The Inventors of the Electric Train

Wednesday, February 5, 2014
           (Cold, cloudy, with some snow)

The Inventors of the Electric Train

Carlisle & Finch - USA

   I was searching for new material, as I usually do, when I came across some very old train toy listings.  The manufacturer's name is Carlisle and Finch, and they were the inventors (I'll have to check this) and producers of the first toy electric train This occurred at the end of the 19th century! The company is still in business, and also made and still make marine nautical searchlights. These items scan also be found when searching out antiques for sale.

  I'm going to add a more thorough introduction later in the week, but for now I wanted to share with everyone the grey photos and of course the toys from Bertoia Auctions.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions great website

These elevated supports are my favourite discovery. I can just imagine setting up a room with these and the ttains, and being a young child. Imagine lying low to the floor and looking up at these trains. This reminds me of the old elevated spans across rivers  that you always see in old western movies. They also remind me of the ancient Roman viaducts that still stand in some European countries.

What also fascinates me is that these are true antique toys, that at the time of their production were in fact replicas of actual trains of the time. Nowadays, you can still purchase new and pre-1960 toy trains that were modelled after the original trains of the 19th century.

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

please feel free to e-mail me anytime at

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Chrysler Airflow Cast Iron Toys

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Chrysler Airflow Cast Iron Toys

    I've written about this fabulous toy before, but only presented my own limited range of photos for this  car. The Chrysler Airflow was a beautiful car manufactured from 1934-1937. Sadly, the car wasn't the success that Chrysler would have liked, and the car was discontinued. When I first wrote about the toy, I wrote mostly about a few Hubley cars that I had purchased and resold. The Hubley Airflow is a beautiful take-apart toy. You remove the rear spare tire first. This then allows you to remove the clear-metal chassis (undercarriage) from the top coloured part.

    Thanks to the many people and auction houses that allow me to use their photos with their permissions, I am able to certainly expand the breadth of images than when I was buying on E-Bay.

http://www.bertoiaauctions.com

(please click on the above address to be redirected to the Bertoia Auction site)

    From my point-of-view the CHrysler Airflow was certainly an eye-catcher. The front grill, the triple-pieced bumper, the side vents, the headlight paired with the lower set of (I assume) fog lights), the sleek design, and the spare tire in the rear are beautiful features. However, the public saw the car differently fromChrysler, and production stopped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%2734_airflow_rear_2.JPG

(please click on the above address to be redirected to the Wikipedia Chrysler Airflow article)

    I don't think Chrysler made all of the models that the toy manufacturers made, although I'll have to verify that. However, the toys from all of the different companies certainly are in my top 10 favourites list.  For myself, there's something about a heavy toy or piece of wood thats fascinating. It's that "feel" and sense of tactility that grabs you. I had that same feeling when I purchased a piece of ebony from an exotic wood importer. If you've never lifted a piece of ebony, you'd be very surprised at just how dense and heavy it weighs, and that's the same feeling that I get from those cast iron toys. Of course, their simple but elegant designs also attracts me to them.

   This is another one of my posts that I enjoyed writing. And when the spring comes,and the flea markets start up again, go out and see if you can find some of these wonderful Chrysler Airflows. You will definitely not be disappointed!

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

The Hubley Elgin Street Sweeper

Wednesday, January 16, 2013
             (Post # 2 of the Day)

The Hubley Elgin Street Sweeper

Background

     I've had my eyes on this toy since I first started to write my blog. It's a very detailed and intricate cast iron and nickel-plated toy. However, I had a personal reason for being more attached to it. Begin very observant, from my days as a photographer, I'd always notice details. One of the  "odd" things that I'd notice for years and years were thin and flat flexible metal pieces. They would be about 14" (L) x  1/8 (W) x 1/16" thick  or 355mm (L) x 4 mm (w) x 2 mm (thick). I could never figure out what they were. I though perhaps they were the flattened "ribs" from umbrellas. I even have a friend whom I asked because he's also very inquisitive and had a large company that makes metal racks for industry. He never could figure it out either. So I never was able to figure out what this piece of metal was.

