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.