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It was picked up by Kenner for the American market in 1966 and soon became an international phenomenon that is still manufactured today.\nThe toy consists of a set of plastic gears, rings and straight bars, each surrounded by teeth to enable them to engage with each other. One of the pieces, the stator, is pinned to a piece of paper and another, the rotor, is placed so its teeth engage with the pinned piece, with a pen placed in one of the rotor's holes. The rotor is moved by pushing the pen, creating a curved geometric pattern, technically known as a hypotrochoid (when drawn inside a circle) or epitrochoid (drawn around the outside).\nThe original game won several awards, including Educational Toy of the Year in the UK, Design Idea of the Month in US Design News magazine and Artistic Toy Oscar in Paris. It was the basis for the Denys Fisher Toys company, which was eventually bought by Hasbro in the 1980s.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Denys Fisher","id":"AUTH317620"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Denys Fisher Group Ltd - Denys Fisher Toys Ltd","id":"A1525"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Dolls & Toys","id":"THES48967"},{"text":"Christmas 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He was born in 1954 and brought up in Bournemouth.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Spirograph geometric drawing toy from Denys Fisher Toys, England, 1967","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["B.155:1-2011","B.155:2-2011","B.155:3-2011","B.155:4-2011","B.155:5-2011","B.155:6-2011","B.155:7-2011","B.155:8-2011","B.155:9-2011","B.155:10-2011","B.155:11-2011","B.155:12-2011","B.155:13-2011","B.155:14-2011","B.155:15-2011","B.155:16-2011","B.155:17-2011","B.155:18-2011","B.155:19-2011","B.155:20-2011","B.155:21-2011","B.155:22-2011","B.155:23-2011","B.155:24-2011","B.155:25-2011","B.155:26-2011","B.155:27-2011","B.155:28-2011","B.155:29-2011","B.155:30-2011","B.155:31-2011","B.155:32-2011","B.155:33-2011","B.155:34-2011","B.155:35-2011"],"accessionNumberNum":"155","accessionNumberPrefix":"b","accessionYear":2011,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Box","Instruction booklet","Drawing paper and base board","Drawings","Tray","Pin case","Rings","Racks","Wheels","Pens","Outer box"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-02","recordCreationDate":"2012-02-23","availableToBook":false}}