An Improved Optical Toy.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Apr., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 27th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1895
An Improved Optical Toy.
I, RICHARD PILKINGTON, M.A., 1 Ham Terrace, West Ham Lane, West Ham,
Essex, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This consists of a ball or disc of metal, or wood, or other suitable material, which
is suspended, by an elastic thread or cord of caoutchouc, one end of which is firmly
attached to it, and the other end is held up by the hand, or from any other support.
If, when the ball or disc is thus suspended, it is twirled once or twice by a finger
and the thumb of either hand, or, by any other contrivance, is made to rotate
rapidly, it will twist and so wind up the elastic thread or cord, which, on its
unwinding, will of itself spin in the reverse direction, the ball or disc with such
rapidity that it will continue to spin until the elastic thread or cord is again
twisted & wound up, but in the opposite direction; and this process will continue
for a considerable time, and the ball or disc will thus spin rapidly backwards &
forwards, without having to be twirled by the finger and the thumb again, for the
same time.
Very beautiful optical effects are produced, when the ball or disc is spinning,
from coloured circles or any shaped pieces of thick note paper, or from strips of
very thin sheeting of tin or bright metal, through holes in which, the elastic thread
or cord has been passed until they have rested either on the ball or disc, or-much
better still-on a suitable stop about one inch above the ball or disc. By the
latter contrivance the coloured circles, &c., of thick paper, &c. are by centrifugal
force, driven out to rotate in circles of greater or less diameters, according to the
speed of the spinning, and so to produce perfectly novel, & ever varying most
wonderful & charming illustrations of "persistence of vision."
Dated this 16th day of April 1895.
RICHARD PILKINGTON, M.A.
An Improved Optical Toy.
1, RICHARD PILKINGTON of 1, Ham Terrace, West Ham Lane, West Hain,
Essex, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a new or improved optical toy which consists of a
weight, a string or the like piece or pieces of elastic or equivalent suspended in
any suitable manuer and to the depending end of which is attached the said weight
and a coloured device or devices (advantageously vari-coloured) attached to or
mounted on the said elastic or on the said weight (advantageously between the
latter and the point of suspension of the elastic) in such manner that when the said
weight is held suspended in the air (for instance by holding the elastic in the hand)
and then spun round or revolved by the operator until said elastic is wound up or
D
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page_text: twisted sufficiently thereupon the re-action of said elastic or its tendency to untwist
will cause the weight to very quickly revolve and the impetus thus imparted to said
weight will consequently re-wind or re-twist the said elastic and so on for a
considerable period of time-meantime the gyration thus imparted to the aforesaid
coloured device or devices will (by reason of the varying speeds and alternating
direction of revolution etc.) thus produce very striking as well as very pleasing and
ever-varying optical effects--thus affording amusement and pleasure by means of
this novel toy.
And in order that my present invention may be easily understood and readily
carried into practice I will proceed to describe same with reference to the drawings
hereunto annexed.

page_text: In Figs. 8 and 9 two devices C and C'are shown combined viz.:.a square shaped
device C and smail circular disc C
In Fig. 10 the device C is in the form of an arm or several such arms or other
shaped devices may be combined or same may be used in combination with the
aforesaid square or circular devices C as may be desired.
I wish to here observe that the device C may be mounted and arranged in any
suitable position relatively to the weight A.
I would remark that I am aware that prior to my invention spinning tops have
been used in which the upper surface thereof has been coloured or multi-coloured
and optical effects produced by the gyrations of the top but I make no claim herein
to any such spinning top and moreover such tops are totally different to my novel
optical toy which latter produces by different means not only very different
optical effects but also greatly varying effects which could not be produced by
said top.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination with a piece of elastic such as B and a weight such as A
attached to the depending end of said elastic of a device or devices such as C
arranged to act substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before set
forth.
2. The improved optical toy constructed combined and arranged to act substan-
tially in the manner and for the purposes herein before described and illustrated in
the drawings hereunto annexed.
Dated this 27th day of August 1895.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.