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Erector Fat Tail Sheep
Erector Set (trademark styled as "ERECTOR") was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally patented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and first sold by his company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1913. In 1916, the company was reorganized as the A. C. Gilbert Company. The brand continued its independent existence under various corporate ownerships until 1990, when Meccano bought the Erector brand and consolidated its worldwide marketing with its own brand. The coverage here focuses on the historical legacy of the classic Erector Set; for current developments under the "Erector by Meccano" brand name, see the Meccano article. Basic Erector parts included various metal beams with regularly spaced holes for assembly using nuts and bolts. A frequently promoted patented feature was the ability to fabricate a strong but lightweight hollow structural girder from four long flat pieces of stamped sheet steel, held together by bolts and nuts (US Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Saved Christmas
''The Man Who Saved Christmas'' is a film based on the true story about the efforts of toymaker Alfred Carlton Gilbert (portrayed by Jason Alexander) of the A. C. Gilbert Company to continue making toys during World War I. First broadcast on CBS television in 2002, it was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2008. Plot During the First World War, A. C. Gilbert, a successful toymaker, is requested by the government to re-tool his factory to help produce goods for the war effort. After speaking with his father and his son, Gilbert initially agrees to this, but comes to regret his decision. Things get the better of Gilbert as he learns that his brother Frank has been declared missing in action in the war. This and other factors cause Gilbert to confront the government over plans to encourage people not to celebrate Christmas in order to save resources for the war effort. Gilbert successfully lobbies the government to allow him (and other toy manufacturers) to resume the production of toy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Construx
Construx is a brand of plastic building toys introduced by Fisher-Price in 1983. Unlike other building toys such as Lego, Construx feature beam-like pieces of varying lengths that snapped on to cubical connector knots in order to build large shapes. These are relatively secure even though no nuts or bolts were used. Panels allowed assembly of flat surfaces. Hinges, motors, wheels, and other movable parts expand the number of different shapes that can be built, and make moving creations possible. Construx was discontinued in 1988, briefly revived by Mattel in 1997, and then discontinued again. Mattel resurrected the Construx name as Mega Construx in 2017 (see Mega Brands, Mega Bloks). For a short time near the end of the Fisher Price run, a version targeted at younger children was released called Basix Construx. It used bright primary colors and did not contain the more complex pieces such as axles and pulleys. This version as well as the other boxes released in the 1997 reviva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Burden
Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot (Burden), Shoot'' (1971), where he arranged for a friend to shoot him in the arm with a small-caliber rifle. A prolific artist, Burden created many well-known installations, public artworks, and sculptures before his death in 2015. Early life and career Burden was born in Boston in 1946 to Robert Burden, an engineer, and Rhoda Burden, a biologist.Margalit Fox (May 11, 2015)Chris Burden, a Conceptualist With Scars, Dies at 69''The New York Times''Roberta Smith (October 3, 2013)The Stuff of Building and Destroying: 'Chris Burden: Extreme Measures,' at the New Museum''The New York Times'' He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, France and Italy.Peter Schjeldahl (May 14, 2007)Performance: Chris Burden and the limits of art''The New Yorker''. At the age of 12, Bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anchor Stone Blocks
Anchor Stone Blocks () are components of Dimension stone, stone construction sets made in Rudolstadt, Germany, marketed as a Construction set, construction toy. Description Anchor Stone pieces are made of a mixture of quartz sand, chalk, and linseed oil (German Patent 13,770; US Patent 233,780), precisely pressed in molds so that they fit together perfectly. The stones come in three colors in imitation of the red brick, tan limestone, and blue slate of European buildings. They are not recommended for play by children under 3 years of age because of their small size (CE No. 0494). History Origin Anchor stones originated with the wooden building blocks designed by Friedrich Fröbel, the creator of the ''Kindergarten'' system of education. He had observed how children enjoyed playing with geometrically-shaped blocks. The first Anchor Stone was produced when Otto Lilienthal and his brother Gustav Lilienthal, Gustav decided to make a model of a stone building, using miniature bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals with bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feature proved popular and was later adapted into a wide variety of formats, including radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums, and a book-series. The Ripley collection