
A rare maple version of the Tom Kuhn Diamond Special.
In 1979, Tom Kuhn created the Big Yo, a working 256-pound scaled-up version of the No Jive 3-in-1. This earned him a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest yo-yo.
In 1984, Tom taught astronaut David Griggs how to yo-yo for NASA's "Toys in Space" experiment (though Griggs had to use a Duncan Imperial since Kuhn's wood yo-yos of the time didn't meet NASA's requirements for fire safety) and in 1992, another astronaut, Jeffrey Hoffman, played with an aluminum SB-2 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (video) .
In 1999, Tom introduced his patented Turbo Discs (a linen response pad system), and began including it with all of his ball bearing yo-yos (with the exception of the SB-4).
However, in recent years, with the yo-yo industry moving away from fixed axle yo-yos to unresponsive ball bearing models, Dr. Kuhn's product line is experiencing a downturn.
Yo-yos Produced
Fixed Axle
- advertising and souvenir yo-yos
- Big Yo (one of a kind)*
- Champion
- DDS Celebrating 25 Years
- DDS Brush & YO Daily Celebrating 35 Years
- Diamond Special
- Genuine Up & Down Beginners
- Magda 95er Yo
- 1984 Olympics
- No Jive 3-in-1, which was available with many different designs:
- No Jive Junior
- No Jive Maple Leaf
- No Jive Woody
- Original
- Pocket Rocket (wood)
- Silver Bullet
- World on a String
*=Not to be confused for the YoYoJam Big Yo
Ball Bearing Axle
- Jive
- Pocket Rocket (aluminum)
- Recreational Device 1
- Recreational Device 2
- Redline
- Roller Woody
- Silver Bullet 2
- Silver Bullet 3 (limited production)
- SB-4 (produced in collaboration with CYYC)
- Sleep Machine
- TK60
- TK Mini B
- Tom Cat
- Fat Cat