There, I want to go there... now where's that on the metro...
oh boy, this is so useful; this is Paris in the springtime. It's a map and it's a
map of the metro as well, so both together on a marvellous piece of technology this; you just
close it up when you're ready to walk to where you want to go... it opens up when you get there,
to make sure you're in the right place; just that - it's memory plastic, but it goes from something
as small as that into a full large two-dimensional object. Isn't it wonderful? Very very nicely made
design with this memory plastic - with handles as well. I'm looking for things that grow but flat,
grow large but flat; so that's one mechanism. Another one is what I call the bandsaw mechanism,
which I've had for many years, but I still keep collecting it - I can't stop!
It's something as small as that to start with, and when you hold it at one end just spin it
like that - look at how big it gets. Three times the size! That's actually a frisbee.
Here's another version which is just a little sort of advertisement piece; hold like that... let
go... it pops open, with a nice bit of advertising on it. You can't use it as a frisbee as well. Then
the Japanese came up with a very nice version of it - this one here; it has a little white handle
on it. Why a handle? So open up like that... release... oh of course a fan, how lovely!
And the handle is the handle of the fan; when you've finished fanning your face, you've cooled
down enough, you give it a twist like that and push it back in and take it tuck it inside, with a
bit of a dexterity which I've got to learn to do; there we are - a pocket fan. There's a much bigger
version of this which I got originally about 30 years ago, which is used in serious photographic
shops, for serious photography work; which is this thing here. A huge screen, but the same mechanism;
look how small it is now, well it's certainly about a foot across; but now look at it...
oh my goodness me! It's as big as the table. A big screen on one side, silver,
and the other side is matte black; and it folds up absolutely beautifully neatly, but the children's
parties what I did was I got the kids all standing around it and bouncing a teddy bear - I had a
little teddy bear in the middle - and they bounced up and down like a trampoline; but when I finished
it, you just hold the two ends and push it together, and it folds up into a neat small thing.
Very nice. Here's another one which opens up into two dimensions, which I picked up in Germany
sometime in the early 1980s, although originally it had little figures on it which I didn't want,
but look at the action... beautiful! It's the old lazy tongs action, but each one is
slightly offset, so it makes a circle, rather than extending out in a straight line; it had different
figures here... I think these were religious ones, showing perhaps the birth of Jesus Christ,
with wise men and shepherds and so on dotted around; and started off in a row like this, and
then it opened up like that there they were all laid out a nice picture, and the Star of David.
So... beautiful. Here's a very unusual version of this mechanism, this is extraordinary. That's a
three-dimensional object, it is a spinning top which does something extraordinary;
I picked this up way back in the late 1970s. It's got something tucked away inside, and perhaps I'll
demonstrate that first by just taking it out and showing there's something very odd going on in the
mechanism here; if I can open one of these up... there we are... we'll pull it open like that, and
this is actually being held with elastic bands; there's three of these little propellers that
flip out when it's spun, and opens up the top from that diameter to a much bigger size when it's
going fast; so let's have a go. I'll put it on the mirror and I'll spin it and you'll
see it will grow from that size to quite a bit bigger... there we go... oh my, look at that...
and then as it slows down the centrifugal force lessons and it'll
close up before it actually comes to rest; it's almost closed up now;
this is a very very nice design of spinning top. I found in the toy shop, it's made in Japan,
oh about 40 years ago. I'll set it spinning fast again; it's only elastic bands that are
holding those in, and they are on little hinges; but it's beautifully made, and it really does
enlarge. Isn't that a beauty? So simple, almost like a folk toy, but very well conceived; let's
do it one more time, because I like the action at the beginning; there we are, look at that! It's
opened up about a third or a half increase of the radius, so it's considerably larger!