    2 years ago, a street sweeper passed by me. I always thought that the brush bristles were made of plastic of some wood-based product. Suddenly, I got one of those "Eureka moments". I chased the street sweeper with my dog until the driver stopped at a parking sign, and lo and behold, my problem was finally solved. The metal flat rods were from the street sweeper brushes that would fall off due to breakage - imagine!

The Toy

     The Hubley Elgin Street Sweeper is a cast iron and nickel-plated toy that is realistically modelled after the typical sweeper of those times (1930's). It's nicely-painted, and today is highly-prized on the antique toy marketplace. It was a pull toy,  and children would pull it along the street. As it was pulled, the undercarriage rollers would rotate.

http://www.bertoiaauctions.com

(Please click on the above link to be redirected to Bertoia Auctions website)

    And there's a photo of a street sweeper thanks to The City of Omaha Nebraska, USA. And those wire "brushes" were the metal pieces that I used to see all of those years on the street - mystery solved!

   I decided to selected 4 different sets of photographs from Bertoia Auctions to show you the beautiful nature of this particular toy. By the way, that cord with the metal end, represents a hose that would be attached to a fire hydrant to refill the sweeper with water. The water was used to keep the dust levels low.

Thanks for dropping by, 

and have a great part of the day, wherever you are.

Stacey

Hubley Cast Iron Racer # 5

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Hubley Racer # 5

     Yesterday, I talked about one of my favourite toys - the Hubley Red Devil # 5 racer. However, this particular toy was 1 of many similarly made. The "Red Devil" # 5 was unique compared with the other # 5's. It had rubber-based tires mounted on spoked nickel-plated wheels, and had a red and unpainted nickel-plated combination. It also was 9 1/2" in length or 242 mm.

     The other similar models had different paint colours, metal wheel-tire combinations, and very little nickel-plating. In the example below, rubber tires were mounted on wooden wheels. Below are a series from Bertoia Auctions to illustrate how the variations of these wonderful toys appeared in the 1930's.

http://www.bertoiaauctions.com

(please click on the address above to be redirected to the Bertoia Auction site)

Notice the lightbulbs (operated by a size D battery) and the switch,

 just below and in front of the driver.

The Hubley cast Iron Red Devil # 5 Racer

And just one last comment. 

These toys were called "pull toys". The cord and wooden ball allowed for a 

child to pull the toy behind him as he/she walked on the dirt roads.

That's a wrap, as they say in the movie industry.
Have a great day, and thanks for dropping by.

Stacey

Celluloid Toys

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Celluloid Toys

    It's funny how you can be familiar with something yet not realize what is is made of.  Ping pong (table tennis) balls are made from celluloid. Aside form that, the only thing that I can remember being made of celluloid was perhaps my sister Brenda's dolls.

   Celluloid was invented  by Mr. Alexander Parkes in Birmingham England in 1855. The material that he invented was transparent, and hard but flexible. Sadly, Mr. Parkes had several bankruptcy failures, and and wasn't able to become wealthy through this marvellous invention of the time. Mr. John Wesley Hyatt acquired Mr. Parkes' invention, and with some experimentation was able to patent a method for covering billiard balls on April 6, 1869. Up to that point in time, billiard balls were made from ivory. The history of the further development and advancement of the material is very interesting, and I would suggest reading the article in Wikipedia, from which I used the written material. The material was considered the precursor to plastics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloid

(Please click on the above link to be redirected to Wikipedia)

http://bertoiaauctions.com

(PLease press on the above address to be redirected to a fine and outstanding website for toys)

The 2 toys above have transparent celluloid windshields

I'd  completely forgotten abou the Cartoon character Henry.

I used to read Henry and many other long-forgotten comic characters inthe newspaper.

I remember Al Capp's Li'l Abner, and my all-time favourite is Larson who created a myriad of "weird characters" and situations that kep me laughing every day. 

The combination of firmness with flexibility, and being able to dye the transparent material made celluloid an effective material for many things aside from toys.  The material was lasted for a long time before plastics overtook this material.

Thanks for visiting, 

and have a nice part of the day wherever you are, and also have a great start to the work week.

Stacey