Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Etch A Sketch Inventor Dead

This is topic Etch A Sketch Inventor Dead in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=006802

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-04-2013, 09:50 PM:

Well, a screen is involved...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/business/andre-cassagnes-etch-a-sketch-inventor-is-dead-at-86.html?hpw&_r=0

André Cassagnes, a French electrical technician who half a century ago invented Etch A Sketch, the mechanical drawing toy that has lately become an American political simile, died on Jan. 16 near Paris. He was 86.
Enlarge This Image
Pierre Fabre

André Cassagnes

The Ohio Art Company, which makes Etch A Sketch, announced the death.

A chance inspiration involving metal particles and the tip of a pencil led Mr. Cassagnes to develop Etch A Sketch in the late 1950s. First marketed in 1960, the toy — with its rectangular gray screen, red frame and two white knobs — quickly became one of the brightest stars in the constellation of midcentury childhood amusements that included Lincoln Logs and the Slinky.

Etch A Sketch was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester in 1998; in 2003, the Toy Industry Association named it one of the hundred best toys of the 20th century. To date, more than 100 million have been sold.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-05-2013, 01:24 AM:

That's one of the very few products that has basically been unchanged since it first came out. Outside of various smaller sizes, I think it's the exact same thing it's always been. I wore out two of them when I was a kid.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-05-2013, 08:10 AM:

Great toy! The only major flaw is that the glass would occasionally crack and make a mess of (hard to clean up and probably toxic) silver dust.

Another favorite toy that has not changed since its introduction is the Slinky. Other than the lame plastic versions, the Slinky that is made now is identical to the original model. I believe that the song that is used in Slinky commercials is one of the longest-used advertising jingles, too.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 02-05-2013, 11:39 AM:

> Slinky that is made now is identical to the original model.

The original model appears to be made out of copper, the current ones appears to be made out of steel. I still have my original Slinky in it's original box, that my parents bought me 50 years ago. I also have my etch-a-sketch from the mid 1960's, but not the box.

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 02-06-2013, 06:52 AM:

You can check if its copper by using a magnet. Copper is non-magnetic.