Saga þrauta

Strax árið 1760 birtist þetta vinsæla og gagnlega afþreyingarform nánast samtímis í Frakklandi og Bretlandi. Límdu mynd á pappa og skerðu hana í litla óreglulega bita. Upphaflega voru myndirnar fræðandi, ýmist með stuttum texta sem henta ungmennum til að lesa, eða til að kenna sögu eða landafræði fyrir vaxandi borgarastétt.

In 1762, during the reign of Louis XV in France, a salesman named Dima began to sell map puzzles with small success. This kind of map puzzle, which requires rearranging the pieces, is a very elegant recreation. That same year, in London, a printer named John Spearsbury came up with a similar idea, inventing the enduring puzzle. With the utmost ingenuity, he glued a map of England to the back of a thin dining table, then cut the map precisely into small pieces along the edges of the counties. The idea could lead to huge fortunes, but poor Spearsbury didn't get it, he lived to be 29 years old and didn't see the huge success of jigsaw puzzles. The real significance of his success was that he opened two important markets for his inventions: the burgeoning middle-class consumers hungry for knowledge and status, and the harsh British schools of his time.

Spearsbury lifði á tímum þegar hæfileikinn til að lesa kort var tákn heiðursmanns. Juggsagaræðið hefur verið ýtt í hámark með Grand Touring viðburðinum, risastórum viðburði sem fjallar um heila Evrópu. Frá þessu sjónarhorni eru púsluspil notkun púslbita til að rannsaka landafræði allrar Evrópu - landa, furstadæma, sýslur, borga, bæja, áa og svo framvegis af alvöru. Að þekkja kort þá var jafn stolt og að hafa þína eigin heimasíðu núna.

Of course, not everyone is adamant about puzzles. Contrarians and social critics alike mock the rich for being boring enough to do nothing but spread a pile of cardboard scraps on the table. More than a decade later, puzzle makers began to incorporate historical themes into their puzzles. In 1787, an Englishman named William Dutton made a jigsaw puzzle of portraits of the kings of England, from William the Conqueror to George III. Education and memory are also part of the entertainment, because to successfully arrange all the pieces, you must know the correct order of these kings. However, at that time, jigsaw puzzles were only a game of rich people, and they were not yet popular. Hand-painting, hand-coloring, hand-cutting make puzzles very expensive, equivalent to a month's salary for an average worker.

1789 saw the French Revolution usher in modern Europe, and saw the birth of the modern puzzle in the hands of John Wallis. This imaginative Briton invented brightly colored landscape puzzles. New puzzles require more focus and patience to put together. The new puzzle heralds the end of the era of exquisitely crafted, but expensive, Spearsbury puzzles. Wallis' reproduction techniques soon made his new puzzle a model for a developing trade based on his original printing plate.

Í upphafi 19. aldar gaf ný iðnaðartækni til fjöldaframleiðslu þrautir ákveðna mynd. Áður fyrirferðarmikil og fyrirferðarmikil púsl samanstóð af sléttum-kantuðum uppröðun hluta sem hægt var að draga í sundur með minnsta titringi. Um 1840 klipptu þýskir og franskir ​​þrautaframleiðendur púslbúta með samtengdum smelluvélum, form sem nútíma þrautaunnendur þekkja. Þeir skiptu harðviðarspónnum út fyrir mjúkvið, krossvið og pappa og lækkuðu kostnað umtalsvert. Að lokum, lágu-þrautirnar voru samþykktar af neytendum úr öllum stéttum þjóðfélagsins og komu fljótlega af stað þrautaæði meðal barna, fullorðinna og aldraðra.

Puzzles quickly became a well-established, mass-market entertainment product that consumers could buy anywhere. Puzzles are used at this time not only for education and entertainment, but also for commercials and political propaganda. The First World War (1914-1918) is a good example. Inexpensive jigsaw puzzles featuring brave warriors desperately fighting for king and country, were popular on both sides of the war and sold well. Jigsaw puzzles have become a way to get closer to people's inner world, into their homes, and to spread information. Puzzles and newspapers, radio, and soon the first generation of television became a simple and direct form of mass media. Should people be encouraged to travel by train? Many puzzles showing majestic trains and happy tourists appeared. Every new invention and trend—steamboats, planes, automobiles, and the latest and most daring women's swimsuits—has appeared on the puzzle.

Eftir efnahagskreppuna í heiminum árið 1929 var kreppan mikla sem gekk yfir Norður-Ameríku hámarkstímabil óbilandi vinsælda púsluspila. Farðu niður í næsta blaðastand fyrir aðeins 25 sent fyrir 300-bita púsl og þú getur gleymt erfiðu lífi þínu og látið þig dreyma um að búa til gleðilegan dag. Hinir ríku og frægu eru líka að láta undan þessu æði. Í New York græddu tveir-af- sölumenn, John Henry og Frank Ware, stórfé með upprunalegri hönnun Spearsbury þrauta. Hvert er leyndarmál þeirra? Hágæða endurgerð af framúrskarandi spelkum. Henry og Ware mynduðu fljótlega tengsl við Astors, Vanderbilts, Bing Crosby og Marilyn Monroe, og viðskipti voru í miklum blóma.