WEBVTT - Toys, Part 2 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.400 Santa Talos is back to spread holidays year, to crush 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:10.800 you in the warm heart of his fiery embrace, chestnuts 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:15.680 roasting on his open fire, cold outside of my body. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:28.280 If that's just bless us. Everyone. Welcome to Invention, a 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:35.519 production of I Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Invention. My 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:38.440 name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and we 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:43.200 are back to discuss some more invented toys. That's right. Uh, 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:48.680 we're opening Santa Talus's bag once more, pulling out some 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.120 classic toys to discuss where they came from, Like how 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:57.560 do these various gadgets and novelties factor into human techno history? Now, 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.760 last time we talked about the discuss or frisbee, and 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.760 we talked about the hula hoop? What else? The Jack 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.760 in the box, and with at least two of those 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.080 things that I feel like there were times like there's 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.560 an ebb and flow for demand. They're like moments when 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.800 suddenly a toy, uh even a classic toy that's been 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.800 around for a long time, suddenly gets very popular again. Uh, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.160 and then and then demand goes away, And I wonder 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:27.480 what creates those cycles? Like I remember when I was 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.319 in elementary school, there was suddenly a yo yo craze. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.120 And I don't know if this was like worldwide, nationwide 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.720 or just my school. I don't know exactly why it 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:39.520 was or exactly which year it was, but there was 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:41.880 like a year or two when everybody went yo yo 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.959 crazy and then it just disappeared. I wonder if it's 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:49.080 kind of an age thing too. I mean, just like 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.559 how there's a certain age at which as a child 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:53.600 you discover the magic of the yo yo and it 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.520 is incredibly magical, but then it goes away, uh you know, 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.840 or you or at least very few individuals stick with 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.320 it long term. But I know even at my son's school, 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.760 they had a like a professional yo yo uh performer 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.800 come in and do some sort of demonstration about the 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.960 yo yo. Oh. I wonder if we had something like 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.120 that maybe that caused it. But I do remember there 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.960 was like I remember the brand names, like everybody wanted 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:23.880 a butterfly or I remember or something like that. Well. Also, 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.640 I think an important thing perhaps is that certainly you 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.480 have this like twenty year cycle roughly for toys whatever, 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.600 it was popular twenty years ago when you were a kid. 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.320 Then statistically when you're having children. You then turn return 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.320 to the same toys and inflict them on the next generation. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.800 But during that time, material sciences tend to evolve, right, 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.079 and if not only not only material sciences, but also uh, 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.080 you know, electronic gadgetry. So suddenly it's possible to have 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.000 a butterfly yoyo that is not only just a yo yo, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.880 but also has uh you know this say, really glean 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.959 plastic form, and perhaps it had lights in it. Now 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.680 that's sort of thing. Uh what what were those automatic 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.760 retraction yo yo? Do you remember those? Now? Isn't that 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.360 just a yoyo? I don't know that? Like the yo yo, 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.480 in order to get it to climb back up the string, 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.760 you've got to get the momentum just right. You gotta 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:17.800 kind of tug it, you know, at the just like 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:19.640 this is like an electric yo yo. It's like the 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.040 electric bicycle of yoyo. I don't know know if it 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.760 was electric, it might have been spring powered, but basically 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.400 it was. It was automatically retracting, so you could throw 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.400 it down the thread and then when it hit the end, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.079 it would just get sucked back in. I don't like 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.360 a lot of fun it seems more like a like 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.000 like a weapon than a yo yo. Well that it's interesting, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.000 you should mention that. Yeah, so the first toy we're 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.160 gonna mention here is the yo yo, and the yo 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.040 yo it is a magical implement like anytime. I don't 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.400 use one daily or anything, but every now and then 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:53.920 I'll happen upon a yo yo and I'll have to 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.320 do the one trick I know how to do with it, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.040 the sort of not the standard, but the one who 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:00.400 you kind of roll your hand and I have no 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.360 idea what the name of the trick is. The roll 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.120 your hand, I don't know, you know where instead of 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.400 going I'm doing no way, but nobody can see this. 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.760 Instead of going like this, you go like this, I 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.800 see like underhand instead of overhand. Yeah, it's like more 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.240 of a flourish to it. I remember the tricks everybody 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:16.640 was trying to do when I was a kid. Where 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.720 walk the dog, where when I guess, roll ahead of 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.480 view or something. Uh. Then they would do like the 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:24.839 they'd like make a cat's cradle with the string while 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.920 it's still spinning. Yeah, and the thing is nowadays on 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.600 YouTube you can go and look up yo yo tricks 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.680 and Yoyo tricks are amazing, Like, there are people doing 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:40.119 incredible things with yo yo's and yoyo related toys. So 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.359 the basic, though, is pretty standard. The toy consists of 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:46.680 two discs that are connected by an axle with a 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.800 string looped around the axle. You unwind it, the yo 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.920 yo spins down and then it spins back up. That 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.440 is the basic yo yo trick. Yeah, and I would 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.680 say that's good enough. If you never learn any tricks, 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.280 yoyo is still pretty fun. Yeah, yeah, solutely. So where 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.040 does this come from? Well, let's start with the American 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:05.719 history of the yo yo, because a lot of these 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.080 toys is just as in the last episode, there's kind 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:10.719 of the American history and then there's kind of the 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.680 global history of it. But the American history of these 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.040 toys tends to sort of dominate our current understanding of 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.200 them generally because they ended up being revamped by various 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.039 American toy companies. So they made a lot of money. Yeah, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:25.440 it made a lot of money in doing so, and 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.200 then generally got to rename them. And this isn't another 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.240 case whereas something like that comes into place. So the 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.400 American history of the yo Yo is often tied back 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.480 to the nineteen twenties, and one of the key names 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:42.280 here is Donald F. Duncan, the founder of Duncan Toys Company. