What is the cord for?
September 19, 2013 8:09 PM   Subscribe

The keychain shown in this ebay listing has a loop of cord, fixed in place to the steel semi-circle. The "trolley" part of the keychain slides freely up and down the cord, which passes through two separate holes in either end of the flat trolley piece. Is there any practical use for this, or is it just for fun?

There are no other moving parts or latches or anything. I keep thinking there's some trick to "fix" the trolley in place in order to make a certain-sized loop, but I can't fathom how you would do that or why.

I feel like I have been outsmarted by a Disneyland souvenir. Please advise.
posted by K and S to Grab Bag (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
The trick is a knot.
posted by andytuba at 8:23 PM on September 19, 2013


Maybe the loop is big enough to fit around your wrist.
posted by Madamina at 8:25 PM on September 19, 2013


Response by poster: The cord is short and thick enough where I can just tie a knot in it and have very little play left over; I can't figure out what the point of that would be.

The loop is too small to fit around my wrist; it would fit around a child's, but with no way to tighten it it would just fall off again.
posted by K and S at 9:04 PM on September 19, 2013


Best answer: I think the black cord is supposed to be indicative of trolley/tram tracks. Which, unlike train tracks, (usually) lack the wooden planks, and are generally just two parallel lines. I don't think the cord is meant to loop anything. You're just supposed to slide the tram through the cord and go: *tram noise*

That's my take on it, anyway. It's for fun.
posted by Dimes at 9:47 PM on September 19, 2013 [10 favorites]


Taken from another direction, I searched pics of other Disney key chains.
But this is the only one found with the cord loop.
So, yeah, the cord is probably there to look like rails...purely decorative.
posted by artdrectr at 12:37 AM on September 20, 2013


Will the loop fit over a doorknob? Any other kind of knob? Depending on the amount of friction in the cord/charm interaction, the charm might make the look more secure over a knob or other hanging hardware. I doubt it's designed that way, but it could be handy.
posted by amtho at 3:16 AM on September 20, 2013


Maybe it's just bad design
posted by cubby at 7:25 AM on September 20, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Yeah, it's a trolley. Trolleys go back and forth on parallel tracks. It's for trolley-based fun times.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:30 AM on September 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


I immediately thought trolley tracks as well when I saw it.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:51 AM on September 20, 2013


Response by poster: I spent some time messing around with the cords -- I was thinking of, like, when you have the cords that pull up venetian blinds and if you pull them to one side the blinds stay up and if you pull them to the other side the blinds fall down.

But I couldn't make anything exciting happen. I think, unfortunately, that the majority of you are correct -- it's just for fun. I still find it somewhat vexing, but I am largely mollified.
posted by K and S at 1:31 AM on September 21, 2013


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