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| Phoenix Engineering Company Whiz Back Top |
| Exhibit #1694 |
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| Type | Production |
| Shape | Specialty |
| Axle | Fixed |
| Finish | Painted |
| Color | Red and Blue |
| Packaging | Boxed |
| Construction | Three piece wood |
| Response | None |
| Condition | Mint |
| Date | 1953 |
| To | 1954 |
| Owner | Rick Brough |
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A yo-yo with a plastic, free-spinning red propeller attached to each wooden halve. The halves are elongated like a spinning top. The yo-yo string is attached or "pegged" directly to the wooden axle. This configuration means that the yo-yo can only go up and down; it cannot "sleep".
The yo-yo is based on U.S. Design patent D167723 assigned September 9, 1952 to inventor George F. Scott for a "Bandalore toy". Despite the business name Phoenix Engineering Co., the company's location was at 4661 Fairfield Ave. South, St. Petersburg, Florida. St. Petersburg is where George lived at the time.
It's touted on the sturdy box as So Very Easy.
This design is not the first yo-yo to have propellers attached to it, but it's the first to actually be produced and sold to the public.
The distinction of being the first design occurred more than 20 years earlier. U.S. patent 1793151 was assigned February 17, 1931 to Joe Asbury and Earl R. Austin, of Breckenridge, Texas for a "Bandalore toy". The patent included numerous drawings of propeller-configured yo-yos. The designs show wonderful originality and innovation at a time when yo-yoing was still new and just beginning to rise in popularity across North America.
Following the release of the Whiz Back top in 1953, it would take another 46 years before another yo-yo was made with propellers: the short-lived Playmaxx ProYo Stunt Pilot 3.
Original retail price: 69¢ US. | |
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