Etch a Sketch inventor dies

Andre Cassagnes passed away on 16 January. The cause has not been disclosed.

The former electrical technician developed a cult toy when he came up with the invention that creates erasable drawings by twisting two dials.
The red-frame, grey screen and two white dials, allows children to draw something and shake it away to start again.

Metal powders

Mr Cassagnes saw the potential for the toy when was working with metal powders and noticed that marks in a coating of aluminium powder could be seen from the other side of a translucent plate.

It was selected by the Ohio Art Company at a toy fair in 1959 and the next year it became the top-selling toy in the United States. It went on to sell more than 100 million copies.

Ohio Art president Larry Killgallon said the company will always be grateful for an invention that brought joy to so many.

The toy may seem old-fashioned in an age of tablet computers, but the Ohio Art Company says it is still selling after its appearance in the Toy Story movies.

And it became a feature of last year’s US presidential campaign, when an aide to Republican candidate Mitt Romney likened his campaign to the toy.

“You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again,” said campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, a comment seized upon by his rivals as evidence that Mr Romney was willing to change his position to get elected.

Most memorable

Etch A Sketch has been named by the American Toy Industry Association as one of the most memorable toys of the 20th century.

As well as being the man behind Etch A Sketch, Andre Cassagnes also developed a reputation as the most successful designer of competition kites in France during the 1980s.