Monday, October 16, 2017
7 Celcius ( 43 Fahrenheit)
7 Celcius ( 43 Fahrenheit)
An Easier Cast Iron
Toy to Identify
Today, I received an inquiry asking if I could identify 2 small cast iron toys. I answered Mr. Chuck from North Carolina, and of course, asked if I could have his permission to post his fine photos. I was "rusty" since I haven't been posting much lately, but decided to search out for an answer. The toy looked American and I've only ever found 1 Swedish manufacturer of cast iron toys. The American manufacturers were A.C.Williams, Arcade, Champion, Hubley, Kenton, Kilgore, and Vindex.
Vindex made some of the finest cast iron toys, but there were never any cars made. They manufactured mostly farm machinery. The 2 cars that Chuck sent, appeared to be from the late 1920's or early 1930's, and that eliminated Kenton. Hubley didn't make that cars with the thick gauge wire that help the top and bottom pieces together, so I was left with 4 manufacturers.
The thick wiring on the underneath part of the car was a patented invention.
It help the top and bottom parts of the toy together.
These patented feature eliminated the Champion company.
The size of these 2 cars are very small for cast iron toys. Also, the rubber tires are huge in proportion to the car body. This eliminated the A.C.Williams and the Arcade companies.
Although I was "rusty", a term meaning not having worked much, I decided
to select the Kilgore company and do a search. I entered search for
"Kilgore take apart cast iron toys",
and came up with several results.
The photo below is from GrandOldToys.
Grand Old Toys has allowed me to use their fine photos for writing my blog. It's a very reputable company that sells a lot of antique toys, and you might want to have a look there.
I haven't added any other photos because
I didn't send letters to ask for permission. However, the links below will
allow you to see that results that I found.
I was fortunate to come up with 3 searches that I was able to find photos of. When one does a search, the results (I use Google), allow you to change from addresses to "images". This allowed me to find examples of cast iron toys with large balloon tires, and the patented heavy gauge wiring connecting the top and bottom of the toys.
I was "very lucky" today to be able to find results for Chuck.
It's not always so easy to find answers to people's questions, and that is why I add post to see if anyone of my readers can help in finding the answers. Most of the time, nobody answers my "plea" for help.
So that's it for this very cold Autumn day. I've been spoiled by the unusual warm weather that we've had for September and so far in October, but I know that one day, I will awaken to snow. So today, I took in all of our lawn furniture, and tomorrow, I will change my summer tires for winter ones. It's early fir winter tires, but my brother Michael is coming into Montreal at the end of October, and wants to go to Quebec City.
I better bring my snow shovel by then. You never know what weather you'll have in Quebec City!
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