Etch a Sketch: Museum Object and Cultural History
Etch a Sketch: patent date: 1962. maker: Ohio Art Company. Object Name: Drawing Screen.
The object in the museum catalogue
No. 505 Magic Etch A Sketch screen. Ages 4 and up. Red plastic rectangular frame with black plastic backing and a glass front screen lined with mylar sheet, holes mixture of non-toxic aluminum powder and fine plastic beads. A white knob at left front operates the horizontal stylus; the right, a vertical one; when turned together, a curve is etched. Shake the screen to erase.
Arthur Grandjean, Paris, France, sold his design to the Ohio Art Co. after the 1959 Nuremberg Toy Fair; originially called "L'ecran Magique".
Materials, dates and provenance
- patent date: 1962
- maker: Ohio Art Company
- Object Name: Drawing Screen
- Other Terms: Drawing Screen; Toy
- Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
- Physical Description: glass (overall material)
- Physical Description: aluminum powder (overall material)
- Physical Description: red (overall color)
- Physical Description: black (overall color)
- Physical Description: white (overall color)
- Measurements: overall: 4 cm x 20 cm x 24.2 cm; 1 9/16 in x 7 7/8 in x 9 17/32 in
- place made: United States: Ohio, Bryan
- Subject: Toys
- ID Number: 1990.0657.01
- catalog number: 1990.0657.01
- accession number: 1990.0657
- patent number: 3055113
- Credit Line: The Ohio Art Co.
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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