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:47.120 And uh, you know, refer back to Charles pinalts Extraordinary 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.560 Origins of everyday Things, and he points out that Duncan 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.039 took inspiration supposedly for his yo yo from observations of 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.839 the Philippine hunting weapon known as a yo yo um 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.479 as it was known in the tag law language. Uh. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.760 And this would have been I read, a larger wooden 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.880 take on the basic concept, with the twine intended to 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.680 wrap around a prey animal's legs. So it's more like 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.480 a bolus basically, right, like the weapon that is a 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.720 sort of two balls on a string and you throw 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:18.760 it and it's I guess, can get tangled up in 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.680 an animal's legs and trip them. Yes, So sometimes you'll 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.960 you'll find accounts that point to Donald F. Duncan as 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.159 an inventor of the yo yo or like the key 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.880 modern innovator of the yo yo, But this appears to 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.880 not be truly the case. It appears that a Filipino 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.359 immigrant by the name of Pedro Flores actually brought the 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.640 invention to the toy market in Santa Barbara and ran 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.240 the yo Yo manufacturing company, but then he sold his 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.160 interest in the company and the trademark to Duncan, who 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:53.559 then marketed it heavily. Um But but even Flores hadn't 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.160 been the first person to patent some form of yo 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.520 yo technology in the United States, a form of bandalore 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.680 had been attended already, which is a very similar gadget. 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.719 But more to the point, the basic yo yo toy 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.400 pre dates all of this, even seemingly the Filipino weapon, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.200 because there are Greek vase paintings from around four forty 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.200 b c E that depict the use of a yo 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.320 yo Yeah, and the Chinese had an ivory and silk 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:26.000 chord version of basically the same device as early as 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.760 a thousand BC, and earlier versions date back to the 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:36.880 Neolithic Himudu civilization, potentially from five thousand, five hundred BC 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.920 two UH three thousand, three hundred BC, where it may 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.440 have spun off from spinning top technology, which I think 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.840 is interesting to note because the yo yo, you can 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.640 you can watch the yo yo in action, and then 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:50.720 you can watch a spin top in action, and you 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:56.040 can realize that they're both basically revolving around the same principle, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:00.000 the idea of using a length of string or twine 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.400 to spin another physical object. In the top, you're spinning 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.920 it on the ground, but then the yo yo is 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.640 taking basically the same concept and applying it above the ground. 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.080 Uh And and they're both benefiting from the kind of 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.400 magic that that appears to happen when you preserve angular 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.280 momentum in a way. I don't know if they technically count, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.760 but they're they're sort of analogous to them. The mechanical 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.720 object a flywheel, which you know, it preserves the ability 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:32.520 to do work in angular momentum stored in a rotating object. Yeah, 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:38.559 to sort of abuse the pun a little more. Basically, 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.680 this the toy is a spinoff of immerging technology of 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.800 the time. Uh And And also, I think it's the 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.720 point that toys are not merely toys. You know, they 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.360 don't exist in isolation. They're they're directly connected to advances 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.680 in technology, material sciences, and etcetera. So I was looking 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.560 a little bit more about about the Chinese Top. I 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.560 was looking at a paper title The Chinese Top, publish 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.600 in two thousand and eight in the Chinese Journal for 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.000 the History of Science and Technology by Yan Ping at All, 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.360 and they point that, yes, the likely origin is roughly 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.599 five thousand b C or thereabouts during the Mudu civilization, 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.560 but actual writings on tops and diabolos don't emerge until 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.480 the song in Ming dynasty, so that would have been 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.360 the song would have been nine sixty through twelve seventy 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.040 nine and the Ming dynasty thirteen sixty eight to sixty four. Now, 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.480 what's the deal with this diabolo or diablo? So it 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:39.240 is if you look up the diabolo on on YouTube, 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.120 for instance, you'll see plenty of videos of people using 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:47.400 the toy, the technology, and it is a standard. Essentially. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.040 You can think of it as like a Chinese yo yo. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.280 You may have even seen one before, let's say, um, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.400 you know an Asian cultural event like a street festival, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.280 and you might have thought to yourself, oh, it's like 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.599 a Chinese yo yo or something. But they're often the 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.480 person using the often uses sticks as well. Uh. And 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.400 it's it's widely used, often as a kind of a 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:11.120 circus prop for really elaborate tricks. The main difference is 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.160 that it's instead of it being two discs joined by 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.600 an axis. It's two hour glass shapes bridged by an 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.160 axle and then manipulated with you know, with the string 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.920 and with sticks to perform a variety of tricks. Uh. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:28.319 And today you'll find plenty of of diabolo models wherever 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.240 you might order a western yo yo, like it's typical, 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:36.400 very yo yo manufacturer of note you probably offer where yeah, 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.480 you want to be the master of all like above 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:45.080 ground spinning top like toys. We've cornered the angular momentum market. