Did you ever wonder how they frist came up with jigsaw puzzles?
By TriciaW
@TriciaW (2441)
United States
April 15, 2008 12:06pm CST
Well today I got to thinking about it.. I thought were a bunch of people sitting around and said hey lets rip up this paper and put it back together for the fun of it? Well the fact is that it was first done in 1760 by John Spilsbury he was a London engraver and mapmaker. One day he a map on a sheet of hardwood and cut around the borders of the countries using a marquetry saw. It was a product used for educational pastimes designed as an aid in teaching British children their geography. Now wasn't that clever of John Spilsbury? See you learn something everyday. I still like my idea of how it might have gotten started better*L*
3 people like this
8 responses
@tinkerick (1257)
• United States
15 Apr 08
Thanks for the tidbit of history. Another index card in the file of UBI (Usable Bits of Information). - I'm full of em! 
1 person likes this
@ruby222 (4847)
•
17 Apr 08
Hi Tricia...thanks for the information...ive done some really good jigsaws...the ones I have enjoyed doing the best have always been the old ones...I seem to have been able to pick up at the charity shops....One in particular was brilliant..it was a circular one...depicting hero`s and heroines throughout the ages...it took hours to do though!!
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I never really ever thought about how they came up with jigsaw puzzles. I am not a big puzzle person, but I do have family and friends who love them.
My sons girlfriend loves to do them. I just said the other day if they are still dating at Christmas I am going to get a picture of them made into a puzzle and give it to her.
@reene0225 (351)
• United States
16 Apr 08
Probably because someone got bored doing normal puzzles. lol I think that may be how jigsaw puzzles got started. It does make a lot of sense. We used to use similar puzzles in school to learn US geography.
@bjcyrix (6901)
• Philippines
15 Apr 08
(Taking it way back in time...)
A group of cavemen were carving pictures on a loose slab of stone to record the daily activities when a group of playing cave-children were running really fast that they knocked off the slab of stone that it shattered to pieces. The pictures in the stone were very important to the cavemen(probably a picture of how many herds of T-Rex's are in their area or something) that they felt compelled to piece it back together. The cave-children became so excited watching the men put back all the pieces that they decided to do it for fun. (Just smashing the stones is fun already!)
Well, that's my version of it and I'm sure there are lots of versions from others coming soon.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
15 Apr 08
Hmm. I never really thought about it. I really like puzzles but we don't have a place to put them together right now.
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
15 Apr 08
LOL -- yes I have wondered before. Thanks for shedding light on this perplexing question.
If it were me who invented it, it would have probably been me ripping something up in the heat of the moment and regretting it, thus putting it back together later! LOL
