The Complete Handbook of See Saws

Chapter 1: Understanding See Saws

The See Saw as a Precision Instrument

A see saw is a first-class lever with a fulcrum positioned between the load and the effort. In practice, that means two seats of roughly equal mass are connected by a rigid beam, and the beam pivots on a bearing or bushing mounted to a fixed frame. The rider's job is simple: push off the ground, rise, and then descend while the rider on the opposite end does the same. The engineering job is considerably more complex. The beam must be stiff enough to transfer force without flexing, the fulcrum must rotate with minimal friction but without play, and the entire assembly must survive decades of outdoor exposure, vandalism, and the unpredictable forces generated by children who treat the equipment as a trampoline.

You will often hear the terms 'teeter-totter' and 'seesaw' used interchangeably. In professional procurement documents and safety standards, 'see saw' is the standard phrasing, though ASTM F1148 refers to the equipment class as 'seesaws' when discussing playground equipment for home use. For the purposes of this handbook, a see saw is a fixed, fulcrum-based rocking apparatus intended for at least two users. That definition excludes spring-mounted rockers, which have no rigid beam and no opposing user, and it excludes balance beams, which have no pivot at all. If you are specifying equipment for a commercial playground, this distinction matters because the applicable safety standards and impact attenuation requirements differ.

How a See Saw Actually Works