Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/197412
Wonder Boy Paul Phelps designs magic — no batteries needed. By Jon Lee Cope Photos by Ted Tarquinio I n 1934, during the Great Depression, sevenyear-old Paul Phelps (that makes him 86 now for those of you who are counting) was given a toy by his father. Te toy was handmade, a simple cog using a spool, a rubber band and a matchstick. When wound, the toy would propel itself across the foor, powered by its own small engine. Curious and delighted, Phelps asked his father to teach him the making of this wonder, called a Spool Tractor. "It was amazing to me," Phelps says. "Like everybody, I was a poor kid, and to have a toy was unheard of at the time. If you had a nickel, you were going to spend it on food, but I could play with that toy all day long." A Louisville native, his life is a history lesson. Te Depression, World War II, Korea, a successful marriage, three children, fve grandchildren and a career as an industrial engineer that taught him the value of "precision." When he retired in 1986, Phelps returned to that simple cog. "I have always been a curious man," he says, "and I asked myself, 'What could I make it do?' "I wanted to make things that had no need for batteries, to rely on weights and balance, cranks and gravity, precision and measurement," he says. "Tere is no guesswork. If you are precise, it is unlimited in what you can do when you put your mind to it. I have made two or three hundred diferent models, all variations on the same theme, but it is the form of the toy, what it does, that dictates its whimsy." 11.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 143