It was certainly a different idea. Take a wheel, drill a bunch of holes around the whole wheel and then stick a bunch of sticks into the wheel. Yes, it was different all right. But would it sell? Well, if you know anything about Tinkertoys you already know the answer to that. But, if not, then you might want to read a brief history of one of the most famous toys ever made.
Tinker Toys was the brain child of Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit. These guys met while on a train going to work in Chicago. Talk about your chance encounter. Charles was a stone mason and Robert was a trader. They both hated their jobs. It was this one thing that they had in common that brought them together. All they needed was some inspiration.
The inspiration came to Pajeau when he was watching some young children play with regular pencils and spools of thread. He watched as they stuck the pencils into the spools and then found other items around the house to mix in with them. He noticed how they could spend hours taking apart and putting together the same parts over and over. So Pajeau decided and Petit agreed, to put together a construction set made simply out of sticks and spools, just like the thread and pencils that the kids were using.
Tinker Toys were made.
The design was simple. Charles took a spool, drilled eight holes around it and one in the center that would be for the purpose of making it a cornerstone piece. The design was based on the Pythagorean Principal of the progressive right triangle. As a stone mason, Charles knew these things and ultimately helped him in the construction of the toy itself.
Well, these two new toymakers knew that they had a hit on their hands. They decided to start their own toy company which they named "The Toy Tinkers". They named it as such because basically what they did was tinker with things until they came up with what they were looking for. Since the toy they made inspired kids to do the same thing, they named their first toy "The Tinkertoy".
Unfortunately, they didn't find a lot of people who were interested in their new toy, mostly because there were so many toys already out on the market. So in an effort to attract customers they set up displays at toy stores in the Chicago area. Well, the displays were so successful that soon the demand for these toys was greater than the supply.
What followed over the next 90 years is pretty much history. Tinkertoys became a huge hit with young children because of their simplistic design and the infinite things that you could do with that design. The company itself stayed pretty much the same until it was sold to Hasbro in 1986. The wood pieces were replaced with plastic, but the concept was the same. But in 2000 the wood pieces came back and Tinkertoys returned to their roots.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Toys
