Denys Fisher

Denys Fisher
Born	11 May 1918 Leeds, England
Died	17 September 2002 Barrow-in-Furness, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Engineer
Known for	Inventor of Spirograph
Spouse	Elizabeth Stephenson (m1940); Kate Waide (m1969)

Denys Fisher (11 May 1918, Leeds, England – 17 September 2002, Barrow-in-Furness, England) was an English engineer who invented the spirograph toy.

He left Leeds University to join the family firm, Kingfisher (Lubrication) Ltd. In 1960 he left the firm to set up his own company, Denys Fisher Engineering, in Leeds. In 1961 the company won a contract with NATO to supply springs and precision component for its 20 mm cannon. Between 1962 and 1964 he developed various drawing machines from Meccano pieces, eventually producing a prototype Spirograph. Patented in 16 countries, it went on sale in Schofields department store in Leeds in 1965. A year later, Fisher licensed Spirograph to Kenner Products in the United States. In 1967 Spirograph was chosen as the UK Toy of the Year.

In 1970, Fisher sold his company, which, as Denys Fisher Toys, produced other toys and board games, before being bought by Hasbro. Through the 1980s & 1990's he continued to work with Hasbro in developing new toys and refining Spirograph.

Toys and games

Denys Fisher Toys produced the following toys and games.

Board games Are You Being Served On the Buses The Fastest Gun Ghost Train Harvey Smith's Showjumping Game Haunted House Hotel It's a Knockout Miss UK game The New Avengers board game Scream Inn Six Million Dollar Man War of the Daleks

Toys Cyborg, Muton and Android (reproductions of Takara's Shonen Cyborg toys) Etch-a-Sketch[citation needed] Six Million Dollar Man Spirograph Stickle bricks Doctor Who dolls Skull Machine Outrider Stretch Armstrong stretch octopus ( Ollie & Olivia ) Non-board games Blockhead! George and Mildred Chip Away (1972) a complete sculpting and painting set for Boys and Girls from 5-13 (three sets:Tom and Jerry/The Flintstones/Animals)

References

• "Denys Fisher - Times Online Obituary". London: The Times. 2002-10-26. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article817803.ece. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 

Persondata
Name	Fisher, Denys
Alternative names
Short description	Engineer
Date of birth	1918-05-11
Place of birth	Leeds, England
Date of death	2002-09-17
Place of death	Barrow-in-Furness, England