quincunx board

Tool used quality control training to demonstrate creation of frequency distributions. It consists of a rectangular box with an upper chamber containing a large number of beads which are fed into a triangular hopper through a horizontal sliding bar. Beads tumble over several rows of pins which force the bead to go either left or right. After a random journey, beads drop into several vertical slots to create a frequency distribution. Invented by the UK scientist Francis Galton in 1890s.