Jacob's ladder (toy)
Encyclopedia
Folk
The English word Folk is derived from a Germanic noun, *fulka meaning "people" or "army"...
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...
consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbon
Ribbon
A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily for binding and tying. Cloth ribbons, most commonly silk, are often used in connection with clothing, but are also applied for innumerable useful, ornamental and symbolic purposes...
s. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. However, this effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. Its name Jacob's Ladder comes from the biblical ladder to heaven
Jacob's Ladder (Bible)
Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to heaven, described in the Book of Genesis, that the biblical patriarch Jacob dreams about during his flight from his brother Esau.-Source:...
, mentioned in Genesis 28:12.
The earliest known review for the Jacob's Ladder is a 1889 Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
article which tells how it is built and works. Despite urban myths prevalent on the internet, there is no known documentation dating it to King Tut's tomb or ancient Egypt or to the Pilgrims. It has been theorized that its origin is from a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
falling-block toy, called "Chinese blocks".
The Japanese polymath Hiraga Gennai
Hiraga Gennai
was an Edo period Japanese pharmacologist, student of Rangaku, physician, author, painter and inventor who is well known for his Erekiteru , Kandankei and Kakanpu...
平賀源内 (1729-1779) constructed a Jacob's ladder which later came to be called "Gennai's Wondrous Click-clack" (Gennai no fushigina katakata 源内の不思議なカタカタ).
Construction
Rubik's Magic
Rubik's Magic, like Rubik's Cube, is a mechanical puzzle invented by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik and first manufactured by Matchbox in the mid-1980s....
but with plastic strings run diagonally across squares, with the result that the squares can hinge along either of two adjacent sides.