The last toy

[Stewart]

Could the last toy on the MT toys page be something other than a spinning top that flips onto its point?

I don't think the image on the side of the toy is an eye, rather a eliptical hole showing something inside - maybe a rod. This made me think that maybe the spindle retracts into the body. How is this a toy? Well, if the spindle is spring-loaded and you push the body down with your finger (spindle point pushing into the floor) until the spindle is inside the body and then let your finger slide off, the toy will spring into the air. I'm not sure whether such a toy actually existed in the 1700s, but there is a similar toy around today with a suction cup to delay the release (see attached image). Could Bessler be showing us one of the weights here (as I think Verge also suggested in another post) - it is obviously cylindrical as has been suggested by the witness who felt them. The picture shows two bands around the "weight" - maybe rubber or rope, suggesting the weights roll. Inside Bessler's Wheel the weight might press down on the spring/spindle until it is inside it, at which point it latches. At a later point in the wheel's cycle the latch could be released and the weight is pushed into a different position as the spindle is pushed out by the spring.

It's just a thought I had a while back, but I wanted to create the animated GIF before posting about it - so what do you think?

All the best
Stewart

[Jonathan]

I find this idea interesting, do you have any specific application in mind? Also, that animation is neat, and oddly haunting or something. How are you guys making them?

[Stewart]

Hi Jonathan

I don't have a specific application in mind at the moment - I'm still thinking about how this thing could be used. I just thought I'd share the idea to see what others think of it, and two (or more) heads are better than one!

The animation was done by splitting the parts of the image into three layers, moving two of the layers down a few pixels at a time and copying and pasting the resulting images as frames in a GIF animation program. Then you change the length of time you want each frame to be displayed, make it loop endlessly, and save it as a GIF file. It's quite easy.

NOTE: even though the preview of an animated GIF in a post looks like it is working, it isn't displaying the proper image. You must click the image to see the correct animation.

All the best
Stewart

[Jonathan]

As to the note, I've noticed that, JessicaL posted an animation that looked very weird until you clicked it. What is and where do you get the animation program? Does it cost much?

[Stewart]

There are lots of GIF animation programs but the one I like to use is Ulead GIF Animator. Below is a link to Microsoft's free GIF animator - it's very basic but will get you started.

Click here for Microsoft GIF Animator 1.0

All the best
Stewart

[grim]

Could also be just a plain whistle.

While looking for pics of "peg tops" I found "Whip tops" also.

An actual whip was wound around this particular top, and the whip action got it started.

No big deal until the info said that kids could use the whip on the spinning top to keep it spinning 'indefinitely' with sufficient skill.

Whip wrapped around the peg on a more-or-less wheel-shaped top.

Ropes with weights wrapped around an axle? "The flail would rather be with the thresher than the scholar"? Hmmm...


grim

[scott]

Very interesting! Here's a page about whip tops:
http://www.sandstrum.com/WHIP.HTML
Apparently, they were used by the ancient Egyptians, so Bessler surely knew about them...

And here's another page with some good information:
excerpt:
Whip tops
These are one of the oldest tops in the world. They are kept spinning by constantly whipping the top using a leather strap attached to a stick.
http://www.woodtops.com/html/tops.html


Keep up the great work everyone!

[Jonathan]

...so Bessler surely knew about them...

I've never known about them! I wouldn't have thought tops and gyros were more than 1500 years old! In fact, I wouldn't have even tried to invent a whip top, my common sense would have told me that the whip would knock it and make it precess too badly. Well, it just goes to show you that I'm an idiot.
Grim, you said 'Hmmm' at the end of your post, do you have an idea about "The flail would rather be with the thresher than the scholar"?

[Sevich]

it just goes to show you that I'm an idiot

Jonathan, Why do you put yourself down?