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.720 But you know, it's I think one of the reasons 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.000 that the yo yo is such a successful toy and 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.280 has been for so long is because it it fits 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.080 that classic trope of being something that is very easy 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.680 to use but then difficult to match stair like, there's 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.920 a lot of depth that can be added. You can 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.160 you can get off at the first stop on the 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.360 yo yo train, or you can ride the yo yo 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.439 train all the way to the end and become one 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.160 of these masters of string and spin. I wonder if 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.280 there's a way of studying exactly what it is about 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:23.200 the mechanical action of certain toys bringing such pleasure, like, like, 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.840 why is it in particular that say, two spinning discs 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.040 on a string or a paddle board ball or something 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.040 like that like that, it's just normal physical interactions bring 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.840 such visceral pleasure, whereas other random combinations of objects don't 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.360 necessarily Like say, a stick with the string on the 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.560 end with a rock on it, You don't think that 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.720 would be very fun, but why would have? But a 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.120 paddle board with a bouncy rubber ball is fun. And 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.800 there's some difference there in like how it feels in 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.600 your hand and how it bounces, But like what makes 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.160 one thing fun and another thing not one? I think 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:04.199 one possibility is is, first of all, it's the toy 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:10.200 doing something or achieving something that feels um slightly unnatural 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.400 because with the the yo yo, as opposed to just 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:15.480 a string on the end of a stick, the yo 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.360 yo returns to you. And certainly we know the physics 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.040 of how this works, but but you can imagine like 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.960 the seeming miracle of the thing, you know, so the 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.880 boomerang effect of of the object that you created returning 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.040 to its master. And then I think it might be 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.600 a situation too. And certainly the more um clockwork our 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.120 toys become the idea that the toy is doing something 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.280 on its own that we've created something that has, if 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.040 not you know, actual mind and intent, it at least 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.840 has it seems to have a certain amount of life 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:50.959 unto itself. Yeah, I guess so, yeah, I mean, I 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.600 guess you could even look at something as simple as 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.160 a discus or a frisbee uh in this way because 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.360 it is in effect a wing and so like it 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.400 sales farther than it seems like it should. Maybe. Yeah, 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.319 I like this idea having some kind of hidden mechanism, 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.440 even if that mechanism is not clockwork on the inside 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:13.360 or something, but it's just some counterintuitive effect of basic physics. 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.440 And actually the next toy I want to talk about 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.080 I think fits into this category of doing something that's 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:23.000 just slightly mechanically counterintuitive. And that's where the fund seems 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.240 to come in. But before we go there, I think 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:31.280 we need to take a break. Okay, so we all 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.000 know how a VPN protects your privacy and security online. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.319 But one cool thing we found out recently is that 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.000 you can use a VPN to unlock movies and shows 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:46.080 that are only available in other countries. 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Express VPN works 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.920 with any streaming service so Hulu, BBC, I Player, YouTube, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.520 you name it. There are hundreds of VPNs out there. 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.880 But the reason we recommend Express VPN to watch shows 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.640 is it's ridiculously fast. There's never any buffering or lag, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.760 and you can stream an HD with no problem. Express 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.200 VPN is also compatible with all your devices, phones, media consoles, 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.520 smart TVs and more, so you can watch what you 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.200 want on the go or on the big screen wherever 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.040 you are. If you visit our special link right now 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.000 Express vpn dot com. Slash Invention. You can get an 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.080 extra three months of Express vpn for free. Support the show, 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.560 watch what you want and protect yourself at express vpn 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:09.760 dot com slash invention. Alright, we're back. Let's move on 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.800 to our next toy. Alright, so this next story starts 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:18.360 with an American man named Richard Thompson James, who was 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.760 born in Delaware in nineteen fourteen. And it wasn't until 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.800 reading up on this guy that I realized how many 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.400 mildly famous people there were named Richard James. This is 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.240 not Richard D. James, the British electronic musician also known 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.880 as a f X twin. This is not Rick James, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.440 the super freaky musician. It is not many of the 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.720 other Richard james Is who are various kinds of politicians 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.560 and scientists and other stuff. This Richard James grew up 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.760 in Delaware, went to Penn State, got a degree in 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.520 mechanical engineering there, and in nineteen forty three, Richard James 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.520 was working as a mechanical engineer for a ship building 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.320 company at Cramps Shipyard in Philadelphia. So this was in 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.720 the middle of World War Two, and naval technology, of course, 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.600 was not just big business. It was an essential part 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.160 of the Allied war effort. According to one story I 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.520 read in The Atlantic by Emma Jacob's Cramps shipyard at 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.720 this time alone employed up to eighteen thousand workers at 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.000 once during the height of the war, and many of 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.920 these employees, of course, we're engineers working on design improvements 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.920 for ships that would fight in fronts like the the 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.440 long running Battle of the Atlantic of you know, that 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.160 was going on for many years at the time. Uh So, personally, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.400 Richard James was trying to design mechanisms to quote, support 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:44.080 and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships in rough seas. So 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.800 you can kind of think about the challenges to fragile 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.680 navigation instruments and scientific detectors that might be present aboard 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.320 a battleship pitching around in the waves or submarines climbing 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.600 up and down through the water column. And so he's 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.560 working on this and his workspace is covered in steel parts, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:06.000 including tension and torsion springs, and apparently one day in 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:10.359 ninety three, Richard James accidentally knocked over a container of 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.080 metal parts that he was storing on a shelf above 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.880 his desk. One of these parts was a spring and 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.600 instead of just falling with a splat, the spring kind 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:24.240 of walked downhill in arcing steps, down onto a stack 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.000 