Spirograph is a drawing toy that creates cyclical curved line patterns using stators and inserts with holes for a pen or pencil. The name Spirograph is a registered trademark of Hasbro, but the word spirograph existed before becoming a trademark. The toy dates back to 1908 and has evolved to use magnetic tablets and metal pins. The principle behind spirograph is used in programmable laser projectors for stage lighting.
A spirograph is a drawing toy that allows the user to draw cyclical curved line patterns. The original toy consisted of a series of shapes and inserts that meshed using teeth like those on machine gears. The inserts were punched with a series of holes to accommodate a pen or pencil and by holding down the tool as you moved the insert around the inside of the template, a design gradually took shape as the pen traced its cyclical pattern. The name Spirograph® is a registered trademark of the toy company Hasbro, Inc. and should be capitalized when referring to any of their Spirograph® toy lines. The word spirograph, however, was in use before it became a trademark and has also come to mean any design or other similar device that creates such patterns and has become part of the English language as a noun and is therefore not always capitalized.
The spirograph’s origins as a drawing toy date back to 1908 when a similar device called the Wondergraph, which used a gear system to produce geometric designs, was marketed by the Sears and Roebuck Co. It was primarily a wooden device that included a small record player and thumbtack. Wood. An earlier device also called a spirograph was invented by a French mathematician in the 1880s, but this was primarily a mathematical tool for calculating the area enclosed by certain types of curves rather than a toy. The first Spirograph® toy was marketed by Kenner in the United States in 1966.
The original spirograph toy consisted of stators and inserts, both lined with teeth like those of mechanical gears and was designed so that the teeth of each insert meshed with any stator. Stators are templates of various shapes that are placed on paper and are meant to be fixed during the drawing process. The stators in the original spirograph toy included small holes so they could be attached to an underlying layer of cardboard or other surface with paper in between.
Current versions use a magnetic tablet and metal pins to hold the stator. An insert with one or more holes for some type of drawing tool such as a pen or pencil is placed against the stator which can be of different shapes and can accept inserts on the inside and sometimes on the outside as well. By holding the insert against the paper as well as against the stator and using the driving tool to move it around the stator, a geometric pattern of curved lines is created and by changing the combination of the driving tool holes, inserts and stators, an almost infinite variety of designs is possible.
Today, there are many derivative toys based on the original spirograph and are sold under other names. Additionally, the principle behind the Spirograph®, which creates curves that can be described using mathematical equations and functions, is used in devices such as programmable laser projectors for stage lighting. These devices can draw spirograph-like designs on a projection medium such as smoke from a stage or screen.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
