Old Antique Toys: Some of George Carette's Electric Trolleys

Friday, April 18, 2014
(Cloudy and warm)

Some of Geroge Carette's

Electric Trolleys

Two days ago, I posted about some of the nice trolleys that will be coming up for auction at Bertoia Auctions (Vineland, NewJersey, USA). As the warmer seasons approach, the auction houses list more and more auctions. Everyone likes to get out in the warmer times, especially antique toy collectors. I had posted about American Trolleys, but I saw several of Georges Carette - the famous German toy manufacturer in the early 20th century. I knew I would add a post about George Carette's trolleys, because I would be able to add some pages from his original catalogue that was reproduced in 1979 by New Cavendish Books.

Please click here to visit the fine website of Bertoia Auctions

Please click here to visit the interesting website of New Cavendish Books

It's hard to find George Carette toys on the Net, especially in North America. So when they show up, I like to write about them. If you ever get a chance to look or buy the Carette 1979 catalogue, look at it or buy it. It's an encyclopedia of information of a once fantastic toy company.

What is interesting with this very newly-introduced toys (at the time) was that electricity on a commercially large scale had only begun a decade or so earlier, thanks to the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison. You can imagine how people must have felt to have electricity, when just

a "moment in time" before, they were using candles made from wax and whale oil!

What's interesting about these early electric toys is that the power came from above on an elevated electrical system.

I only selected 10 pages from the approximate 300 page reproduction of New Cavendish Books.

These trolleys or trams certainly are colourful. What's also interesting is that these electric trollies would have replaced the previous horse drawn versions.

You can see the actual elevated [poles that suspended the electrical wiring and current that would propel the trolleys.

Not all of the trolleys would have elevated mast to conduct electrify from the overhead wires to the motors of the trolley. In this case, the engine would pulse the trolleys.

The page below illustrates the transformers, then called "commutators" that would reduce the household power to a manageable and save power level for children. These commutators would allow the train and trolleys to go either frontwards or backwards.

As an aside, I don;t know if any of you gave elver seen old wiring in a house. It would be cloth covered,and periodically there would be porcelain attachments in the wood house construction to continue the electrical current all over the house. Also, there would be the older fuses that would have a thin piece of metal encased inside a piece of see-through glass. This fuse would then screw into a socket where the master fuse box was. Too much power would cause the piece of thin metal to melt, and cut the electricity. This invention saved the wiring from overheating and causing a fire. Today, recent and antique fuses are collectibles.

Many of the trolley and train accessories were magnificent pieces. What's even more interesting was the fact that some were hand painted, but most were hand assembled!