of books, and then onto the floor, where it came 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.960 to rest. And according to James, he immediately saw the 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.800 potential of a spring like this as a toy, primarily 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:36.919 for the reason that if he were to make the 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.720 spring of just the right tension and mass, it would 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.680 walk around gracefully and surely bring delight to children everywhere 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.040 with a simple demonstration of everyday physics. Now, obviously I 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.080 cannot help but picture Richard James here as looking exactly 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.960 like the man in the the old Mst. Three k 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.600 Rift short a case of spring fever. That was spring. Yes, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.359 a man who in a in a moment of weakness, 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.119 wishes that there were no springs upon the earth, and 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:13.520 then Coyly, the the spring grimlin spirit God Uh answers 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.760 this wish, grants this wish, and uh and shows him 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.920 just how broken the world would be without springs. He 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.400 takes it back to his please bring all the springs back. 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.800 Coyly just immediately brings springs back into the world, and 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.800 then he becomes an ambassador of springs to all his friends, 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.640 he becomes a profit of springs. It's a complete rip 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.719 off of It's a wonderful life. But replacing George Bailey 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:41.280 with springs. Uh yeah, that is a great short. If 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.840 you've never seen it, you should look it up. But anyway, 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.680 so Richard's wife, Betty James came up with the name 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.879 for this toy by picking a word out of the dictionary, 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:52.879 and that name was, of course you all know it, 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.919 the slinky. Now, I think we associate that word more 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.320 with the toy than we actually do with the original 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:01.199 meaning of the word. It was a word in the 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.640 English language. Miriam Webster now defines it as stealthily quiet 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.560 or sleek, insinuous in movement or outline, And I think 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.360 it's more that like second definition that Betty James had 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.960 in mind. But also I believe she said something about 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.639 it making a sound asn't move that kind of sounded 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.240 like slink. Okay, that would make it makes sense, because yeah, 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.719 the original word is more like you know, more more 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.280 like it's describing the serpent or the tiger burning bride 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.120 in the darkness of the night, you know, um as 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.280 opposed to a coil of metal that makes a weird 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.399 noise as it goes down the stairs. But it is 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.600 a kind of graceful, almost kind of stealthy little noise. 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.600 When you think about what a slinky sounds like, it's 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.239 you know, you hear the mass transfer, uh, Like, like 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.280 you hear the tone of it rapidly moving as the 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.520 mass transfers. Yeah, there is something about the sound of 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:58.600 the slinky alone that is intoxicating, especially to a young child. 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.600 But I think two adults too, but a child especially, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.640 we'll get the slinky and begin to do the back 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.840 and forth with it, creating that sound effect until adults 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.400 tell them to please be quiet with that slinky. Uh. 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:15.400 But yeah, just that sound of the going from hand 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.399 to hand. I mean, of course the feel of that 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:23.560 as well, totally. It's it's orally an tactually intoxicating. It's 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.119 just one of those things, I mean, kind of like 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.400 a yo yo. There's just some kind of basic mechanical 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:31.600 action that we find very appealing and want to keep 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:36.280 paying attention to. The slinky especially feels very organic and 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.760 in a way it does its movements do have at 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.800 least slight parallels and say that the world of worms 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:48.880 and even human digestion. So it's kind of parastalsis. Yeah, 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.080 but the versions we're familiar with are like the later 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.800 versions that were that were perfectly calibrated to work like 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.560 a worm or an esophagus or however. You know. So, 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.399 in the years following the discover the design actually had 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.640 to get there, so Richard James tinkered with it, trying 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.719 to find the perfect material and design for the spring. 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:10.640 I read that he ended up using a high carbon 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:15.240 steel wire about like one point four six millimeters wide. Uh. 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.280 And when he demonstrated the slinky for kids who lived 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.080 in the neighborhood, they were enchanted. They really liked it. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.480 So Richard and Betty James they thought, hey, you know, 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:26.560 I think we've we've got a business on our hands. 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.560 We could manufacture this toy and and make some money. 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:31.879 So to start a business, they secured a five hundred 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:36.359 dollar loan from a friend, and Richard contracted a machinist 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.640 to build four hundred slinkies to his specifications. Apparently, initial 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.560 marketing wasn't easy. I was reading about this in an 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.439 article in the History of the Slinky written by a 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.280 writer named Zachary Crockett, and this makes it clear that 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.200 the toy was not an instant hit in the commercial sense. 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:57.520 Like apparently some toy sellers believed the original slinky to 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.040 be kind of plain, dull or bore ring and couldn't 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:03.320 be convinced that there would be any demand. And I 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:05.840 remember at this point, even though it was basically the 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.480 same toy we have today, it was just dull carbon 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:10.800 seal wire. There was no there were no tided eye 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:12.959 colors or anything like that, which you might find on 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:17.560 some plastic slinkies of the present. It's still the classics slinky, 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.840 the classic uh, just gray, dull slinky Like that's I 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:24.359 feel like that's the one that's ultimately the most intoxicating 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:26.800 because it has that metallic sound and it has that 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.920 it has a smell. The slinky has a distinctive smell 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:37.040 that is weirdly pleasing. Slinky by Calvin Clin. Yeah, it's 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.000 um od to slink like it's you know, it has 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:44.920 kind of like that. It's the metallic taste of of 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.200 you know, having bit the inside of your lip, except 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.240 without the pain. You know, there's something you know, there's 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:52.920 a taste of blood in the smell with a slinky, 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.480 and uh, I feel like that's part of its weird appeal. Yeah, 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:58.280 I see what you're saying. I mean, I I also 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:02.760 think that the original, like the regular dull metal slinky 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.840 without all the plastic colors and all that stuff, it 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.760 is beautiful. I don't think of it as dull. But 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:10.880 I think maybe it had something just to do with 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.359 the packaging at the time. I think they were selling 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:17.359 it just wrapped in sort of unadorned paper, you know, 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:20.680 like they didn't have a colorful box or anything like that. 