Expanding In One Dimension...

Tim explores a variety of mechanisms that allow a toy to get bigger in one dimension - there will be more dimensions in later videos! A telescopic toy gun from Japan and a steel telescopic pen... the write stuff? Telescopic cutlery, a fork and a spoon! A 14th Century proverb says 'He who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon'. Finally, a magnet on a telescopic rod. Handy for retrieving anything that is attracted to a magnet... Then... unfurling. Tim shows a few party blow outs of various lengths. A snake with an extending tongue which unfurls... Then something Tim calls 'paper yo yos'. A coil of slightly elasticated paper allows an action rather like a traditional yo yo. Then springs... springs in tins for example. Then modelling balloons. When you inflate them, instead of expanding in all dimensions like a regular balloon, these expand in one direction, to give a long tube; you can use this is a starting point for making balloon animals. Then a Japanese folk toy which has an intriguing mechanism of rods and string. Popoid tubes have a corrugated structure, and can be extended. You can also whirl them in the air, and they make a sound. Then some joke tubes of ketchup and salad cream. These were early items in Tim's collection, acquired back in the 1970s. Squeeze the bottle and although it looks as if ketchup is shooting out, although in fact it is a piece of string, blown out by air pressure! Finally, the 'magic wand' mechanism. Of course Tim has these in a variety of sizes, even a giant one that is 7 or 8 feet long!