Etch A Sketch
Encyclopedia
Etch A Sketch is a registered trademark
for a mechanical drawing
toy
manufactured by the Ohio Art Company
.
An Etch A Sketch is a thick, flat gray screen in a plastic frame. There are two knobs on the front of the frame in the lower corners. Twisting the knobs moves a stylus
that displaces aluminium powder on the back of the screen, leaving a solid line. The knobs create lineographic
images. The left control moves the stylus horizontally, and the right one moves it vertically.
The Etch A Sketch was introduced near the peak of the Baby Boom, and is one of the best known toys of that generation. It was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame
at The Strong
in Rochester, New York
, in 1998. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association
named Etch A Sketch to its Century of Toys List, a roll call commemorating the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century. It remains popular to this day.
. The inside surface of the glass screen is coated with aluminium
powder which is then scraped off by a movable stylus
, leaving a dark line on the light gray screen. The stylus is controlled by the two large knobs, one of which moves it vertically and the other horizontally. To erase the picture, the artist turns the toy upside down and shakes it. Doing this causes polystyrene
beads to smooth out and re-coat the inside surface of the screen with aluminium powder. The "black" line merely exposes the darkness inside the toy. Filling in large "black" areas will allow enough light through to expose parts of the interior (see picture).
until the company moved the manufacturing plant to Shenzhen, China in 2001.
display and used two knobs for drawing, like a regular Etch A Sketch, with several buttons to manipulate the drawings. It had a few kilobyte
s of memory, capable of storing 12 frames of pictures in any combination up to 96 times. It contained a speaker, which made static-like sounds when the knobs were moved and during animations.
; Putt Nuts, an 18-hole miniature golf game; and Flyby, a simplistic flight simulator. The Animator 2000 was discontinued shortly after its introduction, rendering copies of some of these games scarce.
s and work like a regular Etch A Sketch, except on the television screen and with the addition of colors and sound effects.
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
for a mechanical drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
manufactured by the Ohio Art Company
Ohio Art Company
Ohio Art Company is a manufacturing company founded in 1908 based in Bryan, Ohio. The company is principally engaged in two lines of business. The first line of business is the sales, marketing and distribution of toys including the Etch A Sketch, and K's Kids...
.
An Etch A Sketch is a thick, flat gray screen in a plastic frame. There are two knobs on the front of the frame in the lower corners. Twisting the knobs moves a stylus
Stylus
A stylus is a writing utensil, or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example in pottery. The word is also used for a computer accessory . It usually refers to a narrow elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen. Many styli are heavily curved to be held more easily...
that displaces aluminium powder on the back of the screen, leaving a solid line. The knobs create lineographic
Lineography
Lineography is the art of drawing without lifting the pen, pencil, or paintbrush that is being used. The practice originated in France in the seventeenth century and had fallen into disuse by the early nineteenth century. In some instances, entire landscapes and still lifes have been drawn or...
images. The left control moves the stylus horizontally, and the right one moves it vertically.
The Etch A Sketch was introduced near the peak of the Baby Boom, and is one of the best known toys of that generation. It was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame
National Toy Hall of Fame
The National Toy Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years...
at The Strong
The Strong
The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational institution in Rochester, New York, USA, devoted to the study and exploration of play...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, in 1998. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association
Toy Industry Association
The Toy Industry Association is a trade association that promotes the marketing of new toys, games, and puzzles. The organization usually has trade shows at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City during February. Consumers in general are not able to attend...
named Etch A Sketch to its Century of Toys List, a roll call commemorating the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century. It remains popular to this day.
Mechanics
The toy can be considered a simplified version of a plotterPlotter
A plotter is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were widely used in applications such as computer-aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers...
. The inside surface of the glass screen is coated with aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
powder which is then scraped off by a movable stylus
Stylus
A stylus is a writing utensil, or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example in pottery. The word is also used for a computer accessory . It usually refers to a narrow elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen. Many styli are heavily curved to be held more easily...