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.840 All right, And also when the slinky is not in motion, 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.600 if it's just presented to you as this this weird 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:30.879 cylinder to yeah, it's like what you need is at 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:34.119 least an image of it opening right of it, assuming 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:38.480 it's bipedal form. But after a lot of early disappointment, 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:41.320 Richard and Betty James did have a major success in 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:46.320 nineteen five when Richard decided to give a live demonstration 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.960 of the slinky in Gimbal's department store in Philadelphia during 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:54.240 the Christmas shopping season. And this demonstration included James showing 0:23:54.240 --> 0:23:56.840 how the slinky would walk down a ramp from top 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:58.760 to bottom. So you know, they set up a plank 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:00.639 and set it at the top up and let it 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:03.440 arc and walk all the way down, and of course 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:06.560 the people there, who were presumably out doing the Christmas shopping, 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:11.119 were so into it. James ended up selling his entire 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:14.639 stock of four hundred slinkies in about ninety minutes. And 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:16.679 then there was a whole crowd of shoppers who wanted 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.119 more slinkies, so by Christmas they'd had more manufactured by 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:23.440 the machinist. Uh. They sold thousands of them, and then 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:26.760 all sorts of opportunities opened up. There was interest in 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:31.280 Richard and Betty James pitch at major toymaker's conventions. I 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:34.600 think there was one in nineteen forty six, and Richard 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:38.080 James filed for a patent on his invention in August 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:41.080 nineteen forty six and was granted it in January nineteen 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:44.440 forty seven. H Robert, I've got an illustration of the 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:46.960 patent for you here. I think it looks essentially identical 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.480 to the slinky you would buy into toy store today. Yeah, 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.760 it's it's undeniably a slinky. Yeah, there's no major design 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:55.160 difference I can tell. And the thing you know might 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:57.840 have changed very slightly in the gauge of the wire 0:24:57.920 --> 0:24:59.960 or something, but it's it's a slinky. It's the slink, 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:02.360 you know. And after this it kind of was an 0:25:02.359 --> 0:25:05.800 instant hit. So like by seven, the slinky was known 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.960 all over the United States. It was clearly a huge 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:12.240 success as a toy. The company, owned by Richard and 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:16.240 Betty James, began to manufacture the slinkies themselves instead of 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:20.439 going contracting with this outside machinist. They massively scaled up 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:23.040 production and in the first couple of years they sold 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:26.600 more than a hundred million slinkies at one dollar apiece. 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:30.199 And then, of course there were tons of derivative toys, 0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:33.680 right like you've seen them, the the cattery, the slinky caterpillar, 0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:37.439 the slinky doll in toy story, Yeah exactly, you know, 0:25:37.440 --> 0:25:40.680 they're all kinds of things like that. Um, it wasn't 0:25:40.720 --> 0:25:42.960 just the regular old slinky, but I think the regular 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:47.600 old slinky always remained sort of a centerpiece of the business, right. Yeah, 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:50.439 you know, I'm thinking back now on all the uses 0:25:50.720 --> 0:25:53.359 I put a slinky too. So obviously you can do 0:25:53.400 --> 0:25:54.760 the back and forth in your hand, you can have 0:25:54.800 --> 0:25:57.639 it walked down some stairs. Because of course, parents and 0:25:57.680 --> 0:26:00.120 grandparents love it. If you find new ways to play 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.119 on a long flight of wooden stairs in a house. Um. 0:26:04.160 --> 0:26:07.159 But then there are other things too, like the like 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:10.480 sticking your arm through the slinky, making like a robot 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:14.880 arm um, pretending the slinky is some sort of communications tube, 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:20.080 putting it around figurines and stuff. I wonder if part 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:22.239 of the appeal of the slinky is that it is this. 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:26.119 It is undeniably like a piece of industry, a piece 0:26:26.160 --> 0:26:31.480 of industrial technology that then you are free to um 0:26:31.840 --> 0:26:35.440 play with with your imagination. Uh yeah, even though it 0:26:35.560 --> 0:26:39.000 sold us a toy, it almost feels like a found toy. 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:42.280 And isn't a found toy so much more magical the 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:45.480 way that a cat will love a crumpled up ball 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:47.560 of aluminum foil in a way that it will never 0:26:47.640 --> 0:26:51.480 love a toy manufactured to be enjoyed by cats. Right, yeah, 0:26:51.520 --> 0:26:55.119 I mean in a way. Really, what James did was 0:26:55.200 --> 0:26:59.080 he figured out how to sell springs to children, but 0:26:59.160 --> 0:27:01.119 not quite that. Like if I if we were just 0:27:01.160 --> 0:27:02.920 to say that, we wouldn't be giving enough credit, because 0:27:02.920 --> 0:27:06.000 obviously he took the basic concept of the spring, worked 0:27:06.000 --> 0:27:09.479 on it, refined it to create not a true spring, 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:12.240 but like a spring based toy. I mean, it is 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:14.760 still a spring. It's probably not a spring that would 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:17.800 be I don't know, especially useful in all that many 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.439 mechanical contexts. But but I think is you know something 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:24.080 that is much like a slinky and about the same tension, 0:27:24.119 --> 0:27:27.359 and that is used in a few ways, right, and 0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:29.840 it's still in its own way, it is sort of 0:27:29.840 --> 0:27:33.439 storing energy, right, absolutely, just maybe not it's not as 0:27:33.520 --> 0:27:37.040 pronounced as the spring that's say, shoots a toy across 0:27:37.119 --> 0:27:40.280 the room or you know, factors into the suspension of 0:27:40.359 --> 0:27:42.440 some sort of a vehicle. Yeah, well, well I think 0:27:42.440 --> 0:27:45.520 we know, Yeah, it is working as a spring. You know, 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:48.680 it's storing potential energy in the in the tension or 0:27:48.960 --> 0:27:51.800 the tension or the torsion on the wire. So yeah, 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:54.840 I think it absolutely is a spring. Like the enjoyment 0:27:54.880 --> 0:27:56.760 we get out of it is the enjoyment of the 0:27:56.800 --> 0:27:59.600 action of a spring. But it is at least the 0:27:59.640 --> 0:28:03.440 spring made into novelty, yes, And a lot of the 0:28:03.480 --> 0:28:07.400 subsequent novelty came from like outside the original family. Like uh, 0:28:07.800 --> 0:28:09.879 I don't think it was Richard James who came up 0:28:09.880 --> 0:28:12.600 with like the slinky dog. I've seen that attributed that 0:28:12.720 --> 0:28:15.399 the slinky dog design was attributed to a woman named 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:20.640 Helen Mall said, who I guess came up with this idea. Um. 0:28:20.680 --> 0:28:22.919 But so you might think the story ends there, right, 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:26.360 fame wealth, slinky's a big head. But there is actually 0:28:26.440 --> 0:28:29.840 a bizarre twist to the story of the success of 0:28:29.840 --> 0:28:32.760 the slinky and the company that Richard and Betty James 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:37.639 founded once they became very successful. I've read about it. 0:28:37.680 --> 0:28:39.120 I don't want to go into a lot of detail, 0:28:39.160 --> 0:28:41.120 but there was apparently a lot of trouble in the