Etch A Sketch, Classic Red Drawing Toy with Magic Screen, for Ages 3 and Up

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The toy was originally marketed as the “Télécran" in France, but was later called the “L’Ecran Magique,” or Magic Screen. It was eventually re-named the Etch A Sketch by the Ohio Art Company. 6. IT WORKS AS A PLOTTER.

Jeff’s Etch-A-Sketch Art has been displayed at the Denver Art Museum and the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts, as well as galleries around the country. He’s been a guest on numerous ABC and NBC news shows including Good Morning America, and his Etch-A-Sketch work has appeared in many publications including People Magazine, The USA Today, Omni Magazine and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. He lives with his wife Nanci near Boulder, Colorado. Toy Industry Association Announces Its Century of Toys List". Business Wire. 21 January 2003 . Retrieved 5 March 2022. This was present in Cassagnes’s original designs. He later re-designed the toy to have two knobs. 4. TOY MANUFACTURERS ORIGINALLY REJECTED THE ETCH A SKETCH. In February 2016, the rights to the Etch A Sketch name and design were acquired by Toronto-based Spin Master Corporation. [15] Etch A Sketch Animator [ edit ] The Etch A Sketch Animator While the Etch A Sketch seems as American as apple pie, it’s actually a French invention. According to lore, an electrician named Andre Cassagnes was installing a light fixture in a factory during the 1950s. The factory produced an ornate embossed wall covering called Lincrusta. Aluminum powder used in the manufacturing process made its way onto a light-switch plate that Cassagnes was installing, and he noticed that when he made pencil marks on the plate’s translucent protective decal, they showed up on its other side. Turns out, Cassagnes’s pencil had raked a line through the metallic powder, displacing the particles that had clung to the decal thanks to an electrostatic charge. Observing this phenomenon inspired Cassagnes to create his own drawing toy using a plotter and aluminum powder. 2. CREDIT IS OFTEN GIVEN TO THE WRONG INVENTOR.

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Even if you didn’t grow up to become an artist, chances are you honed your childhood drawing skills on an Etch A Sketch. Here are 11 nostalgia-inducing facts about the classic toy, in honor of National Etch A Sketch Day. 1. IT’S A PRODUCT OF FRANCE. ANDRÉ CASSAGNES, CREATOR OF ETCH A SKETCH, DIES AT THE AGE OF 86". Toy Industry Association, Inc. 25 January 2013. Archived from the original on 8 November 2013 . Retrieved 24 January 2018.

The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in the late 1950s by André Cassagnes, an electrician who branded the toy L’Écran Magique (The Magic Screen). In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany where The Ohio Art Company saw it and acquired it. The Ohio Art Company launched the toy in the United States in time for the Christmas season in 1960, marked Etch A Sketch. Over 600,000 units of the toy were sold during this time.

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To erase their picture, an artist only needs to flip the toy and shake, redistributing the powder over the screen. Etch A Sketch of Mass Destruction? In France, its country of origin, Etch A Sketch was sold under the name of "Télécran", [14] rather than L'Écran Magique. In 1998, the Etch A Sketch was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, cementing its place in history alongside inventions like the Slinky, the skateboard, and Silly Putty. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association ranked it as one of the 20th century’s hundred best toys. According to CNBC, more than 100 million Etch A Sketches have been sold since its introduction in 1960. 9. IT’S SOMETIMES TRANSFORMED INTO PERMANENT ART. In 2001, manufacturing was moved to a plant in Shenzhen, China, to cut production costs. The Ohio Art Company was facing bankruptcy before securing financing to stay viable. It sold the rights to the Etch A Sketch name and the design to the Toronto-based Spin Master Corporation in February 2016. The toy got into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Etch A Sketch one of the 100 most memorable toys of the 20th century. The toy initially used a plate-glass screen but was replaced with plastic for safety reasons. In 1995, the Etch A Sketch toy featured in the 1995 Pixar animated film “Toy Story.” It had a 12-second feature that was enough to give a significant sales boost. The production line had to work overtime to meet the demand.