EDIT: I split and merged the main posts about the "Maxwell" top into one thread.
Ok, I got to the start of the Japanese section. So I have these remarks and questions about the scientific toys section.
You mention both James Clerk Maxwell and Crabtree's book. On pages 8 and 51 of Crabtree there are drawings of the remarkable "Gyroscopic Top". I read this was invented by "a professor Maxwell" but it did not specifically say it was THAT Maxwell. Do you know if that was the case?
. . .
Thank you for your informative answers, Lourens. I love the fact that you play with the tops in your collection!
I have a nice reproduction of the "Maxwell top" identical to the one on
Crabtree. This is the brochure that came with it:
A top very similar to this one was designed by a British professor over 100 years ago as a device to demonstrate gyroscopic principles to physics students. Specifically, Professor Maxwell wanted to be able to show, as convincingly as possible, that a gyroscope will always react at 90° to an applied force.
If you do an internet search for "Maxwell top," you find several from lab classes at universities, but generally without the upper track, so the name Maxwell is probably correct. Note to johnm: you should make one! (the attached paper from Caltech even has one floating on air).
However, I am now convinced that it was made by a different professor Maxwell. First, if the top had been know in 1890, Perry would have described it without doubt in his book, so it must have been created between 1890 and 1914. Second, Crabtree wouldn't have failed mentioning that it had been invented by the famous physicist.