Posted on 07/14/2010 5:20:58 AM PDT by Daffynition
(July 13) -- Happy 50th birthday, Etch A Sketch.
This week in 1960, the Etch A Sketch first hit the market, according to HowStuffWorks.com. Fifty years later, the beloved piece of technology has been transformed from a simple toy to a medium for fine art, a movie character thanks to the "Toy Story" series, and an iPhone app.
Even after half a century, the Etch A Sketch maintains its youthful appearance. Once only available in the iconic red-with-grey-screen variety, the drawing tool now comes in neon-colored housings and multicolor interfaces.
The premise behind the Etch A Sketch is simple: Two knobs tied to pulleys manipulate a stylus underneath a glass housing, and an aluminum powder serves as the toy's "ink."
One quick shake, and hundreds of tiny styrene beads wipe the surface clean, making it ready for another drawing session.
It was originally called the L'Ecran Magique, or "The Magic Screen," by inventor Arthur Granjean from France. When he couldn't get local toy companies to manufacture his magic screen, he sold it to The Ohio Art Company, bringing the toy to American shores and turning it into a pop culture icon.
ML/NJ
As a kid my complaint was that the “magique” didn’t allow you to pick up the stylus and move it elsewhere without leaving a trail. (As the animation has succeeded in doing.) By the way, I’ll never forget the Dilbert cartoon where he tells the boss he needs to hold his laptop upside down and shake it.
Amazing
Neat graphic cept when drawing the nose and mouth the cursor inexplicably jumped over and down, not possible. The lines had to be connected.
Those have GOT to be a hoax.
I'm almost 67 and played with its predecessor, where you had the sheet against a black slate, drew on it, then lifted the sheet to remove the drawing. I recall first seeing Etch-a-sketch, but was too old to care. Some of my younger relatives had them, though.
beloved. that’s funny. i bet it is the most underused toy in america. everyone buys them but who actually uses them?
No, they are not. I have a brother-in-law who can do that kind of thing. It’s amazing.
Thanks! :-)
It’s a pity they’re no longer made in Ohio, but in China.
The Christmas before last, my stepson, William, was preparing to deploy to Iraq and was going to take his laptop along with him during the deployment so that he could communicate with my wife, his mother. However, in doing so, that would have left his wife without a computer in the house. So, as a Christmas gift, my wife and I bought a new laptop for her so that she could communicate with Will.
However, right after we purchased the laptop, I saw that Dilbert cartoon and came up with an idea for a gag gift for her as well. I opened the boxes that the laptop came in and took out the computer, leaving all of the cords and disks and manuals in the box, and replaced the laptop in the box with a full-sized Etch-a-Sketch, along with a homemade spiral-bound "instruction manual" for its use. It had a picture of the Etch-A-Sketch on the cover and, inside, it just quite simply instructed the user to "reboot" the computer whenever the "screen froze" by turning it upside down and shaking it vigorously.
We then resealed the boxes with glue, put the laptop in a laptop bag, and waited for our opportunity. As William was deploying about two weeks before Christmas, we had our "Christmas Eve" about three weeks out. Will's wife was ecstatic when she unwrapped the box and saw that it was a computer for her. However, the look on her face when she opened the box and withdrew the "laptop" was priceless.
She was overjoyed when we gave her the actual laptop in the computer bag.
Most frustrating invention ever. Impossible to use. Most kinds play with it for about 5 minutes and chuck it.
ROTFL! Good one!
She was probably thinking, nuts, on top of everything else now I have to deal with parents with dementia.
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