I had this toy, but I have to say, this was a dangerous one. You could easily hit yourself in the face or lose your grip and they would fly and hit someone else! I guess the stopped making them. The two balls seemed to be as hard as the kind they used in pool!

We used to call them Click-Clacks. I can't tell you the size of the bruises I had on my arm from these things.





Cat

I can imagine. Not something for kids

We used to make them in shop class at school.  One of the guys' dad would get these approx.  2 inch steel balls that were supposed to be reject ball bearings.  What they would have fit I have no idea.  we would grind through the hard outter shell so we could drill them.  They made us stop when one of the balls shattered when the clacker was being tested and pieces took out a window in the shop.  w

Oh man, the bruises on my arm from these things!!

I know there were different versions of these toys, some had a ring that went around your finger and some (like the one I had) had a plastic handle.  I've also read that the original were made out of glass and were pulled from the shelves when some children were injured when the ball shattered.

Mine were plastic and were neon orange and green.

As far as I can recall the originals ones had the plastic ring and the "clackers" (in local terminology) hung on string.  I'm not sure that they were ever made of glass, but they certainly did shatter sometimes causing them to be withdrawn.

The 'cover version' had a plastic handle and the clackers hung down on plastic bits which made them less likely to give you bruises because they could go in unexpected directions.  I guess they must have changed the plastic.

edited to add pictures

from where i am, we also called them click-clacks.  here's part of an article i found:

It's a shame that the very thing that makes a toy attractive is the one thing you cant advertise: the danger factor. If the makers of lawn darts had been allowed to write on the packaging, The toy that could kill you if you use it wrong! then nearly every kid in the world would be begging for a set. So it was with the simple, seemingly harmless 70s toy called Click Clacks (or, depending on where you grew up, Knockers, Knocker Bockers, Clackers, Ka-Bangers, Knicker Knackers, etc.). Had they worked only as the toymakers intendedas a noisy little twist on paddleball gamesthen Click Clacks might now be collecting dust in the Hall of Forgotten Toys. But no, these little spheres had a grander destiny: the much cooler Hall of Dangerous Toys.

for the rest of this oh-so-interesting article, you can go to: 

http://www.allthingsanimated.com/ata/Toys/details.asp?cartoon_id=279&qtitle=Click%20Clacks%20/%20Clackers%20/%20Kerbangers&index=

for those of you who are missing your click-clacks, worry no more!  there is an equally dangerous toy out now called astro-jax!!