By Michael Yolles

In 1982, Albert W. McCollough’s book The Complete Book of Buddy “L” Toyswas published. He began the Story of Buddy “L” as follows:

“There is something special about Buddy “L” Toys that is unmatched by any others, it is their unique appeal that has endeared them to children, parents, and collector’s for decades. Partly this is because they were the first heavy steel toys and the first to combine high quality, realistic operation, amazing durability, and innovative design in a line of playthings that offered limitless entertainment for their young owners. They could be ridden, pulled, loaded, unloaded; they could put out fires, or they could dig ditches, screen sand, carry rocks and mix actual concrete.”

Beyond all that, their appeal rests on something else, almost a personality. To be sure they bore a personal kind of name, Buddy “L”, a name that belonged to a real boy. They were conceived, manufactured and advertised by Buddy “L”‘s Daddy. He was a man who wanted better toys for his own son and who succeeded in making […]

By Christina Rubin

In 1877, Thomas Edison dreamed of creating a talking doll using his recent invention of the phonograph. But it took a fellow inventor, William W. Jacques, to develop a real working prototype for the dream to become a reality.

Excited by this new application of the phonograph, Jacques with his partner, Lowell Briggs co-founded the Edison Phonograph Toy Manufacturing Company in 1887. Edison would only agree to use his name for the doll in return for royalties and stock ownership. Before production even began, however, Edison took control of the company resulting in legal wrangling that would last for years.

In November 1888, the New York Evening Sun announced that Edison’s talking dolls had just been “perfected,” and that “nothing remains but to manufacture them in large quantities.” A commercially viable method of duplicating sound recordings had yet to be developed, so he hired women to make the recordings one at a time.

“There were two young ladies in the room… who were continually talking […]

By David Finn

These days almost any Z-list celebrity or sportsperson has a bobble-head dedicated to them but back in the 19th century this was not the case. Although a huge variety of nodding figures were made, maybe the finest were to be produced in the Thuringen town of Sonneberg in Germany. They were usually generic, caricature, and sometimes grotesque in form and design but only a few represented actual people who would be recognisable to the masses by their celebrity or notoriety. Let me introduce you to Mr. George Washington Lafayette Fox, probably a name that means little or nothing to you (apart from being a pretty impressive moniker!), but he was the person used as the subject of the Humpty Dumpty Bank such was his popularity at the time.

His life story is fascinating. He was born in 1825 in Cambridge Mass. into a family of mediocre rural actors and at the height of his popularity he was the highest paid entertainer in America. Although his parents enrolled him in an apprenticeship, as they wanted […]

By Martin A. Roenigk

Ever since discovering the Wolverine Zilotone several years ago, I have been fascinated by this ingenious musical toy of the Depression years. The toy combines the mechanical attributes of the early piano playing automatons with the convenience and variety of music provided by disc musical boxes. While not entirely successful, and neither the complexity of mechanical action nor the quality of music comes anywhere near that of its illustrious forebears, it is nevertheless a delightful toy.

The Zilotone was invented by Howard N. Barnum of Cleveland, Ohio. On October 7, 1930, he received US Patent No. 1,777,712 for his “musical toy”. The design itself was quite simple. The clown plays the Xylophone with two basic movements: 1) an up and down stroke of its arms to strike the various bars, and 2) a sideways motion of the entire body to select the proper note. In Barnum’s patent illustration, the various mechanical parts and their assembly are illustrated. In essence, a rod rides up a spiral track and […]

By Chris Rubin

This article is adapted from information provided by the Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania where the original automaton is displayed.

In 1928, a mechanical toy in several pieces and needing major repairs was donated to the Franklin Institute by the estate of John Penn Brock, a wealthy Philadelphian. The family claimed it was made by a French inventor named Maelzel and was believed to have been brought here from France in 1833 by P.T. Barnum. It is thought that Barnum purchased it directly from Maelzel. How the Brock family came to possess it is not known.

The automaton, known as the “Draughtsman-Writer,” was displayed at Barnum’s museum in Philadelphia along with his other “curiosities.” The museum subsequently burned down and it is believed that this is when the automaton was severely damaged. Charles Roberts, an employee at the Franklin Institute with no formal training as a mechanician, was able to get the machine to work. Although still not fully functional, the automaton came to life—it produced four amazing calligraphic […]

By Anne Cartwright

By the late 1800s, early 1900s, Buffalo NY was the 8th largest city in the United States. In 1900, it had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the US. As a major shipping, rail, lumber, steel, chemical, livestock, and grain center, thanks to its strategic location at the eastern end of Lake Erie, the western end of the Erie Canal, and “next door” to Niagara Falls, Buffalo had it all. The shipping industry flourished as Buffalo connected the West to the East. All the materials that passed through Buffalo to points east fed industries that developed in Buffalo and surrounding areas. Lumber harvested in Canada and the states around the Great Lakes was loaded on barges and towed to Buffalo.

Iron ore from Michigan’s upper peninsula, coal from Pennsylvania, and plenty of electrical energy from Niagara Falls made Buffalo one of the leading steel-producing sites in the US. Grain arriving from the West in the 1850s and through the 1950s made Buffalo the world’s largest grain port. (Think Cheerios and […]

By Anne Cartwright 

From 1882 to 1892, they produced cast iron still and mechanical banks based on patents held by Charles G. Shepard and Peter Adams, Jr. The latter always reassigned his rights to Walter J. Shepard. The Shepard Hardware Co, remained in business after 1892 when the mechanical bank business was sold to J. & E. Stevens Co., Cromwell CT.

All-Fair Toys & Games; 1926-1952
Harry O. Alderman and Elmer E. Fairchild were cofounders of the Alderman, Fairchild Company of Rochester NY in 1900. The company manufactured paper boxes and novelties. Elmer E. Fairchild held a number of patents related to the paper and novelty industry. When the market for paper boxes dropped, they switched their printing presses designed for color lithography over to the production of games and paper litho on wood toys. Board games and target games were being advertised and sold under the name All-Fair as early as 1922 (Auto Race Game). In 1926, All-Fair spun off as a separate company and moved to Churchville NY, some 59 miles east of Buffalo.