Parts of objects

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Something I never thought I had was the "preoccupation with parts of objects" that is listed in the diagnostic criteria for AS and autism. Then, I was for some reason thinking about it the other day, and I realized that when I was younger, I did.

My brother used to have some type of bed structure, I can't recall what the entire thing looked like, because I was focused on a small portion of it, which was the tiny vertical metal rods that had springs around them. When I was younger, I used to sit in front of the bed and spin the springs around very quickly so that they made a pleasing and interesting sound. My parents got upset with me because they thought I would wear out the springs playing with them, so they made me stop. Similarly, I used to play with the doorstoppers we had behind our bathroom doors, they were spring-like things sticking out of the wall with rubber tips.

I commonly hear people with AS say they do not have any preoccupation with parts of objects, and I thought the same way myself, until recently. Anyone else have similiar interests?

I do that thing with the doorstops too! I found someone who used to be like me!

This is weird . My house used to have those kind of doorstops too, and I would play with them for hours on end!

I'm not sure if I have a preoccupation with parts of objects. I don't have a clear idea what effects it might have, so I might or might not.

Mine seemed to center around taking things apart to see what was inside of them and trying to put them back together. I still do that. Often if it's not a computer it leads the object to the garbage can.

Me too. I used to love it when electrical things stopped working because it was an excuse to take them apart. Sometimes i was able to 'fix' things without actually knowing what I was doing just by taking them apart and putting them back together.

I'm still like that, I've recently completely dismantled my wife's laptop. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fix it.

I don't know if this counts as a part:

lights that blink in a gizmo, or
floresent light radiating on bottles?

I will stare and gaze and be mezzmorized.

Hmmm?
Ghosthunter

Well, I get fascinated by parts of cars really. I love SHINY hubcaps and those neon lights they attach under cars.

I don't really know if this would be considered "parts of objects" but I adore visually studying things up close, piece by piece, section by section. Not sure if that would fall under that category as I usually end up studying the whole thing anyways.

On the case of electronics, yes i do something similar, but with Computer Programs....

This may seem off topic but isn't!

Sophist said that staring at computer
parts and layouts is interesting. One of
my favorite keychains was the D-Card
of a Powerbook 145B/25mhz/8/80mb/
FD that tore holes in my pocket, yet
I liked it's intriquet design. Hmmmm?
Parts????

I used to fiddle with wires and batteries wehn I was about 7. I loved the way it made the light bulb work.

I often was tempted to smash up electrical stuff to see what was inside.

Alot of my toys were like this, too. We had these things called Happy Cubes, foam cubes that were like a 3-D puzzle. I loved them.

For some reason I was never into taking things apart. If I liked the way an object looked, I was too perfectionistic to try and ruin it by messing with it.

The wheels that the tape in video and audio tapes are wrapped around. In the 90s, I was obsessed with the way they look different and designed differently in different brands of tapes.

Also, the smell of video and audio tapes. EVERY brand has its own distinctive smell. When I smell the inside of the cases they come in as well as the tapes themselfs, I get looked at very wierdly.

As a child: ceramic insulators on power transmission towers, the wheels on Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars, spark plugs, the opening and closing flowers in pachinko machines, the flippers on pinball machines, the various missiles from my Dinky Toys, air horns, gas tanks, and external air filter housings on tractor trailer rigs.

I remember being especially interested in the ceramic insulators. Whenever I would be in the car, I would be scanning around looking for transmission towers. I once asked my father if he would get me a huge insulator for my birthday.

Also I had two pachinko machines that I would disassemble and rebuild repeatedly. Anything that was broken I would take apart. Not so much because I wanted to repair the item, but just to see all the inside parts.

As an adult: various parts of the female anatomy.

As a child my mom said I didn't have fascination with parts of an object per say, but the entire thing that the object was part of.

I could play with a toy for an incredible length of time with out getting bored with it.

A favorite past-time fascination was watching the film projector in class rewind the film when it was done playing. If it was at the end of the day or at recess time, I would delay going outside to watch the machine rewind film. If it was during class time, I would turn around in my chair and watch the machine rewind, and get yelled at by teacher in the process.

I would also tip my bike upside down and spin the wheels as fast as I could make it go. Just last week I caught myself spinning an empty cd spindle on a pen in my room.