The Hubley Elgin Street Sweeper

Sunday, November 15, 2015
      Partly cloudy and seasonally cold

The Hubley Elgin Street Sweeper

Please click here to visit this outstanding American toy auctioneer

   Yesterday, I was browsing, when  I came across the Hubley Elgin Sweeper.  It's part of the fall/winter seasonal auction just before Christmas (November 13-15, 2015). I've presented this fine toy before, but this time the details and size of the photo merited another presentation. It's a cast iron toy, but its' complexity of assembly makes it all the more interesting. When American roads in the city became "more civilized" (is that proper writing?) and paved, the streets had to be cleaned. Obviously the human street sweeper would become outdated as the amount of street mileage increased exponentially with the size of the city and its' population. So naturally, the Elgin company invented their strew sweeper to replace a good number of people! And, the sweeper came with headlights, so that the machine could operate at night. Times obviously have changed, because here in Montreal, I've never seen one operate in my municipality!

Hubley Street Sweeper 

"Cast iron, one of the most intricate castings for a construction toy, classic depiction of a street sweeper, design has not changed much even today nickel parts, rubber tires, seated figure. Tires

distressed and broken, replaced driver, new seat screw, overall (VG COndition).

Length:  8"   203 mm "

Production Period:  1925-1940

By the way, the Elgin Company actually exists in Elgin, Illinois (USA).

Please click here to visit the Elgin Street Sweeper Company

You're probably wondering what the woven rope and that tip at the end of the rope is.

It's the hose that would be attached to a fire hydrant to "tank up"

 the water reservoir inside the vehicle. The black horizontal piece in between the front wheels is the water sprayer. It has 6 small eyelets for water to spray in front of the machine (THe actual toy does not load water).

As Bertoia Acutions wrote, this toy was a very intricate casting. Notice all of the small screws and loins (for the sweeper heads) that were used to produce the toy.

My particular liking is for the nickel-plated driver and steering whee and the rear engine radiator.

For a toy to have be made back then, the cost is certainly merited to the final result.

I'm going to write the Elgin Company  and see if they can send me a few old sweeper photos from their catalogues or history.

I donl;t have the price of the toy when it was originally sold, but it must have been a lot more expensive than the normal cast iron toys. There are lots of parts, parts to be assembled, the 2 parts that are nickel-plated, and the used of 4 different paint colours (grey, silver, gold, and black).

I hoped you enjoyed this small presentation today,

and I'll keep everyone informed when and if the Elgin Sweeper Company sends me some photos.

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

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