The Ohio Art Company saw it but had no interest in the toy. In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, an electrician with Lincrusta Co, who named the toy L'Écran Magique (The Magic Screen). Scraping out large "black" areas allows enough light through to expose parts of the interior. The "black" line merely exposes the darkness inside the toy. Doing this causes polystyrene beads to smooth out and re-coat the inside surface of the screen with aluminum powder. To erase the picture, the user turns the toy upside down and shakes it. Turning both knobs simultaneously makes diagonal lines. The stylus is controlled by the two large knobs, one of which moves it vertically and the other horizontally. The inside surface of the glass screen is coated with aluminium powder, which is then scraped off by a movable stylus, leaving a dark line on the light gray screen. Pulleys A-E operate the same as 1-5, and act on the horizontal rail (F) to slide the stylus up and down along the vertical one (6). Clockwise movement of pulley 1 has the opposite effect. The rail these cables connect to (6, connection points marked in red) move to the left both at ends, making the stylus move in the same direction along the other rail (F). Turning pulley 1 counterclockwise makes 2 rotate the same way, and this makes all pulleys connected to 2 (3, 4, and 5) do the same. Likewise, A connects to B, B connects to C and attaches to the horizontal rail (F), and finally B connects to C, D, and E, attaching to F at its other end between D and E. Pulley 2 connects to 3 (double-groove) via a longer reciprocating cable attached along its upper course to one end of the vertical rail (6), and then a third cable runs from 2 to 3, 4, and 5 (4 and 5 are single-groove) via another much longer loop of cable between 4 and 5 to the other end of the vertical rail. Pulley 1 (single-groove) connects to pulley 2 (triple-groove) via a short infinite reciprocating cable. The device has ten pulleys, six cables, two rails, and a stylus. The numbered components correspond to those that move the stylus horizontally, and the lettered components with those that move it vertically. īasic mechanism of operating a 2-dimensional plotter. The Etch A Sketch has since sold over 100 million units world wide. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Etch A Sketch one of the 100 most memorable toys of the 20th century. In 1998, it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong, in Rochester, New York. It went on to sell 600,000 units that year and is one of the best known toys of that era. The Etch A Sketch was introduced near the peak of the Baby Boom on 12 July 1960 for $2.99 (equivalent to $26 in 2020). The left control moves the stylus horizontally, and the right one moves it vertically. Twisting the knobs moves a stylus that displaces aluminum powder on the back of the screen, leaving a solid line. There are two white knobs on the front of the frame in the lower corners. Read my Forbes blog here.France, but American-manufactured and Canadian-ownedĮtch A Sketch is a mechanical drawing toy invented by André Cassagnes of France and subsequently manufactured by the Ohio Art Company and now owned by Spin Master of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Īn Etch A Sketch has a thick, flat gray screen in a red plastic frame. But at the end of the day, everyone comes back to the classic Etch A Sketch."įollow me on Twitter or Facebook. Small ones, different colors, different shapes, even electronic versions. "Over 52 years, we've done a lot of different versions. I asked Killgallon if there had been any changes in the design since 1960. "Because when you do that, you can actually see inside." "One thing that people like to do is etch the entire screen," Killgallon says. As you turn the knobs, the stylus is actually etching the powder from the screen, not drawing on it. Twiddle the left knob, and the stylus moves horizontally. The knobs are connected to a pulley system, which moves a brass stylus along an X-Y axis. The screen of the Etch-A-Sketch is glass, and when you shake the Etch-A-Sketch, the powder coats the inside of the glass. Inside the plastic case is a non-toxic aluminum powder, mixed in with some plastic beads to keep the powder flow smooth and consistent. It's actually pretty elegant in its simplicity. "But I think what's sustained it is that even in this high-tech world, there's an element of magic about it." "The Etch A Sketch was introduced in 1960," he tells me.