family, 0:28:41.280 --> 0:28:45.760 like Richard James apparently showed off some some bizarre and 0:28:45.760 --> 0:28:50.840 and not very admirable behavior. Um. One strange quote I 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:54.600 found is Richard and Betty's son Tom at some point 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:58.200 said quote Pop used to say money means nothing to me, 0:28:58.320 --> 0:29:00.959 and he would tear it up. I'd find it and 0:29:01.000 --> 0:29:04.080 tape it back together. Now, in a way, I have 0:29:04.120 --> 0:29:07.600 a lot of admiration for the anti materialist point of view, 0:29:07.640 --> 0:29:09.240 but not so much of that just means you end 0:29:09.320 --> 0:29:12.160 up tearing up money, which you know you could donate that. Yeah, 0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:13.600 there are there are other things you could do with 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:17.120 the money that is not destroying it. Yeah, But then 0:29:17.160 --> 0:29:19.800 he did end up donating a lot of money, in fact, 0:29:19.880 --> 0:29:23.520 the family's entire fortune, but what he donated it to 0:29:23.960 --> 0:29:29.080 was various extreme religious organizations uh and. In nineteen sixty 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:33.280 Richard James abruptly left his family behind and moved to 0:29:33.400 --> 0:29:36.440 a rural area of Bolivia to join what his wife, 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:40.800 Betty referred to as an evangelical Christian cult uh and 0:29:40.920 --> 0:29:43.000 uh and he stayed there until he died in the 0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:47.320 nineteen seventies. But after Richard left, Betty assumed control of 0:29:47.360 --> 0:29:50.320 the company that they founded together, and things were really 0:29:50.400 --> 0:29:54.080 rough here. Slinky sales were down by nineteen sixty uh 0:29:54.160 --> 0:29:57.160 the company was deeply in debt, and Richard James had 0:29:57.200 --> 0:30:00.320 had spent all the previous years funneling away all the 0:30:00.320 --> 0:30:04.719 profits made by the Slinky into various evangelical religious sects. 0:30:05.320 --> 0:30:09.160 And Betty James uh was faced with these problems, but 0:30:09.280 --> 0:30:12.560 she actually did manage to turn the company's fortunes around. 0:30:12.880 --> 0:30:15.200 Among other moves, I know, she she arranged some kind 0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:17.880 of payment schedule with the company's creditors that would help 0:30:17.920 --> 0:30:21.480 them get out of debt. She increased sales by introducing 0:30:21.520 --> 0:30:25.400 new products and by commissioning a new advertising campaign, which 0:30:25.440 --> 0:30:29.240 is where we get those classic Slinky TV commercials with 0:30:29.400 --> 0:30:33.240 the song everybody knows everyone loves the slinky. I don't 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:36.320 know if I know that song. Who walks to stay 0:30:36.480 --> 0:30:39.880 with advocate and makes the happiest sound that's up being 0:30:39.960 --> 0:30:43.120 down just like a cloud. Everyone knows its lanky. The 0:30:43.200 --> 0:30:45.760 best President jet to give, I get the favorite all 0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:48.160 over town the head of the day. Were you ready 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:53.800 to play? Everyone knows this lanky? It's it's okay, I 0:30:53.880 --> 0:30:56.800 have I have heard this? Yes, that jingle is undeniable. 0:30:56.920 --> 0:30:59.560 You know, I just realized when we when I was 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:03.280 preparing for this, that the it's log commercial from Bren 0:31:03.400 --> 0:31:07.320 and Stimpy is supposed to be the slinky commercial almost 0:31:07.360 --> 0:31:11.120 exactly the same. Yes, it's better than bad, it's good. 0:31:11.760 --> 0:31:15.400 I love the it's log commercial, especially the way that 0:31:15.440 --> 0:31:18.320 it says things that are just obviously untrue, Like it 0:31:18.400 --> 0:31:20.840 fits on your back. It's great for a snack. It's 0:31:20.920 --> 0:31:24.440 log log log, But there actually is a way in 0:31:24.480 --> 0:31:28.640 which the parody runs deeper. The joke being beyond just absurd, 0:31:28.760 --> 0:31:32.440 is actually kind of insightful, like the steel spring, Like 0:31:32.520 --> 0:31:35.640 the log is something that isn't obviously a toy at 0:31:35.720 --> 0:31:38.600 first glance. It's all about how you frame it. To people. 0:31:38.760 --> 0:31:40.960 You wouldn't necessarily look at a steel spring and say 0:31:41.000 --> 0:31:43.000 that's a toy, the same way you wouldn't assume a 0:31:43.040 --> 0:31:46.200 log as a toy. I think the but the joke 0:31:46.400 --> 0:31:48.600 is that once you assert that it's a toy, the 0:31:48.600 --> 0:31:50.959 steel spring kind of works and the log just doesn't. 0:31:51.720 --> 0:31:54.120 I don't know, unless maybe I'm not looking at logs 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:56.680 the right way. No. I mean, the thing is that 0:31:56.720 --> 0:32:00.520 like the log is, he is just a log, whereas 0:32:00.560 --> 0:32:03.960 the slinky, again, it feels kind of a live it. 0:32:03.960 --> 0:32:07.000 It can be manipulated in basic ways that a log cannot, 0:32:07.480 --> 0:32:11.240 and then therefore the slinky lends itself to imagination play. Yeah, 0:32:11.600 --> 0:32:14.640 I would say that's correct. So anyway, Betty James ran 0:32:14.720 --> 0:32:17.200 the company from when she took over in nineteen sixty 0:32:17.280 --> 0:32:21.240 until nineteen when she retired, and she passed away in 0:32:21.360 --> 0:32:25.840 two thousand eight and h One interesting fact that I 0:32:25.840 --> 0:32:27.920 don't know, it's interesting to me is that Slinky has 0:32:27.960 --> 0:32:31.920 always remained relatively cheap. The original toys in nineteen forty 0:32:31.960 --> 0:32:34.640 five sold at Gimbals for a dollar apiece, but even 0:32:34.680 --> 0:32:38.320 as of nineteen ninety six, prices for Slinkies were between 0:32:38.320 --> 0:32:41.640 like a dollar eighty nine to sixty nine, and Betty 0:32:41.720 --> 0:32:44.480 James once told The New York Times quote, so many 0:32:44.560 --> 0:32:47.520 children can't have expensive toys, and I feel a real 0:32:47.560 --> 0:32:50.800 obligation to them. I'm appalled when I go Christmas shopping 0:32:50.840 --> 0:32:53.760 and sixty to eighty dollars for a toy is nothing. 0:32:54.120 --> 0:32:57.160 With sixteen grandchildren, you can go into the national debt. 0:32:57.520 --> 0:32:59.920 I wonder if that's a thing a lot of parents 0:33:00.040 --> 0:33:02.360 would appreciate that, Like, you can actually have a toy 0:33:02.480 --> 0:33:04.520 that people get a lot of enjoyment out of and 0:33:04.560 --> 0:33:07.240 it's not like a sixty dollar toy like oh yeah, 0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:10.520 I mean that's the best cost next to nothing and 0:33:10.600 --> 0:33:12.800 you and you've got so much play out of it, 0:33:13.200 --> 0:33:15.720 whereas the worst examples are, of course, the expensive toys 0:33:15.760 --> 0:33:18.000 that don't get played with and just uh you know, 0:33:18.120 --> 0:33:22.000 just set there. I remember, though, wanting those really expensive 0:33:22.040 --> 0:33:24.000 toys when I was a kid, like wanting the I 0:33:24.040 --> 0:33:27.400 don't know, the the G I Joe Fortress. They had 0:33:27.520 --> 0:33:29.960 some set yeah, they had some like big G I 0:33:30.080 --> 0:33:34.520 Joe like cobra um colosseum type structure, and I had 0:33:34.560 --> 0:33:36.719 like I had a friend who had one. It was enormous, Like, 0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:40.560 I wonder, what how many of those they made and 0:33:40.600 --> 0:33:43.200 where they ended up. But do you actually end up 0:33:43.200 --> 0:33:45.160 playing with that thing as much as you would play 0:33:45.160 --> 0:33:47.520 with the yo yo or a slinky. I don't know. Yeah, 0:33:47.720 --> 0:33:52.040 Like take for instance, Castle Gray Skull, the classic the 0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:54.960 big item originally for the Masters of the Universe he 0:33:55.080 --> 0:33:58.720 Man action figures. UM, Like, I wonder how much I 0:33:59.160 --> 0:34:02.560 my main memories are not really playing with it per se, 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:06.480 but of staring in an illustration of it on a 0:34:06.560 --> 0:34:10.080 box or something like it. There's something about the the 0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:13.440 advertising for the idea of it, and ultimately the you know, 0:34:13.480 --> 0:34:17.640 the pining for the thing is more powerful than the product. Um. 0:34:17.640 --> 0:34:20.960 Where As the slinky, like the slinky more than delivers 0:34:20.960 --> 0:34:23.680 on the promise on the package. I mean, you will 0:34:23.800 --> 0:34:26.279 keep playing with the slinky until it gets tangled up 0:34:26.280 --> 0:34:28.799 and ruined, right, But even when that happens, you can 0:34:28.840 --> 0:34:31.319 get another one for like a buck fifty. Yeah. Some 0:34:31.360 --> 0:34:34.560 people swear by the use of of a slinky as 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:39.000 a squirrel prevention device for a bird feeder. Yeah, instead 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:41.359 of you know, of course you can get custom made 0:34:41.360 --> 0:34:44.720 devices that prevent a squirrel from climbing up the pole 0:34:44.840 --> 0:34:48.799 of a bird feeder. But some say you can just 0:34:49.000 --> 0:34:51.440 take a slinky and put it around the pole and 0:34:51.480 --> 0:34:53.799 have it hanging there, and then squirrels won't be able 0:34:53.800 --> 0:34:56.880 to climb it. I tried it. I found that it 0:34:56.920 --> 0:35:00.880 did not work for me. But maybe too crafty, Yeah, squirrels. 0:35:00.920 --> 0:35:04.440 Squirrels are crafty. And then they eventually, at least in 0:35:04.440 --> 0:35:06.319 my case, they figured out what we were trying to do. 0:35:06.600 --> 0:35:08.200 All right, let's take one more break, and then when 0:35:08.200 --> 0:35:16.640 we come back, we will discuss another invented toy. All right, 0:35:16.800 --> 0:35:19.919 we're back. So I have to admit that I both 0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:24.080 love and hate a good jigsaw puzzle. Jigsaw puzzle, you know. 0:35:24.320 --> 0:35:26.600 You know what my association with jigsaw puzzles is. For 0:35:26.680 --> 0:35:28.880 some reason, we didn't really do them at home, but 0:35:28.920 --> 0:35:31.600 I remember the family would always do one on a vacation, 0:35:32.400 --> 0:35:35.160 like a beach kind of an environment. Oh you did 0:35:35.200 --> 0:35:38.560 that too, Yeah, yeah, my, my, like my uncle and stuff. 