Introduction

Construx is a brand of building toys. These toys are made out of plastic. This brand was established by Fisher-Price in the year 1983. Construx generally has beam shaped pieces. These pieces have varying lengths. They can be snapped to a cubical connector to make large shapes. These shapes securely fit into each-other though no bolts or nuts are used. Flat surface assembly was possible due to panels. Even moving creations are possible in this set. You can fix many pieces and even wheels and motors and even hinges. This gives us the option to build a variety of new shapes and a variety of new working models. Sadly Construx was discontinued in 1988. Mattel tried to revive it in 1997 but his efforts were futile and it was again discontinued.

Parts of Construx

It has connector nuts of blue color of which all six sides could be snapped on to beams or other pieces. Wheels, toy figures, crane hooks, seats, engine panels, turntables, etc also are included in this set. Also provided are axles to hang pulleys and other pieces. These axels usually slide through connector nuts and also through the hollow of beams. Diagonal clips and flat plastic straps with hooks at the end to grab a nut are also included in this set of Construx. These diagonal clips can swing and thus give a momentum to the assembly. They are flexible and thus are perfect to reinforce corners. Many other separate and useful parts used to come with the set of Construx. It was a complete building set and very popular among children

Popularity: 80%

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It is actually the trade name of a toy construction set. Erector is one of the most popular constructor sets of United States. It became popular in the 20th century. This construction is pretty much similar to Meccano. It consists of a compilation of tiny metal beams with standard holes for bolts, nuts and screws. Mechanical parts like gears, pulleys or even small electronic motors can be fitted in combination as desired to the user. Erector is sturdier than Mecanno due to the flanges fitted to the beams. The erector set first came into existence in 1911. It was invented and designed by A.C. Gilbert. A.C. Gilbert was the first company to manufacture Erector. It was manufactured in New Heaven, Connecticut in their Erector Square factory.

The company produced these sets from 1913 till 1967, but sadly it went bankrupt in 1967. Now-a-days the Erector sets that are being sold are basically ‘Meccano’ sets and are manufactured by S.N Meccano. This plant is based in France and is a part of the Nikko Group of Japan. But these sets are different than the original Erector sets and do not have the flanged beams. Nikko America is responsible for distribution of Erector sets in America since Jan 2006. Gilberto set has the honor to be the subject of the first ever national American toy advertising campaign. It was so popular that it is also the part of the American Folk culture. But its fame is declining now-a-days due to the availability of the new modern and more advanced toys.

Popularity: 56%

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Overview

It is a toy that produces a false impression of action from a fast sequence of still pictures. Slits are cut vertically in the sides of a cylinder. A set of individual images, drawings or pictures arranged in a sequence are placed on a band below the slits. The cylinder is then rotated and the viewer is supposed to look through a slit that is on the opposite side of the cylinder. The slits are scanned in order to keep the images from merging together and cause a blur image. Thus, the viewer sees a rapid sequence of images creating the fantasy of motion that is the same as motion picture or modern day “movies”. Usually images viewed through cylindrical zoetrope’s are thinner than their actual size.

Invention

This device was invented in 1834 and was referred to as “Daedalum”. It was invented by a person named ‘William Horner’. But before this a device similar to that of “Daedalum” was mentioned in the book ‘The Mysteries of Nature and Science’ authored by ‘John Bate’ in the year 1634. It is said that the earliest zoetrope was invented in China by the creative discoverer ‘Ting Huan’. He made this invention in 180 AD. In modern times the device was promoted by ‘William F Lincoln’. The “praxinoscope” was the advanced version of the zoetrope. The “praxinoscope” became poplar in the 19th century. There are different types of devices similar to the zoetrope and can create the same effect. Some of these devices are Electrochyscope, flip book this version is very common and very simple and is also used by small school going children, Phenakistscope, Strobe light, Tachometer and Thaumatrope.

Popularity: 77%

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