Magna Doodle
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Magna Doodle is a children's magnetic drawing toy, consisting of a magnetic drawing board, a pen, and a few magnet shapes. It was invented in 1974 and over forty million have been sold to date.
The key element of the Magna Doodle is the magnetophoretic display panel. Each honeycombed cell of the lattice is filled with a thick liquid containing tiny magnetic particles. The middle layer is latticed so that there is always an even distribution of the magnetic particles across the entire surface of the display. The liquid is designed so that the particles can be pulled through the liquid in response to magnetic force applied by the pen or eraser, but not due to gravity.
The Magna Doodle was produced by Tyco until 1998 when most of Tyco's toys were sold to Fisher-Price. The Magna Doodle is currently produced by The Ohio Art Company and used to be distributed in the United Kingdom by Fisher-Price. Fisher-Price has discontinued the Magna Doodle and have produced their own alternative, the Doodle Pro. It is still available in the UK, from the distribution company Megatel LTD.
[edit] Product use
- In the show Friends, a Magna Doodle was seen hanging on the door in Chandler and Joey's apartment. Different drawings appeared on it in each episode. The Magna Doodle was taken with him when he went to Hollywood, in Joey.
- A highly modified Magna Doodle device was used by the Grongi in Kamen Rider Kuuga.
- Because the Magna Doodle uses no ink or graphite, many SCUBA instructors use it as an underwater whiteboard when instructing students. It is also used by divers who wish to pass short notes. The Magna Doodle is not specifically designed to work underwater, though, and many of the components rust or otherwise fall apart over time.
[edit] External links
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