Chinese finger trap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Chinese finger trap (also known as Chinese finger prison, Chinese finger cuffs, Chinese handcuffs, and Mexican handcuffs) is a gag toy used to play a practical joke on children and unsuspecting adults. The finger trap is a simple puzzle that traps the victim's fingers in both ends of a small, woven bamboo cylinder.
There is nothing special about the material. The tightening is simply normal reactions of braids, usually the common biaxial braid. By pulling the braid, you are attempting to lengthen it. The material to lengthen is 'stolen' from material formerly used to keep it wide. Total surface area remains constant, so the more you pull the more the diameter shrinks (i.e. tightening). The same effect is used in specialized textile manufacturing, and even by fly-fishers [1].
The initial reaction by the person wearing the finger trap is to remove the fingers outward, but this only tightens the trap, making escape difficult. The solution to escaping the trap is to push the ends inward toward the middle, which enlarges the openings and frees the fingers, before slowly twisting them out of the trap so as not to trigger the tightening reflex again.
Another form of escape is to push one's fingers together and then grab the ends of the trap with one's middle fingers and thumbs. The fingers can then easily be pulled out.
The Chinese finger trap is a commonly-used metaphor for overcoming a problem by not trying too hard to solve it.
[edit] Media Appearances
- In the "Unfortunate Cookie" episode of Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter and Dee Dee get stuck to each other because of a finger trap they found in a fortune cookie, and to have it removed, are sent on a quest by the maker of the trap (in actuality, just his errands).
- Finger traps also make an appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Last Outpost". Data is the victim of the prank at first, but the Enterprise crew eventually beams a box of the toys over to a belligerent Ferengi vessel as "thanks" for their aggression.
- In the Homer's Triple Bypass episode of The Simpsons, Dr. Nick Riviera offers a "free chinese finger trap" for patients who come in for brain surgery.
- A cut-away scene from Family Guy shows Peter and Cleveland with their penises trapped inside the device.
- In the Marsupilami cartoon episode "Steamboat Mars" a strange big-eared bird is held captive with a pair of finger traps on his wings and toes.
- In the movie Chasing Amy the term "finger cuffs" was used jokingly to describe a sexual act.
- In the This Little Wiggy episode of The Simpsons, Ralph Wiggum goes to The Simpsons house with a finger trap attached to his tongue.
- Chinese finger trap appears in some games from Steve Jackson Games such as SPANC and GreedQuest
