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Author Topic: GIZMO Top  (Read 533 times)

casalino

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GIZMO Top
« on: August 18, 2022, 10:17:35 PM »

hello from Italy can someone help me spin this gizmo top?
with a video it would be the top



« Last Edit: August 19, 2022, 09:36:13 AM by ta0 »
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ta0

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Re: GIZMO Top
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2022, 10:05:44 AM »

Thanks for posting this top. I hadn't seen this toy before (or at least I hadn't recognized it as a spinning top). But after reading the instructions and looking at the three patents listed I figured out how it works.
It mostly works like a "yo-yo on a stick". The handle (shaft) has a rotating joint with an asymmetric yoyo ("bobbin") that on one side has a large cylinder (blue in your case, green in the photo below) and on the other a small plate (red). The yoyo string is attached to a semi-spherical cap ("bauble", green in yours, blue below). In "yo-yo"-like-play (what the instruction calls "flip-flops"), you make the cap go up, go over the yo-yo and down again, repeatedly.

To play it as a top ("Spinner" in the instructions), you snap the bauble onto the bobbin (so the string remains inside). Holding the shaft, you press the side of the bauble to the ground and move it in an arc so that friction rotates it. So you start it just like a wizzzer.

It was invented by Paul L. Brown of Redwood City, California and he applied for 3 patents (!), between 1972 and 1977: US3834069, US3858348 and US4086722

I just ordered one on Ebay.

« Last Edit: August 19, 2022, 11:50:26 AM by ta0 »
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the Earl of Whirl

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Re: GIZMO Top
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2022, 03:15:40 PM »

Of course, Don Olney had one of these!!!  We fooled around with it quite a bit at one of the Burg feats.  Seems like it was before the pandemic.  I searched for it on the forum but I must not have reported about it.  I think Jim Neff and johnm got it going some. 
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ta0

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Re: GIZMO Top
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2022, 11:36:43 PM »

I received mine.
As a top, it's easy to start like a Wizzzer, but it's a bad one as such. It stays vertical a short time as it's too tall and doesn't spin long.

I wasn't successful doing the other two main tricks described in the instructions.
I could just get a little idea for what the "flip flops" would feel, but the mass distribution is all wrong, in my opinion. The bobbin (yo-yo) is too light and the bauble (counter-weight) is too heavy. I think that if the ratio of masses was reversed, it could work well. For the "Sleep" trick, even if it had the correct ratio of masses, I doubt it would work because of the slot on the face of the bobbin which allows the string to hang from the center instead of twirling on the rim of the bobbin.
This toy doesn't work. This is surprising considering that it has 3 issued US patents! My guess is that an order was placed with the manufacturer for a batch of them with specs/materials different than the prototype believing that it would still work. Expensive mistake and also a disappointment for the kids that tried it.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2022, 11:39:40 PM by ta0 »
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