ClipArt ETC
"Get a circular piece of tin, three inches or more in diameter, and cut it round the edges in the form of a star. Bore two holes through it about an inch and a half apart; pass the two ends of a string through the holes; tie them, and the toy is complete. When the tin star cannot be procured, a big button will serve the purpose admirably. Hold an end of the double string in each hand, as seen in the illustration, and spin the tin star, or 'whizzer' as we shall call it, until the string is twisted as far as it will bear. Now separate the hands, and the whizzer will revolve rapidly, and, when the hands are stretched wide, will come to rest as shown in the illustration. But if, instead of allowing the hands to reach their fullest extent and to remain there, they are brought gradually together again, the cutter will revolve in the opposite direction, and wind itself up again. Thus it may be made to wind and unwind itself as long as the player likes."— Thomas Sheppard Meek

Whizzer

"Get a circular piece of tin, three inches or more in diameter, and cut it round the edges in the form…