Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Well-meaning adults decided a good prescription for schoolchildren with attention issues was a toy that promised to divert nervous energy. They called it the “fidget spinner.” 
 
 What they never imagined is that these spinners would become hot items in American classrooms, and that all the fidgeting with them would someday create an epidemic of mass distraction. 
 
 Bill... ||||| Florida-based creator Catherine Hettinger couldn’t afford the patent on the ubiquitous playground toy but insists she’s ‘pleased’ about its sudden popularity 
 
 As the inventor of the original fidget spinner – the ubiquitous new toy that has quickly become a craze in playgrounds around the world – Catherine Hettinger should be enjoying the high life. 
 
 
 
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 But the Florida-based creator is not making a penny off her genius invention, even as global sales of the gadget she envisioned two decades ago as a way to entertain her seven-year-old daughter soar into the tens of millions and suppliers struggle to meet massive demand. 
 
 Hettinger held the patent on finger spinners for eight years, but surrendered it in 2005 because she could not afford the $400 (£310) renewal fee. 
 
 “I just didn’t have the money. It’s very simple,” she said. 
 
 The palm-sized spinners consist of a ball bearing which sits in a three-pronged plastic device which can then be flicked and spun round. Some schools in the UK and the US have banned the devices, but some teachers believe that they can help children concentrate – especially those with ADHD. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Catherine Hettinger, creator of the fidget spinner, with her granddaughter Chloe. Photograph: Richard Luscombe 
 
 Now, while the manufacturers and retailers who are selling the modern-day versions of the toy rack up huge profits, Hettinger, 62, is downsizing from her tiny house to a cheaper condo, wondering whether to get her disconnected telephone line reinstated, and figuring out how to afford “a car that truly works”. 
 
 
 
 “It’s challenging, being an inventor,” she told the Guardian during a coffee-shop interview near her home in Winter Park, a historic suburban city just east of Orlando. 
 
 “Only about 3% of inventions make any money. I’ve watched other inventors mortgage their houses and lose a lot. You take roommates, you get help from friends and family. It is hard.” 
 
 Hettinger accepts that had she been able to afford to keep the patent, she would now likely be sitting on a sizeable fortune. “I wouldn’t have any problem. That would have been good,” she said. 
 
 But while she joins a notable list of others – including Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the world wide web, and hoverboard inventor Shane Chen, who by accident or design failed to cash in personally on their world-changing creations – Hettinger insists that she is not bitter over the lost opportunity, and is instead “encouraged” by the spinners’ sudden popularity. 
 
 “Several people have asked me: ‘Aren’t you really mad?’ But for me I’m just pleased that something I designed is something that people understand and really works for them,” she said. 
 
 “There’s just a lot of circumstances in modern life when you’re boxed in, you’re cramped in, and we need this kind of thing to de-stress. It’s also fun. That’s the thing about culture, once everybody starts doing it, it’s kind of OK.” 
 
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 Her views are not shared by increasing numbers of schools, who are banning children from bringing or using the spinners because they are seen as a distraction. But Hettinger said she was pleased that in other circumstances, schools were finding the devices helpful. “I know a special needs teacher who used it with autistic kids, and it really helped to calm them down,” she said. 
 
 Hettinger says the origins of the spinner lie in “one horrible summer” back in the early 1990s when she was suffering from myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder that causes muscle weakness, and was also caring for her daughter Sara, now 30. 
 
 “I couldn’t pick up her toys or play with her much at all, so I started throwing things together with newspaper and tape then other stuff,” she said. “It wasn’t really even prototyping, it was some semblance of something, she’d start playing with it in a different way, I’d repurpose it.” 
 
 After several redesigns, a basic, non-mechanical version of the spinner was born. “We kind of co-invented it – she could spin it and I could spin it, and that’s how it was designed,” she added. 
 
 Hettinger, who spent her childhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, spent the next few years exhibiting and selling upgraded versions of her design at arts and craft fairs around Florida. “The project was great, I essentially broke even, I sold units and tested it with a couple of thousand people,” she said. 
 
 She also flew with her daughter to Washington DC for an appointment with the US patent and trademark office and secured a patent on her design in 1997. 
 
 But just when it looked like her original spinner was on track for wider commercial success, Hettinger was hit by a disappointment. 
 
 The toy manufacturing giant Hasbro, who had been testing the design, decided not to proceed to production – effectively leaving the project to wither and eventually die with the lapse of the patent in 2005. 
 
 “I’m a techie, I’m not a person who closes multimillion-dollar deals,” Hettinger said. “If there had been money or I’d had a venture capitalist back then, it would have been different.” 
 
 Undeterred, Hettinger is currently working contract engineering jobs to earn income while helping advise others at meetings of the inventors council of central Florida, and also has plans to manufacture and sell her original spinner design if a Kickstarter appeal can raise enough funds. 
 
 It is not quite how things could have turned out had she retained the fidget spinner patent and secured her financial future, but Hettinger insists she has only one regret: “I would probably be doing more inventing,” she said. ||||| Catherine Hettinger has an inventor’s mind: When she notices a problem, she tries to imagine a toy or device that can remedy it. 
 
 So when she heard about young boys throwing rocks at police officers and people walking past them while visiting her sister in Israel, her wheels started turning. She started brainstorming devices that could distract young children and provide them with a soothing toy to play with. 
 
 First, she thought of a soft rock that kids could throw. But then she tossed that idea aside, still thinking about other options when she returned to her home in Orlando, Fla. It was there that she eventually developed the idea that would become the original fidget spinner — more than two decades before the wildly popular device became the must-have toy for both kids and adults this year. 
 
 Buy now: Fidget Spinner, $26, Amazon 
 
 “It started as a way of promoting peace, and then I went on to find something that was very calming,” Hettinger, now in her 60s, told MONEY of the fidget spinners, which she first began imagining back in the 1980s. 
 
