A pullstring (pull string, pull-string), pullcord (pull cord, pull-cord), or pullchain (pull-chain, pull chain) is a

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

cord Cord or CORD may refer to: People * Alex Cord (1933–2021), American actor and writer * Chris Cord (born 1940), American racing driver * Errett Lobban Cord (1894–1974) American industrialist * Ronnie Cord (1943–1986), Brazilian singer * Co ...

, or

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

wound on a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

-loaded

spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

that engages a

mechanism Mechanism may refer to: *Mechanism (engineering), rigid bodies connected by joints in order to accomplish a desired force and/or motion transmission *Mechanism (biology), explaining how a feature is created *Mechanism (philosophy), a theory that a ...

when it is pulled. It is most commonly used in

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 ...

s and motorized equipment. More generally and commonly, a pullstring can be any type of string, cord, rope, or chain, attached to an object in some way used to pull or mechanically manipulate part of it.

Toys

Perhaps the simplest pullstring toy is the

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

(c. 460 BCE). The

jumping jack __NOTOC__ A jumping jack, also known as a star jump and called a side-straddle hop in the US military, is a physical jumping exercise performed by jumping to a position with the legs A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical stru ...

is a more complicated animated puppet paper doll that uses a pullstring to move its arms and legs up and down.

Trompo A Trompo is a top which is spun by winding a length of twine, string around the body, and launching it so that lands spinning on its point. If the string is attached to a whip, stick the rotation can be maintained by whipping the side of the bod ...

s and some

spinning top A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

s use a string that is wound around the top and then pulled to make it spin. More recent toys include

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

s, such as

Chatty Cathy Chatty Cathy is a pull string "talking" doll originally created by Ruth and Elliot Handler and manufactured by the Mattel toy company from 1959 to 1965. The doll was first released in stores and appeared in television commercials beginning in 196 ...

(1959),

Charmin' Chatty Charmin' Chatty was a doll produced by the toy company Mattel in 1963 and 1964. The doll, introduced at the American Toy Fair in New York City in March 1963, belonged to a line of highly successful talking dolls introduced in 1960 (Chatty Cathy wa ...

(1963),

Talking Tamu Shindana Toys, a division of Operation Bootstrap, Inc., was a South Central Los Angeles, California cooperative toy cooperative, company in business from 1968 to 1983. It was launched as a black empowerment and community rejuvenation effort follo ...

(1970),

Look Around Crissy Crissy is an American fashion doll with a feature to adjust the length of its hair. Crissy was created in the Ideal Toy Corporation's prototype department in 1968. History and concept The creative idea and realization of a doll that “grows” ...

(1972),

Sky Dancers Sky Dancers is the name of a line of toys and an animated show spin-off that were popular in the mid-1990s. The toys were constructed of a pull-string base and a doll with foam wings. When the doll was inserted into the base and the string pulle ...

(1994), and

Sheriff Woody Sheriff Woody Pride is a fictional, pull-string cowboy doll who appears in the Disney–Pixar ''Toy Story'' franchise. In the films, Woody is the main protagonist, alongside Buzz Lightyear. He is primarily voiced by Tom Hanks, who voices him ...

(from the ''Toy Story'' franchise), that have a pullstring built into them that activates a

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

when it is pulled, causing the doll to say a built-in phrase. The

Blythe The name Blythe ( or ) derives from Old English ''bliþe'' ("joyous, kind, cheerful, pleasant"; modern ''blithe''), and further back from Proto-Germanic ''*blithiz'' ("gentle, kind"). People * Blythe (given name), including a list of people named ...

doll (1972) has a pullstring that changes the doll's eye color. Other non-doll toys like

See 'n Say See 'n Say is an educational toy created by Mattel in 1965 after the success of Chatty Cathy. It was the first Mattel talking toy allowing children to choose the exact phrase as heard. Although the first release focuses on farm animal sounds, it h ...

(1965). The earliest

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

with a pullstring included in it is an 1886 "Toy Bowling-Alley".Toy Bowling-Alley
Thomas Kochka, filed 11 December 1886 (retrieved 31 January 2012 from

Google Patents Google Patents is a search engine from Google that indexes patents and patent applications. Contents Google Patents indexes more than 87 million patents and patent applications with full text from 17 patent offices, including: * United States P ...

)

Engines

Many motorized

lawn mower A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, ...

portable generator An engine–generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine (prime mover) mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an ''engine–generator set'' or a ''gen-set''. In many contexts ...

s, and portable

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

s use a pullstring or pullcord attached to a

handle A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following tra ...

as a manual

ignition Ignition may refer to: Science and technology * Firelighting, the human act of creating a fire for warmth, cooking and other uses * Combustion, an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant * Fusion ignition, the point at which a ...

device. Some vehicle engines are also started with pullchains, such as the early-1900s Puckridge, or pullcords, like the pre-release version of the

Citroën 2CV The Citroën 2CV (french: link=no, deux chevaux(-vapeur), , lit. "two steam horse(power)s", meaning "two ''taxable'' horsepower") is an air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive, economy family car, introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l ...

car, and the

DKW RT 125 The RT 125 was a German two-stroke motorcycle made by DKW in Zschopau in the 1930s, IFA and MZ in the 1950s and early 1960s, and DKW in Ingolstadt in the 1950s and 1960s. "RT" stands for "Reichstyp" or "National Model". In the 1930s DKW pio ...

scooter.

