Maco Toys, Inc., was the name of a popular toy company [1] based in Brooklyn, New York [2] which produced war-themed toys for children in the 1950s and 1960s. [3] Their toys were sold in a catalog that was illustrated by Tony Tallarico and printed by Charlton Comics [4] which presented itself as a war comic book. [5] (These toys were also sold in toy stores.) Products included plastic guns (including the M1903 Springfield rifle [6] and an Army Paratrooper Carbine [7] ), grenades, and a plastic Molotov cocktail.
The company's products were available in stores throughout the United States, but had a limited range of products and did not operate in other countries. Competitors included Hawk Model Company, Applause Inc, and Louis Marx and Company. [1]
In 1955, the New York City Council passed a bill to ban the manufacture, sale or possession of imitation revolvers that resemble the real article too closely. In a debate about the measure, an Army .45 caliber automatic manufactured by Maco was used as an example of a toy gun which was similar enough to the real model to be used as a weapon in a robbery. [8]
Heckler & Koch GmbH is a German defence manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
The Colt AR-15 is a lightweight, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle. It is a semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle sold for the civilian and law enforcement markets in the United States. Colt's Manufacturing Company currently owns the AR-15 trademark and is used exclusively for its line of semi-automatic AR-15 rifles.
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton Publications, which published magazines, puzzle books and, briefly, books. It had its own distribution company.
The M1 carbine is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced in several variants and was widely used by paramilitary and police forces around the world, and also became a popular civilian firearm after World War II.
Toy guns are toys which imitate real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices and materials such as wood, metal, plastic or any combination thereof. Many newer toy guns are brightly colored and oddly shaped to prevent them from being mistaken for real firearms.
All Metal Products Company was an American toy company founded in 1920 and based in Wyandotte, Michigan for most of its history. It produced inexpensive pressed metal toys under the Wyandotte brand name, and was the largest manufacturer of toy guns in the US for several decades in the 20th century. The company's slogan was "Wyandotte Toys are Good and Safe." To keep costs down, the company used scrap and surplus raw materials whenever possible, often manufacturing their toys from scrap metal obtained from local auto factories.
The .30 Carbine (7.62×33mm) is a rimless carbine/rifle cartridge used in the M1 carbine introduced in the 1940s. It is a light rifle round designed to be fired from the M1 carbine's 18-inch (458 mm) barrel.
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned by Gold Key Entertainment LLC, which consists of business partners and comic book enthusiasts Lance Linderman, Adam Brooks, Mike Dynes, and Arnold Guerrero.
The PTR rifle is a family of modern, American-manufactured, semi-automatic rifles based on the Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle. These rifles are produced by PTR Industries, Inc. of Aynor, South Carolina for the law enforcement and civilian markets in the United States. The abbreviation PTR stands for "Precision Target Rifle."
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of:
Army men, or plastic soldiers, are toy soldiers that are about 5 cm (2.0 in) tall and most commonly molded from olive green, relatively unbreakable plastic. Unlike the more expensive toy soldiers available in hobby shops, army men are sold at low prices in discount stores and supermarkets in bulk packaging. Army men are green and almost always dressed in modern military uniforms and armed with 20th-century weapons. 'Jumbo' army men are a less common secondary scale with 4.75-inch (12.1 cm) soldiers made with the same process.
Daisy Outdoor Products is an American airgun manufacturer known particularly for their lines of BB guns. It was formed in 1882 initially as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan, to manufacture steel windmills, and from 1888 started bundling BB-caliber air guns with each windmill purchase as a sales promotion. With the unrivaled popularity of their 1888-model Daisy BB Guns, the company changed the name to Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895 and switched their business to solely producing air guns for sale. Throughout the 20th century, Daisy has been known as a company that makes and sells BB guns and pellet youth rifles. Their Red Ryder BB Gun is perhaps the best known and longest production item, which has been featured in many TV shows and movies since its introduction in the spring of 1940.
The American rock band Kiss has licensed a large amount of merchandising throughout their career. According to Sandra O'Loughlin in an article for Brandweek magazine, "Kiss has licensed its name to more than 3,000 product categories, from lunch boxes and comic books to credit cards and condoms to become nearly a one-billion-dollar brand."
The Beretta AR70/90 is a gas operated rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge, and is the standard issue service rifle of the Italian Armed Forces. The weapon is also designed to be fitted with a rifle grenade, and has grenade sights. The AR series comes in many variants such as the AR90, with a wire folding stock, for use by paratroopers.
Britains Deetail toy soldiers were a popular product in the 1970s and 1980s. Manufactured in England by W. Britain, the 1/32 (54mm) scale plastic figures were finished with hand painted details and came with sturdy Zamak metal bases. In the early 1990s production moved to China before eventually being phased out.
The Parris Manufacturing Company of Savannah, Tennessee is an American company that primarily manufactures toy guns.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. gun often referred to as the U.N.C.L.E. Special is a fictional firearm depicted on the popular TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. which ran from September 1964 until it was canceled mid-season in 1968. Onscreen it was semi-automatic pistol that could be converted to a carbine-sniper rifle that could fire full automatic.
The ADCOR A-556 is an assault rifle based on the M16/M4 series. It is produced by the Adcor Defense Company and was one of the contenders in the US Army Individual Carbine Competition to replace the M4 Carbine.
The Pyro Plastics Corporation was an American manufacturing company based in Union Township, NJ and popular during the 1950s and 1960s that produced toys and plastic model kits. Some of the scale models manufactured and commerciaised by Pyro were cars, motorcycles, aircraft, ships, and military vehicles, and animal and human figures.
The Colt-Burgess rifle, also known as the 1883 Burgess rifle or simply the Burgess rifle, is a lever-action repeating rifle produced by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company between 1883 and 1885. The Burgess rifle was Colt's only entrance into the lever-action rifle market, produced to compete with Winchester Repeating Arms Company's line of popular rifles. The 1883 Burgess rifle was designed and patented by Andrew Burgess, an American firearms designer and photographer, who sold the design to Colt.