Boys Toys

.

When I was a kid, most of the boy toys were based on mechanical and physics principles. Today they are almost all electronic. Here are a few of the toys I played with.

 

.

Boys Toys

.

————————

.

Sparking Toy

.

The first toy I remember having was the Felix The Cat Sparking Toy. It had a thumb push plate with a long screw that spun a metal disc with course sandpaper glued to the disc. The disc rubbed on a metal bar that caused sparks to fly out of Felix The Cats eyes and mouth. The faster you spun the disc, the farther out the sparks flew. In about a week all the grit was worn off the sandpaper and the toy was then useless. So this was short time entertainment at best.

 

 

.

Spinning Top

.

Every kid had one of the mechanical spinning tops. They were rugged, fun, and they seemed to last forever. The top had a knob that you pulled out with a long screw that drove the top. You could really get it going fast pushing in the screw with force and it would spin for about four minutes. The bad thing is that you get tired of watching the thing spin very quickly.

 

.

Gyroscope Toy

.

The gyroscope toy was amazing. You could get the inner metal section spinning fast and you could balance it on the end of your finger and it would sit there spinning for a long while. It was great to amaze the other kids in the neighborhood, but once everyone had seen it, the fun was again gone.

 

.

You could amaze your friends with the Gyroscope toy.

 

 

Rolling Magnet Toy

.

This toy had a plastic wheel with a round bar magnet mounted on both sides. There was a steel wire molded such that the wheel would run along the wires on one side then it came to an opening and would then travel along the bottom side of the wire and make another round. It was cool to watch, but after an hour, you had seen everything you could and the fun was over.

.

Erector Set

.

This toy was perhaps the best of its time as it consisted of steel structural members, and wheels from which you could make anything you could dream up, then take it back apart and build something else. Your own imagination was the only limit for this toy. I had many many hours of fun with this toy. After a while some of the key parts get lost if you don’t keep them picked up each time you use them. I tended to be a leave them everywhere out type of guy which eventually destroyed the fun derived from this toy.

.

Summary

.

Most of the toys we had to play with did not keep us entertained too long. We had to find other things to do outside in the world. Today the electronic video games are updated and reissued annually to hold interest. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, but I’m pretty sure we got more physical exercise than today’s children.

 

.

 

Thanks for reading Boys Toys,

Bill