What is an Etch-A-Sketch?
An Etch-A-Sketch is a child’s drawing toy sold by Ohio Art. It consists of a plastic frame housing a glass screen treated with aluminum powder and plastic beads. Two knobs below the screen control a stylus that scrapes off the powder, creating the lines of the drawing we see. The left knob controls the horizontal movement of the stylus and the right controls the vertical motion. By turning these knobs you create drawings on the underside of the glass screen composed of a series of lines. Although technically you can only draw horizontal and vertical lines, with a lot of practice you can approximate diagonal lines and circles by carefully moving the knobs at the same time or in sequences. History of the Etch-A-Sketch The Etch-A-Sketch as we know it today has been around since 1960 and remains largely unchanged. It was originally designed in 1959 by a Frenchman named Arthur Granjean who called his new invention L’Ecran Magique. Ohio Art saw Granjean’s invention at a toy show in Europe an
