Wood is opens in a new window hygroscopic , which means that it reacts to changes in its environment, especially humidity, by expanding and contracting. Wood usually expands across the grain, which is the direction that the fibers orient themselves as the tree grows. The grain is usually easily visualized on a piece of wood by looking at the dark and light patterns created by the growth rings.
Because trees grow in a circle, the regularity of the grain in a board depends on how the board is cut from the tree. Engraver and mapmaker John Spilsbury is credited with inventing the first jigsaw puzzle in He drew a map on top of a piece of wood, then used a jigsaw to cut it into small pieces. The name clearly stuck! Kids today still learn geography by using jigsaw puzzles of maps.
In fact, the "Geographical Puzzle" was the first wooden puzzle produced in by Ravensburger , the world's leading puzzle maker. A puzzling craze sweeps the nation. Puzzles for adults became popular around , and by puzzles were a staple of the upper class.
Why upper class? Over time, cardboard puzzles became a less expensive option, making puzzling available to everyone. A welcome escape. The History of Jigsaw Puzzles. May 7, He mounted one of his master maps onto wood and then cut around the countries.
He gave it to children in the local school to help them with their geography education. And in that act jigsaw puzzles were invented. It was an instant hit and the concept was soon copied by others and expanded into other educational images other than just maps, such as farms and religious scenes. This was mainly due to 3 reasons: 1. They gave the puzzler the opportunity to accomplish creative tasks easily and cheaply while also forgetting the issues and hardships they were facing on a daily basis At this time jigsaw puzzles were also used by companies, especially train and cruise liners, to help promote their companies.
Sign up to our Newsletters For offers, new product information and more. Unique Whimsy Shapes. You can find a great range of puzzles depicting different parts of the world. But this does seem to be the generally agreed upon consensus. Although how they are made today has changed quite a bit. Still expensive to produce they were mostly an upper-class pursuit. But over time improved manufacturing methods and the introduction of cardboard as a material instead of wood made them more affordable and thus available to the masses.
Jigsaws saw a huge rise in popularity in the US during the depression of the 's. They became an inexpensive form of escape and weekly puzzles were sold in newsagents across the country. Puzzles were also used for advertising and given away for free by retailers. Wooden puzzles remained popular as a premium product but saw a decline after the second world war when rising wages made them prohibitively expensive to produce. Fun Fact: Did you know that a person who enjoys completing jigsaw puzzles is called a dissectologist?
Jigsaw puzzles today have come along way from the dissected maps of the 's. Yet they remain both a popular educational tool for children and a pastime for adults.
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