Jacob's Ladder (toy) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
A Jacob's ladder (also magic tablets, Chinese blocks, and klick-klack toyFrauenfelder, Mark (2011). ''Make: Technology On Your Time, Vol. 26: Roll Your Own'', p.148. O'Reilly Media. .) is a
An arrangement of interlaced ribbons allows each block to act as if hinged to the next one at either of its two ends. The same mechanism is used in the 1980s toy
Toys, Tricks and Teasers: Kinetic Illusion Toys
, ''Donald Simanek's Pages at lockhaven.edu''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob's Ladder (Toy) Articles containing video clips Traditional toys Wooden toys Novelty items
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbon
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...
s. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. This effect is a visual illusion
Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide variety; thei ...
which is the result of one block after another flipping over. It may be considered a kinetic illusion, where the blocks appear to change position when they do not. Its name ''Jacob's Ladder'' comes from the biblical ladder to heaven, mentioned in Genesis 28:12.
Of unknown origin, the earliest known review of the Jacob's Ladder is an 1889 ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'' article which tells how it is built and works:
Construction
An arrangement of interlaced ribbons allows each block to act as if hinged to the next one at either of its two ends. The same mechanism is used in the 1980s toy Rubik's Magic
Rubik's Magic, like the Rubik's Cube, is a mechanical puzzle invented by Ernő Rubik and first manufactured by Matchbox in the mid-1980s.
The puzzle consists of eight black square tiles (changed to red squares with goldish rings in 1997) arrang ...
, but with plastic filaments run diagonally across squares, with the result that the squares can hinge along either of two ''adjacent'' sides.
Origin
The toy has been variously described as originating in China, as being found inTutankhamun's tomb
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers a ...
, and as one of the few toys allowed on Sunday by Puritans in colonial America,Judah, J. C. (2008). ''The Legends of Brunswick County: Ghosts, Pirates, Indians and Colonial North Carolina'', p.136. Lulu.com. . "Because it was a 'nice quiet toy'." but the true origins of the toy are unknown.
Many slight variants have been patented in the United States, one from the 1940s having in one block an indentation to hold a penny, which then appeared to dis- and re-appear. The Japanese polymath Hiraga Gennai
was a Japanese polymath and ''rōnin'' of the Edo period. Gennai was a Pharmacology, pharmacologist, student of ''Rangaku'', physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his ''Elekiter, Erekiteru'' (electrostatic generator), ''Kandan ...
(1728–1780) constructed a Jacob's ladder which later came to be called "Gennai's Wondrous Click-clack" (''Gennai no fushigina katakata'', 源内の不思議なカタカタ).
See also
*Chinese block
A wooden fish, also known as a Chinese temple block, wooden bell, or ''muyu'', is a type of woodblock that originated from East Asia that is used by monks and lay people in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism. They are used by Buddhist ceremonie ...
*Jacob's ladder (string figure)
A string figure is a design formed by manipulating string on, around, and using one's fingers or sometimes between the fingers of multiple people. String figures may also involve the use of the mouth, wrist, and feet. They may consist of sing ...
*Rhombille tiling
In geometry, the rhombille tiling, also known as tumbling blocks, reversible cubes, or the dice lattice, is a tessellation of identical 60° rhombi on the Euclidean plane. Each rhombus has two 60° and two 120° angles; rhombi with this shape ar ...
*Rubik's Cube
The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...
References
External links
Toys, Tricks and Teasers: Kinetic Illusion Toys
, ''Donald Simanek's Pages at lockhaven.edu''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob's Ladder (Toy) Articles containing video clips Traditional toys Wooden toys Novelty items