The San Francisco call., 1909-12-25

latest thing IN drums is small one
with q metal head. This head is made
from a thin sheet, very light, and it
gives not only a peculiarly full and
penetrating sound, but offers the best
resistance to the efforts of the Juvenile
beaters to hammer the insides out OF
the toy.
Machinery does everything in the
making of the toys. So adroit are
these machines and so rapid that the
only thing which separates a complete
washboard outfit from a new plank is
a matter of a couple of hours. 1t is
the ability to do everything with ma
chinery that has made Winchendon the
capital of toyland in the United States
Even the machinery with which the
toys are made is turned out in the toy
shops 1t is a special kind of machin-
cry, designed for only one kind
of work and the secret of it's makeup
is never divulged outside the place Of
manufacture. Also, everything is pat
ented, as is every new feature OF a
toy, however small.
Where do all the quaint designs for
the drums and the blocks and the
blackboards come from? There is an
artist who is working day in and day
out at this. He also gets tips from
proprietor quick to see the opportunity
for the adornment of toys in any Illus
tration in newspaper, magazine or bull
letin, and who adapts the ideas to his
own special needs
Making toys is like no other business
in the world. Its whole success de-
pendS on whim of a few months
duration, on guessing what public
taste will turn to at given time; on
getting first into the field. Take. for
instance. the game of diabofo which
was all the rage last year
AT the first suggestion that the craze
which had swept over England and
France had hit the United States, the
toy company started in to turn out
the game. In 36 hours "a quantity of
sets OF diabolo, but under another name
and vastly cheaper article, were made
in the factory In as hours they were
put on the market.
Staple toys are always in demand as
for instance. horses, drums and trunks
yet, of course the factory turns out
hundreds of new things yearly
In America, Great Britain, France
Germany and other European countries
there are persons employed who will
send the tip at once to the United
States should any new toy that prom
iSes well appear on the market. Then
the factory gets to work to turn out the
same toy at once, and cheaper.
Who invents all the new toys and
games That would be hard to say, for
many of those that have been most pop
ular are, after all, but adapta tions OF
old games. Some of them were played
even by the ancient Egyptians. Experts
offer new ideas from time to time, and
they are obtained frequently by watch
ing children at play. For very often
child will do something on his own
initiative for his own amusement which
gives the basis of new toy that with
elaboration will charm the child world
There are employed in the toy facto-
ries some exceptionally skilled girl
workers. The way they can hammer
nails or paste the imitation leather on
the toy trunks completely refutes all
accepted theories OF womankind's abil-
ity in this respect. But, expert as they
are, the machines are still more won
derful workmen, and they do practical
ly everything in the making of the toys
under guidance OF human hands.
Some of the toy makers have been at
it practically all their lives There are
a few who have been with the toy fac
tory at Winchendon since it first start
ed, 80 years ago.