Weapons

Some grenades such as the German Models 24, 39, and 43 have pullcords. Some machine guns such as the

M73 machine gun The M73 and M219 are 7.62 mm NATO caliber machine guns designed for tank use. NATO no longer uses them, but they were used on the M48 Patton and M60 Patton MBT series (including the M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle), as well as the MBT-70 protot ...

and

M85 machine gun The M85 is a heavy machine gun firing .50 BMG ammunition that was used primarily for turreted applications in armored fighting vehicles. It was intended to replace the venerable M2 machine gun with a smaller and much lighter weapon, suitable for ...

use a pullchain to charge and/or fire them.

Transport

A train's emergency brake can be a cord or chain that will stop the train when pulled. Older

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

es and trams/trolleys have a pullcord, also known as a bell cord, that a passenger can pull to signal the driver that they are requesting a stop. The

Jaguar XK120 The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was Jaguar's first sports car since SS 100 production ended in 1939. The XK120 is a highly desirable model. In 2016, Bonhams sold a matching numbers left-hand-d ...

sports car's doors have no external handles so it uses an interior pullcord instead.

Other

Some types of

window blind A window blind is a type of window covering. There are many different kinds of window blinds which use a variety of control systems. A typical window blind is made up of several long horizontal or vertical slats of various types of hard mater ...

s and

curtain A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain), water. A curtain is also the movable screen or drape in a theatre that separates the stage from the auditorium ...

s use a cord pull to open, close, raise, and lower them. Some types of ladders like the

extension ladder A ladder is a Vertical direction, vertical or inclined set of rungs or Step (footing), steps used for climbing or descending. There are two types: rigid ladders that are self-supporting or that may be leaned against a vertical surface such as a ...

and

attic ladder An attic ladder (US) or loft ladder (UK) is a retractable ladder that is installed into an attic door/access panel. They are used as an inexpensive and compact alternative to having a stairway that ascends to the attic of a building. They are usef ...

can have a pullstring that pulls it down from the ceiling. A

dock plate In a loading dock, one problem to overcome is the problem of bridging the gap between a truck and the dock or warehouse floor. Not all trucks are the same height, and the height of the trailer floor within a truck can vary according to how heavily ...

can use a pullchain to move it. Some

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

s have a pullstring on its

latch A latch or catch (called sneck in Northern England and Scotland) is a type of mechanical fastener that joins two (or more) objects or surfaces while allowing for their regular separation. A latch typically engages another piece of hardware on t ...

. A

pull switch A pull switch, also known as pull-cord switch, or light pull, or pull chain is a switch that is actuated by means of a chain or string. An electric pull switch is attached to a toggle type switch: one pull to switch on and next pull to switch of ...

uses a chain or string to actuate a switch, commonly used in lighting and

ceiling fan A ceiling fan is a fan mounted on the ceiling of a room or space, usually electrically powered, that uses hub-mounted rotating blades to circulate air. They cool people effectively by increasing air speed. Fans do not reduce air temperature ...

s. Modern

flush toilet A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another lo ...

s use a pullchain attached to a lever that lifts the plunger to release water into the toilet bowl. The

photoplayer The photoplayer is an automatic mechanical orchestra used by movie theatres to produce photoplay music to accompany silent films. Operation The central instruments in a photo player were a piano and percussion; some machines also added pipe o ...

uses pullchains to generate sound effects for silent films. Pre-1990s North American diesel locomotive

train horn In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

s used a lever or pull cord to actuate an air valve. Older

steam whistle A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound in the form of a whistle using live steam, which creates, projects, and amplifies its sound by acting as a vibrating system (compare to train horn). Operation The whistle consists of the fo ...

s were almost always actuated with a pull cord. Some

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

s have a pullchain to raise the weights in order to wind the clock's gears. A

lifejacket A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...

has a pullcord used to inflate it.

Variants

bow string A bowstring joins the two ends of the bow stave and launches the arrow. Desirable properties include light weight, strength, resistance to abrasion, and resistance to water. Mass has most effect at the center of the string; of extra mass in th ...

is perhaps the simplest type of pullstring that pulls a bow's ends together. A ripcord is a type of pullstring used to release a parachute. A

drawstring A drawstring (draw string, draw-string) is a string, cord, lace, or rope used to "draw" ( gather, or shorten) fabric or other material. Ends of a drawstring are often terminated with a sheath called an aglet. The ends may be tied to hold the dr ...

is a type of pullstring used in many aspects of the fashion industry and in bags as a closing device.

References

{{reflist Hardware (mechanical) Chains