What are tinkertoys®?

Together with erection sets®, Legos®, Lincoln Logs® and K'Nex®, Tinkertoys® are a type of construction toy on the list of toy associations called "Century of Toys" - 100 TOPS of the twentieth century toys. Tinkertoys®, created in 1913, in the same year as Erector Sets®, was invented by two Evanstonians: Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit, inspiration were children built with empty coils of threads and pencils.

Most Tinkertoy® pieces are made of wood and is very similar to the original design. The basic types of pieces include:

• rods : Color coded by length have these sticks of identical diameter at each end of the slot to hold the flag if desired.

• elbows : plastic pieces, bent in the middle, attach bars at angle.

• couplings : plastic pieces that can connect two bars to end and - in the middle hole - can rotate around another.

• end caps : plastic pieces that uThey calmly cover the rod.

• coils : wooden ammunitions that receive bars around their perimeter and through a hole in their center. Unlike the links, the center hole provides the rod, does not allow the spool to rotate.

• flags : thin green plastic quads that serve as flaps, wings or arms.

• Pullleys : round pieces with such a central opening in the coil and indentation to hold the string.

More advanced sets include plastic tubes, pods, clutches of pods and hangers under and rails holders, as well as connector buckles, front plate and robotic arms. The pipes allow you to add curves to the patterns.

All sets include design guides with building ideas. Examples include racing car, robot, plane, helicopter and castle. This brings a point about how children can usetiniteoys®. On the one hand, tinkertoys® can be used to helpCI to work from the model and watch the instructions. On the other hand, Tinkertoys® also gives children a range for an imaginative game in which they simply explore the possibilities of the set offered to create an abstract or specific, planned or improvised structure.