0:35:38.600 --> 0:35:41.640 I think would like get get a jigsaw puzzle and 0:35:41.680 --> 0:35:44.520 do it on the table and uh in like a 0:35:44.560 --> 0:35:47.719 beach condo or something. Yeah. Yeah, I mean there are 0:35:47.719 --> 0:35:50.120 a lot of jigsaw puzzles out there now, obviously, for 0:35:50.120 --> 0:35:52.239 for my money, I think a good jigsaw puzzle has 0:35:52.280 --> 0:35:55.160 to be created in line with a piece of art 0:35:55.280 --> 0:35:57.239 that I care about, you know, like it's a it's 0:35:57.239 --> 0:35:59.239 a puzzle to be solved, even though you know what 0:35:59.280 --> 0:36:00.520 the solution is going to be because it's on the 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:03.239 front of the box. But you're you're building this piece 0:36:03.239 --> 0:36:05.680 of art, so I have to care about the finished piece. 0:36:06.400 --> 0:36:08.640 And I think it also helps that the art needs 0:36:08.640 --> 0:36:11.719 to be detailed and varied. For instance, I finally look 0:36:11.760 --> 0:36:13.840 back on a jigsaw puzzle that I helped a symbol 0:36:13.840 --> 0:36:17.280 on a beach trip of of the Tibetan one depiction 0:36:17.280 --> 0:36:20.120 of the Tibetan wheel of sam Sara, which is great 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:22.960 because it's it's perfect as all these little details, these 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:26.720 different scenes, all sorts of intricate little beings. And recently 0:36:26.760 --> 0:36:32.200 my family assembled a big Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle featuring an 0:36:32.200 --> 0:36:35.520 original work of surreal art. Ravensburger, by the way, a 0:36:35.560 --> 0:36:39.160 major German jigsaw puzzle maker. Uh. And they also make 0:36:39.200 --> 0:36:43.359 a thousand piece puzzle utilizing the Tower of Babble by 0:36:43.480 --> 0:36:46.840 Brugally Elder that i'd I'd love to take a crack 0:36:46.880 --> 0:36:50.200 at because you know, again, an intricate piece of art 0:36:50.239 --> 0:36:53.399 with a lot of stuff going on. But still, when 0:36:53.400 --> 0:36:55.359 I work on a jigsaw puzzle like that, I feel 0:36:55.360 --> 0:36:59.720 this weird mixture of pleasure and frustration, you know, tinged 0:36:59.760 --> 0:37:02.640 with addiction. Uh As, I just have to keep going, 0:37:02.719 --> 0:37:05.319 Like each time I actually find a piece and and 0:37:05.400 --> 0:37:07.160 get it in its spot like that, I get this 0:37:07.600 --> 0:37:10.520 release of I don't know, dopamine, I guess, and I 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:12.080 have to keep going. And then I'll say I just 0:37:12.120 --> 0:37:14.239 one more piece and then I'll go back to whatever 0:37:14.360 --> 0:37:16.200 I was working on. But then I keep going until 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:19.280 I just run out of mental energy for the jigsaw puzzle. 0:37:19.360 --> 0:37:22.960 We need to talk about your jigsaw puzzle robbers, and 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:25.920 then one more thing about just my experience of them 0:37:25.960 --> 0:37:29.640 is of course, the ideal strategy is to assemble the 0:37:29.760 --> 0:37:33.880 edges first, and then you work on the more notable 0:37:33.920 --> 0:37:36.319 things you can put together, like okay, clearly we've got 0:37:36.800 --> 0:37:38.960 a bright color here, or this is clearly there's are 0:37:38.960 --> 0:37:42.719 clearly pieces of the same structure or creature. But then 0:37:42.760 --> 0:37:44.640 eventually you get to the point where it's just the 0:37:44.680 --> 0:37:48.399 most boring pieces left you have to fit into the puzzle. Well, 0:37:48.440 --> 0:37:50.560 that's why I think, if if you're going to have 0:37:50.600 --> 0:37:52.839 an image for a jigsaw puzzle, it's really good. If 0:37:52.880 --> 0:37:55.400 the image is busy, if there's a lot of stuff 0:37:55.440 --> 0:37:57.160 going on everywhere and there's not like a lot of 0:37:57.200 --> 0:38:00.440 blank space in it, that makes for less fun jigsaw puzzle. 0:38:00.840 --> 0:38:02.600 Or for instance, I wouldn't want to do a Jackson 0:38:02.600 --> 0:38:05.680 Pollock jigsaw puzzle. Oh yeah, I mean, I love the 0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:07.799 work of Jackson Pok. I'm not gonna gonna be one 0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:10.759 of those people who, you know, scoffs at it, but 0:38:10.920 --> 0:38:13.080 it's one of the last things I would want to 0:38:13.080 --> 0:38:15.759 put together on the jigsaw puzzle. I would want. I 0:38:15.800 --> 0:38:20.839 want little fairies and demons and figures in medieval peasants representative. Yeah. 0:38:21.120 --> 0:38:26.360 So this begs the question where do jigsaw puzzles come from? Well, 0:38:26.440 --> 0:38:29.719 they actually have their origins in the eighteenth century creation 0:38:29.960 --> 0:38:33.920 of dissected maps. This was a novelty born out of 0:38:33.960 --> 0:38:37.480 the world of cartography UH and UH and also with 0:38:37.520 --> 0:38:42.239 strong connections to a European imperial zeal for national borders, 0:38:43.600 --> 0:38:47.640 as described in Cutting Borders, Dissected Maps and the Origins 0:38:47.640 --> 0:38:50.560 of the Jigsaw Puzzle by Martin Norgate, published in a 0:38:50.600 --> 0:38:55.479 two thousand seven edition of the Cartographic Journal UH. These 0:38:55.520 --> 0:38:59.080 dissected maps were maps that were mounted on wood and 0:38:59.120 --> 0:39:04.359 then cut out along national borders, which feels fittingly imperial, right, 0:39:04.719 --> 0:39:07.120 the first map the world as it is, then to 0:39:07.400 --> 0:39:11.839 divide it artificially with these different human division lines, and 0:39:11.880 --> 0:39:16.640 then to physically cut up the map, slice the regions apart, 0:39:16.760 --> 0:39:19.520 and then put them back together again for amusement. It 0:39:19.560 --> 0:39:24.320 seems like an absolutely perfect outgrowth of like eighteenth century 0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:28.080 European culture, like suddenly jazzed up on the idea of 0:39:28.160 --> 0:39:32.279 nations with fixed borders and boundaries. You know, this is 0:39:32.320 --> 0:39:34.920 something that a lot of people don't realize because we 0:39:34.960 --> 0:39:37.279 live in a in a world with uh, you know, 0:39:37.360 --> 0:39:41.360 well defined borders today. That is historically not the norm. 0:39:41.400 --> 0:39:43.800 You know, in the past, you just had people living 0:39:43.880 --> 0:39:47.719 in places and then there might be uh various imperial 0:39:47.800 --> 0:39:51.360 powers exerting some kind of pressure on them, and whichever 0:39:51.440 --> 0:39:55.200 one was exerting more pressure you might consider your ruler. 0:39:55.360 --> 0:39:57.920 But like people were just living in place there there 0:39:57.920 --> 0:40:02.080 often wasn't a clearly defined bore or boundary. Yeah, like 0:40:02.160 --> 0:40:04.440 some of the early examples here I'm going to discuss 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:08.719 are specifically English, but also French as well, and so 0:40:09.080 --> 0:40:12.200 this is a time where to be you know, truly 0:40:13.040 --> 0:40:15.320 English was to was to be able to point to 0:40:15.360 --> 0:40:17.799 the map and say, behold, there is the there's the 0:40:17.800 --> 0:40:21.160 British Empire. And then these are you know, areas of 0:40:21.200 --> 0:40:23.960 particular interest to the British Empire. Uh, these are the 0:40:24.040 --> 0:40:26.440 enemies of the British Empire. And to you know, to 0:40:26.480 --> 0:40:30.360 make a huge put a huge emphasis on these division lines, 0:40:30.560 --> 0:40:34.160 and then to h to even teach younger people, uh 0:40:34.200 --> 0:40:37.200 you know the importance of all of these abstract divisions. 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:38.880 Oh yeah, I mean that that goes way back in 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:41.440 the British tradition, even Roman Britain. That like the idea 0:40:41.440 --> 0:40:44.120 of uh, you know, why was Hadrian's Wall put up? 0:40:44.520 --> 0:40:46.560 They're all kinds of things, you know, the ideas about 0:40:46.640 --> 0:40:50.319 defending the areas of northern England from the Scots of 0:40:50.360 --> 0:40:53.040 the time or whatever, the tribes that were occupying what 0:40:53.160 --> 0:40:55.440 is now Scotland. But there's also just an idea that 0:40:55.480 --> 0:40:58.759 it was somewhat symbolic. It's symbolizing like, okay, here is 0:40:58.840 --> 0:41:03.359 where the conquered the Roman part of Britain begins, and 0:41:03.440 --> 0:41:07.120 we're establishing a border by the erection of this wall. Yeah, 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:09.800 that's that's a great point. Uh's in a way, Adrian's 0:41:09.800 --> 0:41:15.080 Wall is the the predecessor to the to the proper 0:41:15.160 --> 0:41:21.040 jigsaw puzzle. So um, this this article by Inorgate is 0:41:20.680 --> 0:41:25.040 is a wonderful overview, um. And he discusses first of all, 0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:27.080 the process from making them. And this would have been 0:41:27.160 --> 0:41:30.160 rather simple if you had the right tools, and certainly 0:41:30.200 --> 0:41:32.400 if you were coming if you were around in the 0:41:32.520 --> 0:41:37.400 right time during cartographical history. The basic version is simply 0:41:37.400 --> 0:41:40.120 a paper map pasted onto wood, and then the wood 0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:43.600 is cut along the boundaries. These pieces, however, could easily warp, 0:41:43.760 --> 0:41:47.120 so additional layers tended to be added, such as paper backing. 0:41:47.840 --> 0:41:49.840 With the right tools, you could do this as a 0:41:49.880 --> 0:41:52.480 craft or even as kind of like a cottage trade. 