[Stewart]

I suppose a spinning top seems the most likely explanation of the image, but I'm still not convinced. It doesn't really resemble any type of spinning top seen throughout history, apart from the tippe-top, and it's not a particular good design for a tippe-top anyway. What else could it be? I've given one suggestion at the start of this topic, but maybe it's a rattle or maracas (perhaps Bessler and Karl liked to entertain guests with a little calypso number after supper!), or a club, or a mallet?
Let us try assuming that it's a tippe-top. I can't believe for one minute that the wheel actually contains spinning tops, so if it is a tippe-top then I assume Bessler is hinting that something in the wheel behaves in a similar manner, i.e. the raising of the centre of mass of a weight. Either that or he's hinting that you need to think "upsidedown" as Verge suggested in another post and turn the toy page upsidedown. The reason I tend to rule out certain ideas such as spinning tops in Bessler's wheel is because the uni-directional wheels were self-starting, suggesting that the wheel is always unbalanced. If a spinning top was needed for the wheel to function, then you would think the top would need to be spinning before the wheel will turn, and this can't be the case.

All the best
Stewart

[Stewart]

There is a short piece of text at the bottom of the toy page. John provided the following translations in a post on the old board:

a) "5. Children's "games" In which yoke one may also find something special whoever knows how to apply (arrange?) them
differently".

b) "5. Children's game in which there is something extraordinary for anyone who knows how to apply the game in a different way."

c) "Fifthly - the children are instrumental, through their
play, in causing the force - through some particular impulse - to be transferred from the abandoned foot (fuss) over (to come) to be applied to the other."

John - do you have any other attempts at translating this text since these were posted? Thanks.

All the best
Stewart

[John Collins]

Stewart wrote "John - do you have any other attempts at translating this text since these were posted?" -

No, I've studied the text for about six years, not unceasingly, but returning to it every now and again, and I can't really make anything other than what you have posted. It's almost illegible.

Regarding the top, I had one that looked like Bessler's drawing when I was a child and it worked like this. The egg-shaped piece is divided into three sections. The bottom third is joined to the peg and also to the top third by means of the central stem. The middle third is able to rotate without effecting the rest of the top. You threaded a piece of string through the hole and wrapped it around the central stem then, holding the middle third you spun the peg to wrap the string around the stem. Then, holding the middle third with the string sticking out, you pulled it as hard as you could and set the spinning top down and away it went. In the drawing you can see a thick black stem with two thinner pieces on either side. My top was just the same. The whole thing was made of wood except for the two thin pieces which were metal and were used to enable you wrap the string around without it coming loose to easily.

When you pulled the string the top third and the bottom third with its peg spun and you set it down on its rounded top third and it eventually tipped over on to the peg.

I'm not saying that that is an explanation of the drawing just my own observations.

John.

[Stewart]

Hi John

Thanks for your reply. I'm pleased to hear that you had a top just like the picture! I've never seen anything that looked quite like it, but your explanation makes perfect sense, so thanks for putting my mind at rest! It would be good to have a photo of a top that looks like the MT image or a diagram of a similar top from the past. I'll try and find one on the internet, but if you have a picture of your top or a similar example could you post it please? Scott posted a link to an interesting website about tops and on that site is a page classifying the different types of top. The string launched tops section has some similar designs, but not exact.

http://www.sandstrum.com/TOP_CLASSIFICATION.HTML

The closest one in principle being this one:
http://www.sandstrum.com/brian/TOP21.JPG

...which has a middle section you hold, pull string to launch - although this one probably doesn't flip over.

The only remaining question about the top image on the toys page is...why?

All the best
Stewart

[grim]

The wheel, a top, and a "whizzer" (button on a string) all fall under the general category of being a "whorl".

Maybe the toy page is a mechanical equivalent of an equation, with the spinning top as the end result.

[Guest]

"Whorl" is also defined as:

Architecture. An ornamental device, as in stonework or weaving, consisting of stylized vine leaves and tendrils.

This may also be connected to Bessler's "Thing" image.