includes 20,000 photographs, 30,000 artifacts and more than 100,000 cartoon panels. With 80-plus attractions, the Orlando, Florida-based Ripley Entertainment, Inc. (a division of the Jim Pattison Group) hosts more than 12 million guests annually. Ripley Entertainment's publishing and broadcast divisions oversee a number of projects, including the syndicated TV series, the newspaper cartoon panel, books, posters, and games. Syndicated feature panel Ripley called his cartoon feature (originally involving sports feats) ''Champs and Chumps'' when it premiered on D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage that Columbus took to the New World. Chicago won the right to host the fair over several competing cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image. The layout of the Chicago Columbian Exposition was predominantly designed by John Wellborn Root, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Charles B. Atwood. It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be. It was designed to follow Beaux-Arts principles of design, namely ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. (February 14, 1859 – November 22, 1896) was an American civil engineer. He is mostly known for creating the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. Early life Ferris was born on February 14, 1859, in Galesburg, Illinois, the town founded by his namesake, George Washington Gale. His parents were George Washington Gale Ferris Sr. and Martha Edgerton Hyde. He had an older brother named Frederick Hyde, born in 1843. In 1864 when Ferris was five years old, his family sold their dairy farm and moved to Nevada. For two years, they lived in Carson Valley. From 1868 to 1890, his father, George Washington Gale Ferris Sr., owned the Sears–Ferris House at 311 W. Third, Carson City, Nevada. Originally built in about 1863 by Gregory A. Sears, a pioneer Carson City businessman, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places for Carson City on February 9, 1979. Ferris Senior was an agriculturalist/ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferris Wheel (1893)
The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, was designed and built by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as the centerpiece of the Midway Plaisance, Midway at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Since its construction, many other Ferris wheels have been constructed that were patterned after it. Intended as a keystone attraction similar to that of the Exposition Universelle (1889), 1889 Paris Exposition's Eiffel Tower, the Ferris Wheel was the Columbian Exposition's tallest attraction, with a height of . The Ferris Wheel was dismantled and then rebuilt in Lincoln Park, Chicago, in 1895, and dismantled and rebuilt a third and final time for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. It was ultimately demolished in 1906. In 2007, the wheel's 45 foot, 70-ton axle was reportedly discovered buried near where it was demolished. However, historical writings, documents, and newspaper reports indicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferris Wheel
A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules, or pods) attached to the Rim (wheel), rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. The Ferris Wheel (1893), original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; although much smaller wooden wheels of similar idea predate Ferris's wheel, dating perhaps to the 1500s. The ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as Rube Goldberg (), was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The cartoons led to the expression "Rube Goldberg machines" to describe similar gadgets and processes. Goldberg received many honors in his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning in 1948, the National Cartoonists Society's Gold T-Square Award in 1955, and the Banshees' Silver Lady Award in 1959. He was a founding member and first president of the National Cartoonists Society, which hosts the annual Reuben Award, honoring the top cartoonist of the year and named after Goldberg, who won the award in 1967. He is the inspiration for international competitions known as Rube Goldberg Machine Contests, which challenge participants to create a complicated machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Kevorkian
Murad Jacob Kevorkian (May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011) was an American pathologist and euthanasia proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's right to die by physician-assisted suicide, embodied in his quote, "Dying is not a crime". Kevorkian said that he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He was convicted of murder in 1999 and was often portrayed in the media with the name of "Dr. Death". In 1998, Kevorkian was arrested and tried for his role in the voluntary euthanasia of a man named Thomas Youk who had Lou Gehrig's disease, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS. He was convicted of First degree murder in the United States, second-degree murder and served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence. He was released on parole on June 1, 2007, on condition he would not offer advice about, participate in, or be present at the act of any type of euthanasia to any other person, nor that he promote or talk about the procedure of assisted suicide.Monica Davey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
