Description

Forshortened shot of James Henry Williams Jr. and students posed with a tractor wheel sized yoyo. Original caption: "World's largest yoyo, IAP 1974 Professor James H. Williams"

Original caption: "A group of MIT undergraduates recently tested the "world's largest yo-yo"--two 26 inch bicycle wheels joined by a steel shaft--from the top of the 21 story Cecil and Ida Green Building (background of picture). The students designed the yo-yo during the Institute's mid-year Independent Activities Period under the direction of Dr. James H. Williams, Jr., (far left) Esther and Harold . Edgerton Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The students who worked on the project are: (left to right foreground, each with a hand on the yo-yo) Eric M. Small, Adrian Acala, Richard H. Mahn, and in the back row (again left to right), Robert D. Johnson, Michael S. Steckler, Wesley P. Taylor, Peter A. Materna and John Ottisch. In the test, which was watched by several hundred persons on campus and reported throughout the nation, the yo-yo spun 260 feet down the side of the building on a braided nylon cord and climbed back up the cord a distance of 150 feet, using its own kinetic energy. Dr. Williams said the project has been educationally valuable in enabling students to take the concept of an enlarged yo-yo and carry it through to a "realizable experiment.""