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:57.120 But then ultimately industrial innovations come along that make stack 0:41:57.160 --> 0:42:01.480 cutting possible, so you can cut multiple puzzles, multiple dissected 0:42:01.480 --> 0:42:06.000 maps at once. Um. And then of course, today when 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:08.680 we get to actual jigsaw puzzles, they're typically rolled out 0:42:08.800 --> 0:42:12.680 via industrial presses and assembly lines, lasers or even used. 0:42:12.800 --> 0:42:17.080 Does anybody still use wooden, like actually straight up wooden 0:42:17.680 --> 0:42:21.719 jigsaw puzzles or is it pretty much all cardboard these days? Um? 0:42:22.200 --> 0:42:25.800 I mean, you'll certainly find wooden very simple wooden puzzles 0:42:25.800 --> 0:42:29.000 at times for young children. But the ones that I 0:42:29.080 --> 0:42:31.360 tend to see are not like the they're you know, 0:42:31.400 --> 0:42:34.839 a shape in a wooden hole. For that shape, I'm 0:42:34.880 --> 0:42:40.000 sure somebody is making authentic pieces though. But but originally 0:42:40.040 --> 0:42:42.160 this was more of a like a fancy thing that 0:42:42.200 --> 0:42:44.839 was created by cartographers and we and we have some, 0:42:45.000 --> 0:42:48.040 you know, examples that survived to this day. In terms 0:42:48.040 --> 0:42:50.640 of where it comes from, historians often point to a 0:42:50.680 --> 0:42:54.319 British cartographer by the name of John Spillsbury who lives 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:57.360 seventeen thirty nine through seventeen sixty nine, and he sometimes 0:42:57.400 --> 0:43:00.640 credited as the inventor of the dissected map up and 0:43:00.800 --> 0:43:04.000 ultimately the inventor of the jigsaw puzzle. Uh. He was 0:43:04.040 --> 0:43:08.160 an apprentice to Thomas Jefferies, royal geographer to King George 0:43:08.160 --> 0:43:12.560 the third and surviving Spillsbury puzzles are quite rare, and 0:43:12.600 --> 0:43:15.440 they were not cheap even at the time they were Uh, 0:43:15.560 --> 0:43:18.640 they were not intended for a mass general audience. But 0:43:18.719 --> 0:43:20.719 still he does seem to be the first person to 0:43:20.840 --> 0:43:24.479 create them and sell them, and he was certainly doing 0:43:24.520 --> 0:43:28.480 so by seventeen sixty three, and then after him others 0:43:28.480 --> 0:43:31.400 following in his footsteps, and they advanced the art and 0:43:31.440 --> 0:43:34.920 the craft of this new sort of puzzle. However, is 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:37.920 in Orogate points out he was not seemingly the first 0:43:37.960 --> 0:43:42.560 person to create a dissected map uh This honor, he argues, 0:43:43.080 --> 0:43:46.799 might go to Madame de Beaumont, who lived seventeen eleven 0:43:46.840 --> 0:43:50.120 through seventeen eighty, a French author and educator who lived 0:43:50.120 --> 0:43:53.040 in England from seventeen forty eight to seven sixty two. 0:43:53.440 --> 0:43:57.359 We can't be certain, but she's the earliest figure that 0:43:57.400 --> 0:44:00.560 we can really point to on this, apparently, and she 0:44:00.680 --> 0:44:02.680 was certainly in the right place to fit into the history. 0:44:02.760 --> 0:44:05.800 She was governess to the niece of Lady Charlotte Finch, 0:44:06.200 --> 0:44:08.680 and Finch was in turn governess to the children of 0:44:08.719 --> 0:44:12.960 George the third and the Beaumont Wooden maps um as 0:44:12.960 --> 0:44:15.080 they were referred to in some writings at the time, 0:44:15.360 --> 0:44:19.000 were used as educational aids because at the time it 0:44:19.080 --> 0:44:21.799 was of course considered important to educate English children about 0:44:21.840 --> 0:44:25.120 the pride of their nation, its colonial ventures, and its 0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:28.880 place in the world. And at the time educational theory 0:44:29.120 --> 0:44:32.400 had come to accept that educational instructions such as in 0:44:32.400 --> 0:44:36.680 geography could actually be enjoyable to a child. You could 0:44:36.760 --> 0:44:41.319 do something that is fun or fun ish and and 0:44:41.320 --> 0:44:43.200 and they could actually learn from it. Well, I think 0:44:43.239 --> 0:44:45.879 there are still puzzles like this today. Like I don't 0:44:45.920 --> 0:44:47.920 know if we call them jigsaw puzzles, but they are 0:44:48.000 --> 0:44:50.640 essentially jigsaw puzzles that are just maps. Like you fill 0:44:50.640 --> 0:44:52.920 in the fifty states of the United States with the 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:58.440 with the cutout puzzle pieces. Yeah, you will find dissected maps. Uh, 0:44:59.000 --> 0:45:01.839 you can still certainly obtain them. Of course, you can 0:45:01.840 --> 0:45:06.759 also find maps as a popular um subject for jigsaw puzzles, 0:45:07.239 --> 0:45:10.520 which we'll get to know the distinction here in a minute. Um. 0:45:10.560 --> 0:45:14.440 But here's an interesting fact about Madame de Beaumont de Beaumont. 0:45:14.920 --> 0:45:18.200 She's actually best known for writing the most popular version 0:45:18.280 --> 0:45:21.680 of Beauty and the Beast seventeen fifty six. I think 0:45:21.760 --> 0:45:26.160 Beauty and the Beast was oh what's that that that 0:45:26.400 --> 0:45:31.360 French folkloreist guy. Well, there was an older version of it, 0:45:31.440 --> 0:45:34.839 for sure, but but she uh Abridge did and rewrote it, 0:45:35.040 --> 0:45:38.759 and her version apparently was was very well read at 0:45:38.760 --> 0:45:42.600 the time. Interesting interesting fact. Also, while in London, she 0:45:42.719 --> 0:45:46.759 was also romantically involved with French spy Thomas Pischant. I've 0:45:46.760 --> 0:45:49.759 seen her accredited as his wife in some sources, but 0:45:49.840 --> 0:45:52.239 it seems that they lived together but never married, and 0:45:52.440 --> 0:45:56.799 he continued residing in that home after she returned to France. Now, 0:45:56.800 --> 0:45:59.799 how do we get from dissected maps to what we 0:46:00.080 --> 0:46:03.719 now think of as jigsaw puzzles. Well, I want to 0:46:03.760 --> 0:46:06.440 read a quote from Norgate's article, because I think he 0:46:06.480 --> 0:46:09.879 sums it up very nicely. Quote. The idea of interlocking 0:46:09.960 --> 0:46:13.560 jigsaw pieces was introduced in the early nineteenth century and 0:46:13.680 --> 0:46:16.640 was probably inspired by the shape of dovetail joints in 0:46:16.719 --> 0:46:20.280 everyday cabinet making. It was first applied to the surrounding 0:46:20.320 --> 0:46:22.719 border of the jigsaw so that the picture would not 0:46:22.800 --> 0:46:26.080 slip apart as it was being put together. The distinctive 0:46:26.360 --> 0:46:30.600 quote bar Foot interlocking of the period resembles dovetail joints 0:46:30.719 --> 0:46:34.360 with rounded corners. Later, still whole puzzles were made of 0:46:34.480 --> 0:46:39.040 fully interlocking pieces. So I think that's interesting that we 0:46:39.080 --> 0:46:43.200 see we see other innovations emerging for the jigsaw puzzle 0:46:43.320 --> 0:46:46.040 out of the carpentry world. Uh. And then at the 0:46:46.080 --> 0:46:51.040 same time these new approaches ultimately destroy the geographical educational 0:46:51.080 --> 0:46:53.800 aspect of the thing. You know, charting a new course 0:46:53.840 --> 0:46:58.160 into pure novel puzzle solving, and yet at the same time, 0:46:58.239 --> 0:47:00.360 like we pointed out, you still can find a centrally 0:47:00.400 --> 0:47:03.320 dissected maps. You can. Maps are still a popular jigsaw 0:47:03.360 --> 0:47:07.880 puzzle subject, but existing and custom artwork have also become 0:47:07.920 --> 0:47:10.400 a huge part of the tradition. In a way, it 0:47:10.440 --> 0:47:14.000 reminds me of the journey from spring to slinky, you know, 0:47:14.040 --> 0:47:17.520 from dissected map to jigsaw puzzle. Taking something that that 0:47:17.840 --> 0:47:20.399 an invention that has more of a purpose, and then 0:47:20.480 --> 0:47:23.799 finding like the thing that is intoxicating about it and 0:47:23.880 --> 0:47:27.480 refining it towards that. Yeah, I agree, and I mean 0:47:27.600 --> 0:47:31.960 it's exactly that kind of thing that makes it. I mean, 0:47:32.000 --> 0:47:33.799 I I can't prove this is the case, but I 0:47:33.800 --> 0:47:37.840 sort of have a gut feeling that among toys you 0:47:37.880 --> 0:47:42.960 are more likely to find inventions that are class as 0:47:43.040 --> 0:47:46.560 somewhat accidental type inventions. We might talk about more of 0:47:46.600 --> 0:47:49.239 those in the future, but the slinky is usually thought 0:47:49.239 --> 0:47:51.200 of as something like this because it wasn't something that 0:47:51.280 --> 0:47:54.680 was you know, created originally to be a toy. It's 0:47:54.719 --> 0:47:57.400 like he saw something, He's like that that's kind of 0:47:57.440 --> 0:47:59.040 that looks kind of fun. It could be a toy. 0:47:59.160 --> 0:48:01.319 Let me tak her with it, make it even more 0:48:01.440 --> 0:48:04.960 toy like. And I guess that's because when you're talking 0:48:04.960 --> 0:48:09.440 about toys, you don't necessarily start with function. Instead, you 0:48:09.560 --> 0:48:13.759 just witness something that delights you, and and you you 0:48:13.880 --> 0:48:17.040 sees on that delight and say, how can I maximize it? Right? 0:48:17.120 --> 0:48:20.279 How can we make refined sugar out of this thing 0:48:20.400 --> 0:48:23.240 that that is bringing me pleasure? Which is funny because 0:48:23.360 --> 0:48:26.680 unlike a lot of unlike a lot of inventions that 0:48:26.800 --> 0:48:31.480 solve a specific physical problem, delight is subjective. And yet 0:48:31.520 --> 0:48:35.080 there are, for whatever reason, these certain forms that tend 0:48:35.120 --> 0:48:40.120 to delight more than slightly altered versions of the same form. Might. Yeah, now, 0:48:40.160 --> 0:48:43.359 I will say with jigsaw puzzles, when you're when you're 0:48:43.400 --> 0:48:45.399 doing one, you I mean, you do feel like you're 0:48:45.440 --> 0:48:50.279 really engaging your brain, so it it perhaps doesn't necessarily 0:48:50.400 --> 0:48:54.359 feel like pure novelty, but yet it also is. You're 0:48:54.440 --> 0:48:56.719 it's a it's an artificial problem that you have that 0:48:56.840 --> 0:48:59.839 you're amusing yourself with. It's not something that would occur 0:48:59.880 --> 0:49:02.640 in I mean, I suppose if you were putting back together, 0:49:02.719 --> 0:49:05.839 say a broken piece of pottery, But otherwise no one 0:49:06.120 --> 0:49:08.279 comes up and says, oh, why is this My My 0:49:08.400 --> 0:49:11.920 favorite painting has been has been cut into a variety 0:49:12.000 --> 0:49:14.919 of interlocking shapes, and now I must put it back 0:49:14.920 --> 0:49:17.840 together so I can observe it again. That's like some 0:49:17.960 --> 0:49:22.800 kind of like banks the performance art prank kind of thing. Yeah, 0:49:22.840 --> 0:49:24.239 that would that would be a good one. Yeah, like 0:49:24.239 --> 0:49:29.640 a self jigsaw puzzling painting. Okay, well does that do 0:49:29.680 --> 0:49:31.839 it for today? I believe. So that's all we have 0:49:31.880 --> 0:49:34.239 in the toy bag for today. But we're not We're 0:49:34.280 --> 0:49:36.719 not entirely certain, but we might just keep going with 0:49:36.840 --> 0:49:39.680 toys for the month of December. There are obviously more 0:49:39.760 --> 0:49:43.800 toys uh in the history of Invention, and there's some likewise, 0:49:43.800 --> 0:49:49.520 there's some more interesting origin stories to consider. In the meantime. 0:49:49.560 --> 0:49:52.000 If you want to check out other episodes of Invention, 0:49:52.040 --> 0:49:54.239 head on over to invention pod dot com. 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