# What's the Name of THIS Classic Toy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528 "2007-03-04T12:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/1 "2007-03-04T12:43:50Z")
Does anyone know the name of an old toy which can still be found today in specialty gift shops, and such… As best as I can describe, the toy is a stack of short, wooden planks, all strung togther, and folded up accordian-style. When you appear to let go of the stack, the wooden planks unfold, unfold, and unfold. They keep unfolding in a cascade-like effect. Does this ring a bell with someone? Although still around today, I bet you could find these in the gift shops of Colonial Williamsburg, for one. Any thought? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/2 "2007-03-04T12:46:19Z")
Google image search results: [jacob’s ladder toy](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=jacob's%20ladder%20toy&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/3 "2007-03-04T12:47:44Z")
[A Jacob’s ladder.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_ladder_%28toy%29) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/4 "2007-03-04T12:55:49Z")
[QUOTE=A. I. Wintermute] Google image search results: [jacob’s ladder toy](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=jacob's%20ladder%20toy&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) [/QUOTE] Ok, ok…I’m curious: What was your google entry that found this so quickly? What keywords brought this to the surface so soon? In general, how do you Google on something you only know by sight? ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/5 "2007-03-04T13:06:13Z")
You had the right bits in your OP. [Toy classic wooden](http://images.google.com/images?q=toy+classic+wooden&svnum=10&hl=en&c2coff=1&safe=off&start=54&sa=N&ndsp=18) got me there by page 4. In case your results for this search are different from mine, [here](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.daysgonebyshop.co.uk/images/jacobs%2520ladder%25201.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.daysgonebyshop.co.uk/wooden_toys.htm&h=166&w=170&sz=12&hl=en&start=70&tbnid=GhIz2y9QkwaWnM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtoy%2Bclassic%2Bwooden%26start%3D54%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN) is the site that gave me the image. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/6 "2007-03-04T15:35:39Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Ok, ok…I’m curious: What was your google entry that found this so quickly? [/QUOTE] If I’d been earlier, I’d’ve gotten the answer just from your description. I’ve got one of those somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/7 "2007-03-04T19:38:03Z")
According to Wikipedia, this toy goes back at least to seventeenth-century America: > **[Jacob's ladder (toy)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob's_ladder_(toy))** > > A Jacob's ladder (also magic tablets, Chinese blocks, and klick-klack toy) is a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbons. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. This effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. It may be considered a kinetic illusion, where the blocks appear to change position when they do not. Its name Jacob's Ladder comes from the biblical ladder to heaven Of un... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/8 "2007-03-04T19:49:19Z")
And they’re still being made! I bought one last year at an airport gift shop for my niece & nephew. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/9 "2007-03-04T20:09:52Z")
I have one on my nightstand right now! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/10 "2007-03-05T05:17:21Z")
I knew it just fromthe description. I’ve had one since the early 80’s and had fun watching my stoned roomate play with it. He used to watch it work like it held the key to the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/11 "2007-03-05T07:14:24Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] I knew it just fromthe description. I’ve had one since the early 80’s and had fun watching my stoned roomate play with it. He used to watch it work like it held the key to the universe. [/QUOTE] It doesn’t??? I mean, it’s so …infinite looking. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/12 "2007-03-05T08:45:14Z")
Is there a video showing one of these in action? I tried the one on Wiki, but it won’t play for me. (Wrong format.) ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/13 "2007-03-05T12:05:59Z")
The .ogg file on Wikipedia can be played with Windows Media Player Classic (a small download and well worth it in my opinion). Aside from that, there is a video on youtube [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs6kLeTemk). Not great, but better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/14 "2007-03-05T12:06:40Z")
I had a plastic one in the 60s - the marketing name was ‘Click-Clack’ - because it did! And it made pennies vanish! ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/15 "2007-03-05T14:56:06Z")
Um, IIRC, the Click Clack from the 60s/70s was a different toy (aka “Klackers”, “Popper Knockers” or “Kerbangers”: two lucite spheres connected by a string wuth a ring in the middle. I also heard rumors that there had once been glass ones which were removed from the market for shattering, but I suspect that was a schoolyard UL. Surely plastic was easier and cheaper to make, and no adult could overlook the added danger and weight of glass models. Even the plastic ones could crack, chip, shatter and otherwise “put your eye out” (that being the goal of most toys in the 60s). I found many mentions of it on the web, but don’t have time to hunt down the definitive link. I’m too shaken by my latest conspiracist realization: I knew the eye-patched [Hathaway man](http://www.ciadvertising.org/SA/fall_02/adv382j/dnathan/Project2/sitehtml_files/page0004.htm) was meant to tempt us into losing an eye to a 60s toy as a shortcut to Jame-Bondian postwar elegance and international sophistication, but I never knew [the Canadians were to blame](http://www.hathawaystore.com/hathawayman.html) ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/16 "2007-03-05T15:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=KP] Um, IIRC, the Click Clack from the 60s/70s was a different toy (aka “Klackers”, “Popper Knockers” or “Kerbangers”: two lucite spheres connected by a string wuth a ring in the middle. [/QUOTE] My ‘click clack’, which I saw again relatively recently clearing out stuff from the family home after my mother’s death, was definitely a jacob’s ladder toy. It probably dated from around 1964 - 65. It went ‘click, clack’ as the sections fell down past each other. The name may only have applied in the UK; I remember the balls on a string toy was available over here as well but I don’t recall the brand names… I’d have said it was only available later on - in the 70s, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/17 "2007-03-05T17:18:18Z")
[QUOTE=Meurglys] My ‘click clack’, which I saw again relatively recently clearing out stuff from the family home after my mother’s death, was definitely a jacob’s ladder toy. It probably dated from around 1964 - 65. It went ‘click, clack’ as the sections fell down past each other. The name may only have applied in the UK; I remember the balls on a string toy was available over here as well but I don’t recall the brand names… I’d have said it was only available later on - in the 70s, maybe. [/QUOTE] I remember the jacob’s ladder being called a Click Clack, too. And the “balls on a string” were called Knockers (pronounced ker-nockers). I remember I got mine in 1971 (ouch!!). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/18 "2007-03-05T17:34:12Z")
Claes Oldenburg, a 1960s pop artist who specialized in doing giant versions of everyday things, did one of these called Giant Clacker, so I always thought they were called clackers. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/19 "2007-03-05T22:08:33Z")
My dad made one of those for us! It was tons of fun to watch it go. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528/20 "2007-03-05T22:17:42Z")
Anyone know the name of that toy that went “zip” when it moved, “bop” when it stopped, and “whirrrrr” when it stood still? I think it had two green buttons somewhere… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-classic-toy/394528.md?page=2)