This toy was a small disk that had a series of curved lines and a pin hole in the center. You would tack the wheel to the paper and trace the lines with a pencil After each line, you rotated the wheel a bit before drawing the next line. When you finsihed, you had a cool drawing on your paper.
2006-10-18 16:38:43 · 16 answers · asked by JDTBUCKS 2 in Games & Recreation ➔ Toys
Spirograph! I loved that thing!
2006-10-18 16:41:54 · answer #1 · answered by still waiting 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I remember those. The kit consisted of several pieces of clear plastic of various shapes, with teeth on them like cogwheels.They were about 2mm. thick and had pinholes into which you'd insert the point of a pencil. As you say, you'd rotate the wheel and get a pattern of wavy lines on the paper underneath the plastic sheet. If you continued, you'd get a more and more complex pattern, like the wavy lines on a banknote. Because the plastic was clear, you could watch the pattern develop. I can't remember what it was called, but there must be a few lying around in toy boxes and sheds. Perhaps you can still buy them. It's unlikely that such a clever idea was just dropped and forgotten. Back in the early 1980s I taught computer studies at high school. We used Apple IIe computers and there was a programming language called Logo, which was very easy to learn and which you used to build up complicated patterns using very simple rules. We often used it to build up very similar patterns on the computer screen.
2006-10-18 16:56:29 · answer #2 · answered by zee_prime 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spirograph is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc., for a geometric drawing toy, which produces mathematical curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The word has also been applied to a variety of software applications that display similar curves.
The Spirograph was invented by Denys Fisher, who exhibited it in 1965 at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Distribution rights were acquired by Kenner, Inc., who introduced it to the United States market in 1966.
A Spirograph consists of a set of plastic gears and toothed rings. The smaller gears fit inside the larger rings, in such a fashion that they rotate around the inside or along the outside edge of the rings. To use it, a sheet of paper is placed on a heavy cardboard backing, and one of the plastic pieces is pinned to the paper and cardboard. Another plastic piece is placed so that its teeth engage with those of the pinned piece. For example, a ring may be pinned to the paper and a small gear placed inside the ring (although other arrangements are possible). The point of a pen is placed in a hole in the moving piece, so that it can draw a curved line on the paper as the hole moves. The pen is used both to draw and provide motive force; some practice is required before Spirograph can be operated without disengaging the fixed and moving pieces.
DELUXE SPIROGRAPH Design Toy
http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=browse&brand=525
2006-10-18 16:44:15 · answer #3 · answered by LadieVamp 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
And the winner is....Rotodraw by Kenner (unless you meant it created design pictures). If so, the answer would be Spirograph. Hey, wait a minute... you picked the best answer, so which is it? Designs(Spirograph), or pictures of cartoon characters and animals(Rotodraw)? I had the Flintstones Rotodraw. Sounds like most of you had Spirograph. Making a perfect Wilma on paper was more gratifying to me at that age than drawing a vector, but those multi-colored ones were pretty awesome I must say.
2016-02-14 17:28:56 · answer #4 · answered by Jurec 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No No No! This is not a spirograph (read the question more carefully) and I am also looking for what these were called.
A spirograph draws a mathematical curvy flowery type shape but this toy was a single disc with a sequence of register marks (not teeth) around its rim... you pin the disc through its centre to your paper, make a tick at the edge somewhere, and then rotate the disc till number 1 on the rim lines up with a mark you have made. the disc itself is covered with about 50 apparently randomly squiggly lines that you can draw through onto the paper. you find line number one and draw through it. then rotate to 2, draw line 2, then 3 etcetc... when you have done them all you lift up and hey presto, a picture of snoopy, ice-hockey player, whatever...
not a spirograph!
2006-10-22 06:15:18 · answer #5 · answered by Paul P 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The item you are actually referring to was not Spirograph or Spirotot, but rather Rotadraw...you put pin through hole in center and started at #1 drew a line and subsequently moved to #2 and lined it up with original line and as you did each number in succession you traced the shape in the same corresponding number on the disk and eventually the picture came to form.
That is the toy you were describing in your post. I deal in vintage toys and just happened to come across this post while doing some additional research.
2014-12-02 18:02:29 · answer #6 · answered by Scott 1 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It's called a Spirograph. They don't make them as cool as they used to, but you can still find toys that are similar at places like Toys R Us. Good luck!
2006-10-18 16:51:26 · answer #7 · answered by eedino 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spiro Agnew?
2006-10-18 16:47:15 · answer #8 · answered by MisterRE 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that was called a spirograph, i had one and it was a fun toy. best bet would be to contact one of the larger toy stores ( K&B< Toys R us< etc) and see if they dont have any in stock, you could also check department stores (KMart, Walmart,Big Lots)
2006-10-19 00:17:38 · answer #9 · answered by gypsy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spirograph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph
2006-10-18 16:47:15 · answer #10 · answered by Brendan S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spirograph, and I think they still make it. Check the toy stores. :-)
2006-10-18 16:45:33 · answer #11 · answered by not_so_little_black_dress 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