Origins of 10 Classic Toys

Posted by Alex in Toy & Video Games on April 13, 2009 at 7:14 am

Last month, our very own Stacy (who just survived a freaky accident involving a downed power line – glad you’re ok, Stacy!) wrote a very neat post over at mental_floss about the background stories of 10 classic toys.

Take, for instance, Slinky:

Slinky was invented by Naval engineer Richard James. He knocked a spring off of a shelf when he was working to develop springs that could keep ship instruments stable in choppy waters. The spring did what a Slinky does… it stepped down to a stack of books, then to the table, and then to the floor, where it righted itself into a cylinder. James knew it would be a great toy, and tests by neighborhood kids proved him right.

Link – via i met a possum

 
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Springatron 3000: Reverb Made From Slinkys and Cucumbers

Posted by Alex in Gadget, Music on November 29, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Nick of Nick’s World of Synthesizers decided to build a spring reverberator … out of Slinky and cucumber! Here’s the Springatron 3000:

This is basically a giant spring reverb made from 10 slinkys. I was trying to make the best sounding spring reverb possible, I think I achieved this but it is probably the most inconvenient spring reverb ever made. The reverb time (sustain) is so long that the springs need damping and I found that the best material for doing this is a slice of cucumber wedged under the end of each spring, other materials like foam or rubber tend to kill all the treble.

Link (with MP3 audio clips) – via Make

 
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