Elijah J. McCoy was a Canadian-American engineer of African-American descent who invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Born free on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to parents who fled enslavement in Kentucky, he traveled to the United States as a young child when his family returned in 1847, becoming a U.S. resident and citizen. His inventions and accomplishments were honored in 2012 when the United States Patent and Trademark Office named its first regional office, in Detroit, Michigan, the "Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Patent Office".
Erector Set was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally patented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and first sold by his company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1913. In 1916, the company was reorganized as the A. C. Gilbert Company. The brand continued its independent existence under various corporate ownerships until 2000, when Meccano bought the Erector brand and consolidated its worldwide marketing with its own brand. The coverage here focuses on the historical legacy of the classic Erector Set; for current developments under the "Erector by Meccano" brand name, see the Meccano article.
The Tinkertoy Construction Set—commonly known as Tinkertoy, Tinker Toy, or plural forms thereof—is a construction set for children. It was designed in 1914 and was originally manufactured in Evanston, Illinois, U.S. The brand is now owned by Hasbro.
Tonka is an American brand and former manufacturer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes die-cast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of 1:64 scale, featuring mostly trucks.
A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settlers.
John Lloyd Wright was an American architect and toy inventor. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Wright was the second-oldest son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. John Lloyd Wright became estranged from his father in 1909 and subsequently left his home to join his brother on the West Coast. After unsuccessfully working a series of jobs, he decided to take up the profession of his father in 1912. Shortly afterward, he was able to reconnect with his father, who took John under his wing. Differences in opinion regarding the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo caused the pair to again become disunited.
K'Nex is a construction toy system founded by Joel Glickman. It was first introduced in America in 1992. K'Nex is designed and produced by K'Nex Industries Inc. of Hatfield, Pennsylvania. K'Nex was purchased by Florida-based company Basic Fun! in 2018.
Josephine Cochran was an American inventor who invented the first successful hand-powered dishwasher, which she designed and then constructed with the assistance of mechanic George Butters, who became one of her first employees.
A construction set is a standardized piece assortment allowing for the construction of various different models. Construction sets are most often marketed as toys. A popular longtime construction set toy brand is Lincoln Logs.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is a designated U.S. historic park preserving two separate farm sites in LaRue County, Kentucky, where Abraham Lincoln was born and lived early in his childhood. He was born at the Sinking Spring site south of Hodgenville and remained there until the family moved to the Knob Creek Farm northeast of Hodgenville when he was two years old, living there until he was seven years of age. The park's visitor center is located at the Sinking Spring site.
Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, primarily used for packaging goods and materials. Specialists in industry seldom use the term cardboard because it does not denote a specific material. The term cardboard may refer to a variety of heavy paper-like materials, including card stock, corrugated fiberboard, and paperboard. Cardboard boxes can be readily recycled.
Toy blocks are wooden, plastic, or foam pieces of various shapes and colors that are used as construction toys. Sometimes, toy blocks depict letters of the alphabet.
The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is an 86-acre (0.3 km2) history park located eight miles (13 km) south of Charleston, Illinois, U.S., near the town of Lerna. The centerpiece is a replica of the log cabin built and occupied by Thomas Lincoln, father of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln never lived here and only occasionally visited, but he provided financial help to the household and, after Thomas died in 1851, Abraham owned and maintained the farm for his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln. The farmstead is operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
Toobers & Zots are creative construction toys which were invented in the 1990s by Boston-area based sculptor Arthur Ganson. They were manufactured by Hands-On Toys. Toobers & Zots consist of long flexible foam pieces called "toobers" and flat foam pieces called "zots." Toobers range in size from two to four feet long, so they are great for creating large-scale objects. Zots come in various shapes and sizes and they are used to decorate the toobers. Although they have not experienced the critical or commercial success of such toys as the LEGO building blocks or Tinkertoys, they were highly successful in the specialty market and were very popular amongst educators and art communities.
Jay Foreman is an American businessman who lives and works in Boca Raton, Florida. He is president and CEO of Basic Fun!, which began as The Bridge Direct in 2009. Basic Fun! and its related companies, Good Stuff, K'nex, Uncle Milton, and PlayHut, design, develop and market toys for children and adult collectors. The company's product portfolio includes internally developed brands like Mash'ems and Cutetitos, as well as licensed product lines from major entertainment companies, sports leagues and other toy companies, such as Mattel and Hasbro. In 2020 the company relaunched Tonka and Care Bears, which can now be found at major retailers around the world.
Wooden toy trains are toy trains that run on a wooden track system with grooves to guide the wheels of the rolling stock. While the trains, tracks and scenery accessories are made mainly of wood, the engines and cars connect to each other using metal hooks or small magnets, and some use plastic wheels mounted on metal axles. Some trains are made to resemble anthropomorphical, fictional, and prototypical railroad equipment.
Charles Bird Plimpton was an English inventor and businessman. He invented Bayko in 1933, a plastic building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed. He established Plimpton Engineering in Liverpool, England, to manufacture the toy, which was sold across the world for over 30 years.
Educational toys are objects of play, generally designed for children, which are expected to stimulate learning. They are often intended to meet an educational purpose such as helping a child develop a particular skill or teaching a child about a particular subject. They often simplify, miniaturize, or even model activities and objects used by adults.
A timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945) encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Progressive Era to the end of World War II, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Hilary "Harry" Fisher Page was an English toy maker and inventor of Self-Locking Building Bricks, the predecessor of Lego bricks. He founded the Kiddicraft toy company.
