The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-10
The Toy business in this Country.

The manufacture of toys and "playthings,"
until within a few years, has been almost wholly /
confined to Europe. the Germans and Swiss |
have furnished the rising generation with the |
most of these necessary adjuncts to the plea |
sures of childhood. But lately the facilities OF |
the Patent Office have stimulated production in |
this direction, and now our most amusing toys
are those of American manufacture. And 1t is
a profitable direction for inventive genius. |
Everybody has seen the comical dancing
Ethiopian, cruelty impaled upon wire and
forced to respond, with every joint in his supple
body, to the rattle of the fingers on his piVoted
platform. This ridiculous device, being patented,
has brought its proprietor fortune. Then there
is the growing cock, his intestines a tin whistle
able to excite the envy of the monarch of the
barnyard by his clear, shrill, and natural chai-
6 pF1bes TR sSG and 1 RSyng
dressed suspended by an elastic cord, perform
teats OF leaping which put to shame the Buis-
lays and Hanlons. On the same principle Is the
return ball, which, like the Australian boone
rang, comes back to the hand that projected it.
A top of thin metal, hollow, and gaily lac
quered, when started by means of the coiled
spring in the handle, will continue its revolu-
lions for ten minutes at stretch.
The flying top is good illustration OF the
propeller screw. Released from the shaft on
which it is made to revove, 1t flies whirlng at an
angle through the air until its momentum is lost,
when 1t comes back, returning to the operator
for new start. We saw the other day whis-
ale, mere gland OF kid or thin leather, OF
crescent form, holding, stretched between the
two horns, thin membrane, by the vibrations
of which, added by the operators tongue, a
great variety of sounds can be produced The
grunt and squeal of the pie, the warbling of the
canary, the Whistling OF a quail, the piping of
the curleW, and many other calls of animated
nature, can be perfectly reproduced. This is a
useful implement for the sportsman, and affords
unlimited delight to incipient manhood
Almost all these can be used as illustrations OF
natural laws. Philosophy may yet be taught in
our schools by toys. The wonderful resem
bance to lie of our American toys in many IN
stances makes broad distinction between them
and those heretofore furnished from Europe.
These last are usually caricatures and are mis-
leading to the young mind, which receives
ideas through objects and not through words
manly. Take our rubber toys. Some of them
are worthy to rank with the productions of the
artist. They are marvels OF beauty and natural
expression. The dolls made here of this mate
rial do not wear that appearance of corpse-likC
waxiness or inanity which the traditional dol
from time immemorial has borne. They arr
pleasing to look at and wonderful in endurance
Some by hidden machinery can walk, Others CT!
and move their eyes, but none are hldeous anC
repnlsive in expression. ..
This toy business may be considered by som'
as unworthy of notice by scientific Journalists
but as we are more or less educated by our sun
roundlngs, and as the toys OF the enid are
promo source of ideas which will cling 10 hlI
bhrough iiie, 1t is important that they DO nc
convey laise Impressions. These improvement
IN our cMidren's playthings are additional hel[
towards tnen education, and while their pre-
jectOrs realize fortunes from their introduction
young humanity and the world at large al
pleased and benetted.-Scienaitic american.