, leaving a dark line on the light gray screen. The stylus is controlled by the two large knobs, one of which moves it vertically and the other horizontally. To erase the picture, the artist turns the toy upside down and shakes it. Doing this causes polystyrene
Polystyrene
Polystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...
beads to smooth out and re-coat the inside surface of the screen with aluminium powder. The "black" line merely exposes the darkness inside the toy. Filling in large "black" areas will allow enough light through to expose parts of the interior (see picture).
History
The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, in his basement. He called it "L'Ecran Magique", the magic screen. In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the International Toy Fair in Nuremburg, Germany. The Ohio Art Company saw it but had no interest in the toy. When Ohio Art saw the toy a second time, they decided to take a chance on the product. The L'Ecran Magique was soon renamed the Etch A Sketch and became the most popular drawing toy in the business. After a complex series of negotiations, The Ohio Art Company launched the toy in the United States in time for the 1960 holiday season with the name "Etch A Sketch". Ohio Art supported the toy with a televised advertising campaign. Etch a Sketch was manufactured in Bryan, OhioBryan, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,333 people, 3,528 households, and 2,155 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,821.7 people per square mile . There were 3,733 housing units at an average density of 816.1 per square mile...
until the company moved the manufacturing plant to Shenzhen, China in 2001.
Etch A Sketch Animator
The Etch A Sketch Animator, which debuted in 1986, featured a low-resolution dot matrixDot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional array of LED used to represent characters, symbols and images.Typically the dot matrix is used in older computer printers and many digital display devices. In printers, the dots are usually the darkened areas of the paper...
display and used two knobs for drawing, like a regular Etch A Sketch, with several buttons to manipulate the drawings. It had a few kilobyte
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
s of memory, capable of storing 12 frames of pictures in any combination up to 96 times. It contained a speaker, which made static-like sounds when the knobs were moved and during animations.
Etch A Sketch Animator 2000
The Etch A Sketch Animator 2000 was a portable toy developed by Ohio Art in 1987, debuting in 1988. It was an upgraded version of the Etch A Sketch Animator. It used a stylus to draw on an interfacing pad, and the drawing appeared above on a low-resolution LCD screen. It had the ability to animate a sequence of frames as well as the ability to save animations on memory cartridges. The Animator 2000 could also play games loaded on cartridges. Three games were developed for it, with others planned. The three developed are Overdrive, a racing game in the vein of Pole PositionPole Position
Pole Position is a racing video game released in 1982 by Namco. It was published by Namco in Japan and by Atari, Inc. in the United States...
; Putt Nuts, an 18-hole miniature golf game; and Flyby, a simplistic flight simulator. The Animator 2000 was discontinued shortly after its introduction, rendering copies of some of these games scarce.
Etch A Sketch Color
In 1993, Ohio Art launched a Color Etch A Sketch. Similar to the original Etch A Sketch, it used the traditional two-knob interface to draw, but also featured six colors. It also had the ability to produce a color copy of each picture drawn.Etch A Sketch Electronics ETO - Plug and Play Drawing System / Etch A Sketch Wired
These are basically hand-held controllers that connect to a television like handheld TV gameHandheld TV game
A TV game is an interactive entertainment device designed for use on a television set that does not require the use of an actual video game console for operation...
s and work like a regular Etch A Sketch, except on the television screen and with the addition of colors and sound effects.
Etch A Sketch art
There are many practicing artists who use the Etch A Sketch to produce professional lineographic work. Most artists make their work permanent by removing the aluminium powder. This is done either by drilling holes in the bottom of the toy or by removing the entire plastic backing. It is then resealed as a semi-permanent, shake-resistant piece of art.See also
- Magna DoodleMagna DoodleMagna Doodle is the original product name of a children's magnetic drawing toy, consisting of a drawing board, a magnetic stylus, and a few magnet shapes...
, a somewhat similar toy using a different principle of operation. - The Mystic Writing Pad (also called Wunderblock), an old childrens toy, which can be used for writing or drawing. Consisting of a thin sheet of clear plastic covering a thick waxed board. Sigmund Freud referred to it as a metaphor in his concept of the unconscious.