts.) Who invented Lincoln
Logs? (John L. Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright.) Why a
Wiffle Ball has holes? (So you can throw a curve without
throwing out your arm.) Filled with a host of curious facts
and little-known anecdotes about the creation and evolution
of these and dozens of other timeless toys and games, Kid
Stuff is a celebration of classic playthings, mostly from
the 1940s through the 1960s, that are still popular today.
Pairing colorful and evocative new photographs with
reproductions of original ads and publicity shots, this
delightful book reminds us why these toys live on -- both in
our memories and on store shelves.
Amazon.com Reader
Review:
One way in which the thinking
processes of successful inventors and entrepreneurs differs from
the average person is that they often see a potential masker
that others fail to see. Many demonstrations of this ability may
be found when reading this delightful little book, Kid Stuff.
David Hoffman has assembled the histories of the most familiar
toys of our childhood. From the Ant Farm to the Whiffle Ball, he
details how they were conceived, perfected, and promoted.
Consider the Slinky. If Richard James, in 1945, had not been
intrigued by how a spring he accidentally dropped "walked"
across the floor, the story could have ended right there. But be
did see a potential. He perfected it, named it, and packaged it.
It then died on the vine at the local retail outlet. Again, the
story could have ended right there. However, he realized this
was a new item and that it had to be demonstrated. When he
demonstrated it at Gimbels, he sold 400 in minutes. In the 50
years since, 250 million have been sold!
Three basics in the Slinky story form a common thread that runs
through many of these classic toy histories. First, someone sees
a potential market; secondly, a dynamite trade name is created;
thirdly, clever marketing is utilized.
Often the opportunity is in plain sight and, in fact, may have
been for some time. Hoffman points out that it is said that the
Yo-Yo is actually the second-oldest known toy (after dolls). Yet
it remained for Donald Duncan, in 1927, to see the
possibilities. Further confirmation that some people do look at
the world differently may be had by noting that Duncan also
invented the parking meter and introduced the Good Humor "ice
cream on a stick."
An example of a mental process utilizing analogical thinking may
be seen in the history of the Erector Set. Back in 1911, A. C.
Gilbert observed girders being assembled for an electric system
along the railroad line he frequently traveled. Realizing kids
love to assemble things (wood blocks, etc.), he put together a
toy kit consisting of girders, gears, pulleys, etc.
This power of observing the obvious and seeing the not so
obvious is again shown in the history of Mr. Potato Head. George
Lerner noticed how children love to play with their food. Who
has not? He utilized the observation to create Mr. Potato Head.
Incidentally, "Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to ever be
advertised on television." The story recites how the toy has
been adapted to the times. His pipe was eliminated and the last
pipe given to the Surgeon General at the Great American Smokeout.
Responding to safety regulation they increased the size of its
pasts and made them less sharp. As Hoffman notes, the current
Mr. Potato Head may surprise nostalgic parents, but he is still
loved by the kids.
Another example of how a toy was adapted to the times is Antonio
Pasin's original wagon, "Liberty Coaster," of 1923. It was made
of wood and it was followed by the classic little red wagon,
"Radio Flyer," made of steel. It was called "Flyer" to emphasize
motion and "Radio" to honor the Italian inventor of radio.
If for no other reason, read this book to satisfy your curiosity
as to how the classic toys came to be. How Paul Guillow created
the balsa wood airplane industry. How a toy store owner and a
marketing consultant created Silly Putty---it floundered until a
mention in the New Yorker magazine resulted in orders for a
quarter-million and it's sales has since reached the 200-million
mark!
This book is jammed packed with toy trivia. Largest-selling
football in the world? Nerf football. Barbie Doll's last name?
Roberts.
Viktor Budnik's photographs for this book are terrific. They
make this little book look good enough for your coffee table.
But best of all, even your kids will enjoy this book and,
perhaps, pick up on the idea that behind each toy there was a
real person who took an idea from the dream world and brought it
into the real world.
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