Magic Holetite Pencil

The famous American puzzle inventor Sam Loyd was asked by the head of the New York Life Insurance Co., John McCall, to make an advertising puzzle that thaier salesmen could take with them, and that would make their clients remember its message. Loyd went home and returned to McCall the next day with a small stick attached to a loop of green cord. The stick looked like a policeman's billy club and it was slightly longer than the loop. McCall failed to be duly impressed. "What's the purpose of it?" he asked Loyd. Whereupon Loyd took McCall by his lapels, stuck the cord through the buttonhole and the stick in turn through the loop. "Alright," he said, "let's make a bet. If within half an hour, you've gotten the stick out, without cutting the cord, I'll give you one dollar. If not, you owe me one." McCall pulled and pushed and, in short, spent 30 minutes of his valuable time trying in vain to remove the stick. After his time was up, Loyd accepted his dollar with the words: "In return for a $10,000 life insurance policy from NYLI, I'll take the thing right off of you!" Now McCall was impressed. "By this our clients will surely remember our salesmen!" The Buttonhole Puzzle became one of Loyd's most successfull puzzles and it created the phrase "to buttonhole" someone.

Slocum, Botermans; New Book of Puzzles, Freeman, New York, 1992, p78-79

References

Clifford W. Ashley; The Ashley Book of Knots, New York, 1944
(german: Das Ashley-Buch der Knoten, Edition Maritim, Hamburg, 5. Aufl. 1997)
Chapter 33: tricks and puzzles, diagram 2611 (Pseudo-Magic-Pencil solution)
Henry Ernest Dudeney; Puzzles and Curious Problems, Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., London 1931,
Problem 349: Releasing the Stick
Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans; Puzzles Old & New, U. Wash. Press, 1987, p114
(German: Geduldsspiele der Welt, Hugendubel, 1987, p114)
Note: The bet is $100.
Jerry Slocum, Botermans; New Book of Puzzles, Freeman, New York, 1992, p78-79
Name: Buttonhole Puzzle later sold as Magic Holetite Pencil
Jerry Slocum; The Puzzle Arcade, Klutz, 1996, ISBN 1-57054-056-X, p4
Name: The Buttonhole Killer Pencil
The book contains the buttonhole puzzle.
Wei Zhang; Exploring Math Through Puzzles, Key Curriculum Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55953-222-X,
p29-31, Section: Loop Extension Puzzles. Name: Magic Pencil, puzzle 7
p70, Name: Bugballs (Dutch: Treiterballen, Treiterkraaltjes), Inventors: Christian Freeling, Anneke Treep, puzzle 27 (Het Knoopeknauwertje No. 5 (April 1997))
Gerd Oberdorfer; Phänomenale Mathe-Magie, Zytglogge, Bern, 1994, p87
Name: Happy Puzzling-"Klammer" (a Pseudo-Magic-Pencil)
Puzzle Craft, Kit U Handy Series, Cooperative Recreational Services Inc., Delaware, Ohio, no year given, p4
Name: Buttonholer
Pieter van Delft, Jack Botermans; Denkspiele der Welt, Hugendubel, 1977, p118
Name: Die elastische Schlinge
Scot Morris; The next Book of Omni Games, 1988, ISBN 0-452-26151-1, p14
Name: Pencil Problem
Woodrow & Irmgard Carpenter, Cold Spring, KY 41076, USA
14th IPP 1994 Seattle exchange puzzle: The Buttonhole Puzzle expanded
Shows variations fixing the buttonhole puzzle.
There is a US Patent number of 848067 for the Magic Holetite Pencil.
The Perplexing Pencil Puzzle from AIMS Education Foundation
The Pencil Puzzle from Creative Puzzles

Sources for Pencils

Arabesk, Avenue Concordia 17 B, 3062 LA Rotterdam, Netherlands
Phone: +31-(0)10-2140361 Fax: +31-(0)10-2140390
Email: arabesk@arabesk.nl
Product Name: "Button hole puzzle", Product No: A395.0500
Bartl GmbH, Brunnthaler Str. 17, D-84518 Garching an der Alz, Germany
Phone: +49-8634-9885-0 Fax: +49-8634-9885-95
Email: hacki@bartlgmbh.com
Product Name: "Teufelsschlingen", Product No's: 3539, 3535 and 3544
Kubi-Games, P.O. Box 1460, D-35058 Frankenberg, Germany
Phone: +49-6451-1863 Fax: +49-6451-24543 Email: info@kubi-games.de
Product Name: "Knopflochstab"
Sanders Mfg. Company, P.O. Box 101601, Nashville, TN 37224-1601, USA
Phone: +1-615-254-6611
Product Name: "Magic Hotlite Pencil", Product No: 33A

Sources for Treiterballen, Teaser Balls

Puzzle World, Teaser Ball

Last Update: 2001-03-27

Torsten Sillke

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