Early Hubley Telephone Trucks

Friday, May 25, 2013

Early Hubley Telephone Trucks

   I thought for today, that I'd do a combination item presentation along with some minor research. The question here is: how do you know what the item actually came with so long ago?  Of course, since I try to present only 1 auctioneer's or collector's set of photos, I limit myself, so the final conclusions might not be correct.

   For those who  don't know, Hubley was a major producer of cast iron toys. The company started in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (USA) in 1892. They produced all kinds of beautiful cast iron toys, as well as doorstops and a few other things.  Eventually, the cost of cast iron toys, both in materials and shipping costs, caused all of the major producers to adapt and change to the less-costly pressed steel or tin toys.

  Alexander Graham Bell , a Canadian invented the telephone,and as they say "the rest is history". Of course, before that the telegraph was the key way of communicating over long distances. Within a few decades, the telephone criss-crossed the USA, and there were phone lines all over the place.

Please Click to be redirected to Bertoia's fine website

   As it turns out, I was able to find some information about the early Hubley telephone trucks from O'Brian's "Collecting  Toys", 12th edition, by Karen O'Brien (p.674). On that page, the book has a composite photo showing 6 different sizes of trucks.  There are 4 rounded roof models like the ones immediately below. These came in 3", 3 3/4" , 5 1/4", 8" or .076M, .095M,   .134M, and .203M. The flat-roofed models came in 2 sizes -  8 1/4" and 9" or .210M and .228M.

  If you look at auction listings from different auctioneers, you may find that the size of the same toy may vary. It's possible that  when someone was measuring the toy, the accessory was also included in the length.  If you look at the  10th and 11th dimensions, they deviate form those in the photo by O'Brian's. I have a feeling, that the accessory pole holder was included in the length!

Conclusions:

If you look at the photographs that I presented today, you'll probably come up with the same conclusions I did below:

1. There were 5 sizes of models made- I don't have a photo of the 3"  (.076M) model

2. I don't yet have the dates for when the cast iron design changed. However you can clearly see how there are 2 different roof designs - the curved and the flat roof. The flat roof has 4 sides to it, that I assume would have been to stand on or to place items on top.

3. Models also came in 2 different colours - red and the traditional olive green . The red models were for the Ohio telephone company. Notice also, that I has some trouble getting all of the olive green colours to match  up!

4. Only the largest-sized model came with accessories. These includes the auger and its large support (red), the pole holder on wheels (which has a  tin strap to hold the pole), a red boom,  2 ladders,  a  shovel, and a scoop-ended shovel head.

In 1 of the photo sets (#7) you can also see other tools such as a  rake, an ax, and a pick that are nickel-plated. I don't think Hubley had these tools for their telephone trucks, and may not have even made these toys. I know that Arcade made these types of small tools though.

5. The flat-roofed trucks have what appears to be a water barrel on the passenger side of the cab.

6. The larger-sized toys are pull-toys. They have a string and a ball for pulling the toy along a road or outdoor play area.

As I was looking through Bertoia's past auction items, I came across the above images. That particular truck is a Kenton telephone truck, which I have never seen until  today.

Hubley continues to make their Telephone trucks later (1940's and later), but they were made from pressed steel. By then, the cast iron toys were no longer made, and would be come collector's items in the future!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey