History Of Yoyo

Contrary to popular myth, there is not evidence that the yo-yo is derived from, nor even existed in any form intended for use as a weapon. While the impact generated by a yo-yo could indeed be rendered deadly with the addition of sharpened edges, the difficulty of safely retrieving it would render such a device somewhat impractical. This rumor likely originated in the Philippines, where hunters in the 16th century used sharp rocks with strings attached to kill prey from trees. The development of the modern yo-yo began in the Philippines at around this time, which is probably the source of the confusion.

The rumour was amplified by cult movie The Substitute 2: School's Out, in which teacher Karl Thomasson further promoted the notion of the yo-yo as a weapon when he destroyed a student's bottle of orange soda.

Ancient origins

The yo-yo is a truly ancient form of amusement with as many names as cultures which have assimilated it. Archaeologically, it is the second oldest toy known (after dolls). Although it is thought to have originated in China, evidence of yo-yo-like toys first appears in the historical record around 500 B.C. in ancient Greece. A terra cotta yo-yo, as well as a vase depicting play, are on display in the National Museum of Athens.The toy is likely to have spread throughout Asia and Europe via trade routes, and is known to have enjoyed periods of popularity in Scotland, England, India, and even Egypt. The emigrette gained particular notoriety in the western world during the French revolution; it was seen as a welcome source of relief from stress, likely epidemic during that period of French history.

Yo-yos would incubate for a time in the South China Sea near their supposed point of origin before leaping across the Pacific and exploding commercially in the New World to become an international phenomenon.

The yo-yo in modern times

As mentioned previously, the modern incarnation of the device was refined in the Philippines, where tradition maintains that use of the folk toy dates back at least a number of centuries. The name yo-yo is believed to have derived from Tagalog and translates as "come-come". In reality, however, yo-yo is not a Tagalog word (the word for "come" is halika). It is possible that the term came from another Philippine language. The term was first published in a dictionary of Filipino words printed in 1860. The principal distinction between the Filipino design and previous, more primitive "back-and-forth" models is in the way the yo-yo is strung. One continuous piece of string, double the desired length, is twisted around itself to produce a loop at one end (as shown at left) which is fitted around the axle. Also termed a looped slip-string, this seemingly minor modification allows for a far greater variety and sophistication of motion, thanks to increased stability and suspension of movement during free spin. It is, without a doubt, the most important development in the evolution of the yo-yo.

The first United States patent on the toy was issued to James L. Haven and Charles Hettrich in 1866 (U.S. Patent 59,745) under the name whirligig, however, the yo-yo would remain in relative anonymity until 1928 when a Filipino American named Pedro Flores opened the Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. The business started with a dozen handmade toys; by November of 1929, Flores was operating two additional factories in Los Angeles and Hollywood, which altogether employed 600 workers and produced 300,000 units daily. Shortly thereafter (ca. 1930), an entrepreneur named Donald Duncan recognized the potential of this new fad and purchased the Flores Yo-yo Corporation and all its assets, including the Flores name, which was transferred to the new company in 1932. He is reputed to have paid more than $250,000, a fortune by depression era standards. It turned out to be a sound investment, making many, many times this amount in the years to follow.

Commercial success

A chart of the yo-yo's commercial history would mimic the path of the toy itself, finding peaks and lows many times over the course of the 20th century. In 1946, Duncan opened a yo-yo factory in the Luck, Wisconsin, prompting the town to dub itself 'Yo-yo Capital of the World'. Declining sales after the second World War prompted Duncan to launch a comeback campaign for his trademarked "Yo-Yo" in 1962 with a series of television advertisements. The media blitz met with unprecedented success, thanks in great part to the introduction of the Duncan Butterfly, which was effectively an inverse version of the classic Imperial design that made landing the yo-yo on its string (in tricks such as "trapeze") much more accessible to the beginner. This success would be short-lived, however, and in a landmark intellectual property case in 1965, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Royal Tops Company, determining that yo-yo had become a part of common speech and that Duncan no longer had exclusive rights to the term. As a result of the expenses incurred by this legal battle as well as other financial pressures, the Duncan family sold the company name and associated trademarks in 1968 to Flambeau Plastics, who had manufactured Duncan's plastic models since 1955. They continue to run the company today.

The rise of the ball bearing

In the 1970s there was a yo-yo fad when SKF made yo-yos with ball bearings. It was probably started as a marketing gimmick, but it caught on. Ball bearings significantly reduce friction when the yo-yo is spinning, enabling longer and more complex tricks. The first ball bearing yo-yos where considered 'cheating' by the yo-yo community [1] until yo-yoers started creating new and innovative tricks that had not been possible before.

Contemporary yo-yo culture

The 1990s saw a resurgence of the popularity of the Yo-Yo and Yo-Yo culture. Contributing to this fad was the introduction of the Yomega Brain auto-return Yo-Yo, the Playmaxx (later Duncan) Pro-yo and various imitations of these. The Brain yo-yo contained a centripetal clutch mechanism which, as the spin of the yoyo slows to a predertermined RPM, engages, freezing the spinning axle and causing the yoyo to automatically return to its user's hand. The Pro-yo was a take-apart fixed axle yoyo.