This article comes from a post on the YoYoExpert forums in reply to a question about why O-rings were abandoned for use in yo-yo response. André drops a fair bit of lore here that is an extremely interesting read, and a fantastic look into yo-yo history
So response in yo-yos was largely starburst / raised plastic until Duncan released the Freehand yo-yo with the rubber pads. At this point in time yo-yos were still responsive though – we used to have the lube the bearing to keep them responsive but the pads served the purpose of keeping them responsive while also allowing the bearing to not need thick lube (Pro-Yo also had cork response pads before this). An interesting side effect of the duncan response pads though specifically was as the rubber wore off on them they were cloth underneath and it left you MUCH less response but turned out in a good way – it was still ‘just enough’ if you were good enough… and as you can see with Yuuki Spencer in his winning routine it actually kind of helped create the bind in my mind by default because as they wore out and as spin RPM got lower binding was just required. (But this was also the case with Renegades as the starburst wore out or even YoYoJam SpinFaktor’s as the lube on the bearing wore out).
Then in 2002 YoYoJam released its first yo-yo with o-ring response called the Matrixx. I was actually one of the first people to ever try the prototype with the o-ring (I think the only other person who had seen or tried it around my time was our very own @yoyodoc). Dale brought it with him in October 2002 to an event we did at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History called the Toy Invention Festival. Dale had been trying to find something better than starburst response since it was often too grabby and he didn’t like how the Duncan response pads would wear out over time. He filed a patent for o-ring response at this point – but the o-ring groove was then born!
They continued to defend this patent for awhile and generally speaking o-ring response was a win for YoYoJam. The first double o-ring yo-yo to release was actually also the @yoyodoc Mini Motrixx! Then later that same year in 2003 Johnnie DelValle used a double o-ring Hitman to win the World Yo-Yo Contest with a super wide gap, shims, and a konkave bearing which proved to usher in the future of competition yo-yo setups as we know it today in terms of completely unresponsive as you can get.
People started recessing friction stickers into Duncan yo-yos grooving out the space to help make them unresponsive with better response. So the idea of rubber being recessed into yo-yos just made sense. Then enter silicone!
I recently tracked this back with a couple yo-yo friends because I had been interested myself in the origin of silicone in yo-yos. Turns out the first person to try it was Tomonari Ishiguru at the end of 2003:
Then from there we believe it was some of the Italian yoyo makers who actually tried implementing ‘flowable’ silicone into yo-yos even before @Carlo_Oxy
Once flowable silicone was released I remember trying it but also being completely happy with my setup in YoYoJam yo-yos without it for a long time… However over time as we all got better at freestyle and no one else could use rubber o-rings by default people were both forced to use silicone and also found it offered improvements.
Silicone provides much stronger binds which also off a throw gives much more power on the throw even with a really wide gap. The flat aspect of the silicone too combined with the grip of the silicone made it a better alternative (YoYoJam’s patent at this time after many years of legal patent back and forth was also thrown out because old pictures of a Duncan prototype with o-ring response eventually surfaced from someone).
Then in 2006 the Peak released with flowable silicone by default by @caribouchris and in my mind really made it the ‘standard’ and peaked peoples interests…This was also eventually further popularized by @DocPop with his tutorial on the BOLT.
Then came Kentaro Kimura with the K-Pad at the early stages of Turning Point and YoYoFactory and the 888. YoYoFactory with the release of the G5 & more so the 888 really set kind of a new standard in high end metal design at this time kind of achieving perfection in all aspects of spin quality, standard response, and of course the introduction of hubstacks. It kind of brought attention to silicone response rings and also made it the ‘standard’ (Kentaro’s K-Pads specifically).
At this point in time YoYoJam trying to compete with the incredible success of the 888 released the Axiom and actually lasercut their own version of silicone rings similar to today. The depth of the pad at this point was changed since a classic old rubber o-ring required more depth – so YoYoJam also acknowledged the new standard and future models incorporated the “Slim Pad” Size 19mm OD popularized by the K-Pad (of note it clearly matches the dimensions of the o-ring YoYoJam first used just different depth to the groove).
Sorry that was a lot – but I guess I was waiting for someone to ask me about that one! 