Etch-a-Sketch
Basically it's a big bag of dust that you scrape doodles into - like you would on the window of a steamed-up bus. Except you have to twiddle some knobs to do it with the Etch-a-Sketch. It was really easy to get rid of the drawing too - a quick shake and you've got a clean slate again. Try that with the Number 15 from town.

Some history...In the late 1950s, a man by the name of Arthur Granjean invented L'Ecran Magique - the magic screen - in his garage. After several years of being ignored as a load of French twaddle by businessmen in suits L'Ecran Magique was bought up by an American toy firm and renamed Etch-a-Sketch.

The first Etch-a-Sketches were produced on July 12, 1960, and measured 9.5 inches across.

Most people think the Etch-a-Sketch is filled with iron filings, but (trivia alert) the filings are actually aluminium. And (for real anoraks) all the filings were made in the same metallic powder plant in the USA.