Pogo stick

Pogo stick

A pogo stick is a device consisting of a pole with a handle at one end, footpads on the other and a spring which supports the stick and user when on the ground. Usually considered a children's toy, it is used for hopping up and down by use of the spring.

The pole on the stick juts down some distance below the footpads and has a rubber cover at the bottom end for traction. The operator places his feet on the footpads while balancing on the pole, then jumps or presses down on the footpads to compress the spring. When the spring has been fully compressed, the operator lifts his weight, aided by the recoil of the spring, being launched several inches or feet into the air. This process is repeated to create a hopping action. The pogo stick can be steered, with some difficulty, by shifting one's weight; thus becoming an interesting form of locomotion.

Later, improvements on this concept have been made, including the Vurtego, Flybar, and BowGo, [ [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bowgo/ The Bowgo Project] ] which allow operators to jump much higher than with a regular pogo stick. These Pogo sticks have made the new sport of Stunt Pogo possible. Backflips are also possible now with these newer sticks.

The name is allegedly derived from the name of a manufacturer "Pohlmann & Goppel" from Springe in Lower Saxony, thought to have produced pogo sticks exported to the United Kingdom. This is doubted in Deister since the sources are missing and the firm's name is not known in Springe. [ [http://www.ndz.de/Neue_Deister-Zeitung/show_article.php3?zeitung=Neue_Deister-Zeitung&area=Lokales&ressort=Suche&id=462052 Ullrich Manthey "Pogo Legende: Eine Erfindung voller Sprünge"] , Neue Deister-Zeitung vom 22. September 2007 ]

See also

* Stilts
* Stunt pogo
* Powerbocking

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • pogo stick — 1921; see POGO (Cf. pogo) …   Etymology dictionary

  • pogo stick — ► NOUN ▪ a toy for bouncing around on, consisting of a spring loaded pole with a handle at the top and rests for the feet near the bottom …   English terms dictionary

  • pogo stick — ☆ pogo stick [pō′gō ] n. [arbitrary coinage] a stilt with pedals and a spring at one end, used as a toy to move along in a series of bounds …   English World dictionary

  • pogo stick — noun plaything consisting of a pole with foot rests and a strong spring; propelled by jumping • Hypernyms: ↑plaything, ↑toy * * * ˈpōˌgō noun Etymology: from Pogo, a trademark : an upright pole with two foot rests and a strong spring at the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pogo Stick — Pogostab Ein Springstock oder Pogo Stick ist ein Spiel und Sportgerät zum Auf und Abhüpfen. Der Stab hat einen T förmigen Haltegriff am oberen Ende, zwei (oder mehr) Metallfedern, zwei Fußrasten sowie einen Fuß. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Benutzung …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • pogo stick — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms pogo stick : singular pogo stick plural pogo sticks a toy used for jumping around. It consists of a pole with two short bars for your feet …   English dictionary

  • pogo stick — /poh goh/ a long stick having a pair of handles at the top and, near the bottom, a pair of footrests attached to a powerful spring, so that by standing on the footrests while grasping the handles, one can propel oneself along in a series of leaps …   Universalium

  • Pogo stick — Bâton sauteur Le bâton sauteur (ou pogo stick) est une perche sur laquelle une personne peut se tenir debout (de même qu une échasse), comprenant à son extrémité supérieure des poignées et à son extrémité inférieure un dispositif à ressort ou à… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • pogo stick — po′go stick or po′go stick [[t]ˈpoʊ goʊ[/t]] n. gam a long stick with footrests and a spring, used as a toy for leaping • Etymology: 1920–25; pogo, formerly a trademark …   From formal English to slang

  • pogo stick — po|go stick [ˈpəugəu stık US ˈpougou ] n [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: Pogo, a trademark] a toy used for jumping, that consists of a pole with a spring near the bottom, a bar across the pole that you stand on, and a handle at the top …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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