Thursday, August 14, 2014

Very Rare Dayton Friction "Dog's Life" Toy

Sunday, August 17, 2014
           Cloud and more rain


Very Rare Dayton Friction 
"Dog's Life" Toy

    The Dayton toy is named generally for a toy that was production in Dayton, Ohio (USA). As it turns out,there were many companies that began there and produced a similar toy called a "friction" toy. A friction toy is one that has what is called a "friction wheel". As you move the wheel of the toy on a flat surface, it builds up rotation. The more you continue to move the wheel on the ground, the faster the wheel turns. Eventually, you release the toy and the built-up energy is transferred from the rotating flywheel to the toy's wheels,and the toy moves by itself. The flywheel toy design seems to been quite common  in Dayton, and these toys were manufactured for production all across America. Eventually, when the "Great Depression" of the late 1920's and early 1930's arose, many of the companies closed down.

   Most of the friction toys were similar in nature to the other types of toys and manufacturers. That's to say, that you'd see a lot of cars and trucks. However, while I was searching out Bertoia Auctions upcoming listings for their September 19-20, 2014 auction, I came across today's interesting and unique toy. If you're my age (65) or a bit younger, you'd  immediately recognize the feline (cat) character as "Felix the Cat". In a Wikipedia article, the origin of this famous cat remains somewhat in dispute. Pat Sullivan (Australian), the owner of the Felix character claimed that  he was the creator, but Otto Messmer (American), has been credited similarly as the creator.*

Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_the_Cat



This is certainly a most interesting and entertaining toy,and I'll be watching to see just how well this item receives at auction. I did a search to see if I could find other toys exactly like this but could not. 
Of course, being quite stubborn, I'll be searching again. However, if anyone out there has a toy like this ,by all means send me the photos, and I'll add you to this post.

Tnaks for dropping by,
and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com


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