 The toys now come in different designs and have hit the mass market after the patent expired on Hettinger’s original product in 2005, meaning companies can sell the product independently from her. But Hettinger isn’t upset about the sudden popularity and capitalization of her invention. In fact, she’s excited about it. 
 
 “Maybe if it was some kind of exploitative product — like a new style of cigarettes — and my only motivation was to make money, I’d have a different attitude,” Hettinger said. “But I am just thrilled.” 
 
 Catherine Hettinger courtesy of Sara Hettinger 
 
 READ MORE: Meet the Fidget Spinner, a New Toy Craze Entrancing Kids and Grownups Alike 
 
 The modern iterations of the devices made out of metal or plastic and have a bearing in the middle that allows it to be spun. Some of the products have prongs on them, while others are circular. The spinners, which range in price from just a few dollars to hundreds, are intended to calm nerves and help with stress and anxiety. The handheld gadgets are now so popular that different versions of fidget spinners make up all of Amazon’s top 20 best sellers for toys and games as of May 2. 
 
 “When you start seeing these things flying off the shelf at your local 7-11, you know things are heating up,” Hettinger joked. 
 
 Hettinger grew up in Oklahoma and attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York — a college known for its engineering and technology programs — before moving to Florida. The first fidget spinner debuted in 1993, and her patent approved four years later. But they didn’t take off — instead, she made rounds at fairs selling a couple thousand devices and frequently tried selling them to toy companies. 
 
 Once she had her patent, she booked a meeting with Hasbro, the third-largest toy maker in the world, and even found herself using the fidget spinner to ease her nerves before the meeting with the company’s vice president. “That was one good thing about this product: If I walked into their headquarters spinning it, it totally calmed me down,” she recalled. “It’s not an easy thing for most people to walk in and close big deals.” 
 
 Hasbro didn’t pick up the spinners, sending her a rejection letter after testing it on consumers. But now, Hasbro sells the fidget spinners — almost 20 years after it denied the original product. 
 
 Chloe, Hettinger's granddaughter, plays with the original fidget spinner. Sara Hettinger– 
 
 So why the sudden boom in popularity? Hettinger isn’t sure, but she speculates as a result of the recession in 2008, people may be looking for ways to calm their nerves and have fun. “That was always the concept — to help people,” she said. “I experienced it for myself.” 
 
 “There’s a real need for this, ” she added. 
 
 And given the device’s sudden popularity, Hettinger is working on a way to sell her original spinners, which have not been on the market throughout the current craze. She’s going to launch a a Kickstarter — called the Classic Spinner —soon and sell her version online. 
 
 While she’s excited about the spinner’s newfound popularity, she’s still got an inventor’s mind and continues to observe her surroundings and think up products that can make life easier for people. 
 
 Her latest project is a diet and fitness application for iPhones that she’s working on with the help of the Inventors Council of Central Florida, a Florida-based group that she is a member of that works on new ideas together. 
 
 “The culture we live in now — the times now — everyone has a need for fun. People are realizing it — and it’s true,” she said. 
 
 Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the year Hettinger’s patent expired. It expired in 2005, not 2017. Additionally, this story misstated what inspired her to create the fidget spinner. Hettinger was inspired after hearing about boys throwing rocks at people and police — she did not see it herself. ||||| A prototype is a preliminary model of something. Projects that offer physical products need to show backers documentation of a working prototype. This gallery features photos, videos, and other visual documentation that will give backers a sense of what’s been accomplished so far and what’s left to do. Though the development process can vary for each project, these are the stages we typically see: 
 
 About 
 
 Wikipedia credits Catherine Hettinger as the original inventor. This makes it a Classic. This has been a collaborative project with a three dimensional artist and an engineer. The first spinner is ready for primetime. The photo of the prototype becomes the original Classic Fidget Spinner, Fellow techies understand the need for movement. Not all of us can work in Silicon Valley and step out for a football throw. De- stress with a great spinner that is fun and enjoyable. 
 
 This project allows for everyone to be able to enjoy this classic and truly original item that has been used and proven small scale. Be a part of the next big thing. 
 
 If you are looking to get in as a supporter then meet the creators. Otherwise enjoy a wonderful talking point and de-stressor. Suddenly everyone understands the need today and let's help ourselves and help them fill that need. 
 
 Kids are required to sit 7 solid hours in chairs and this is sparking a revolution to at least keep them from getting in trouble. No animal sits still for long and we can't either. 
 
 Our times are seeing a surge in the need for fun. Be a part of that.
– It's hard to make money if you don't have any. That's the lesson from Catherine Hettinger, who is credited with inventing the original fidget spinner about three decades ago. In 2004, she says she could not afford the $400 patent renewal fee and thereby had to surrender it. "I just didn't have the money," she tells the Guardian. "It's that simple." Now, fidget spinners are all the rage—they brought in revenue of $2.6 million in April, reports the Wall Street Journal—but Hettinger hasn't made a dime. She says she's not bitter, however, and is hoping to cash in on a "classic" version of her design via Kickstarter. “Several people have asked me: ‘Aren’t you really mad?’" she says. "But for me I’m just pleased that something I designed is something that people understand and really works for them." Hettinger, now 62, says she concocted the device in the early 1990s to occupy her toddler daughter. She tells Time she was also inspired while on a trip to Israel when she saw young boys throwing rocks and wanted to give them an alternative. In any event, she got a patent in the 1990s and had a small measure of success at toy fairs. But toy-makers passed, including Hasbro, which now makes them today. "Maybe if it was some kind of exploitative product—like a new style of cigarettes—and my only motivation was to make money, I’d have a different attitude,” says Hettinger of the gizmo's popularity. “But I am just thrilled.”