Pegasus in Flight
This is one of the few balancing toys which may be readily made, and which will afford much amusement to all, and wonder to those who have not taken the pains to understand the principle on which it is constructed. It furnishes a solution of a popular mechanical problem or paradox, viz., “how to prevent a body, having a tendency to fall by its own weight, from falling, by adding to its weight on the same side on which its tendency is to fall.”
The Pegasus in Flight when complete is fairly represented in the accompanying illustration. It should be made out of a small toy figure of a horse in which the centre of gravity is found in, or very near to, the middle of the body. The wings, which are merely added for the sake of adornment, and to make the toy resemble in appearance the fabled charger after which it is named, should be attached to the figure at a point just behind the shoulders; the wings should be of equal weight and so adjusted as to keep the balance of the figure true. They may, however, if desired, be entirely dispensed with, or any other addition, according to fancy, may be put upon the horse’s back. A wire bent to a curve, and to the end of which a small leaden ball has first to be attached, is to be fastened to the middle of the under part of the horse. Upon the hind feet of the horse being then set at rest on the edge of a table, and in such a position that the leaden ball is beneath the edge of the table, the animal may be made to rock to and fro without any fear of its being upset, and the longer the wire, provided only the proper curve is given to it, the longer will be the distance that the toy will sway upwards and downwards. This toy is also sometimes known by the name of the Mechanical Bucephalus, but it should then be made minus the wings, as is also the case when it is simply exhibited under the still more common description of the Prancing Horse.