Swashbuckling Days Of Ives Sensational Toys

Historians tend to agree that some of the most swashbuckling days of toy manufacturing in America came early in the 20th century. And one of most sensational names amid them was Ives.
Ives, one of the master makers of clockwork toys, electric trains, steel construction sets, mechanical boats, and railway accessories began at a different time in a very different way.
An obscure New Englander named Riley Ives launched into the metal stamping business with a small shop in the 1850s. By the time of the Civil War in the 1860s Ives was making buttons for the uniforms of Federal Troops.
At some point the shop in Plymouth also began making what were eventually called hot air toys. Basically the toys became animated with the steam provided by the familyís hot stove. They also worked with any other source of hot air.
However the first really innovative product at the Ives operation was the clockwork operated toy locomotive developed by Riley's son Edward Ives. Early in the 1870s Ives production was moved to a larger facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut. By 1874 the Ives firm had even perfected a moving clockwork locomotive train that whistled.
Further refinement, along with public awareness moved Ives into a leadership role by the 1880s. Not only were Ives hot toys and clockwork trains dominating the American toy industry, they were selling very well in Europe and South America as well. Twice a year the company put out a hefty 200 pages catalog for its world of customers.
By the 1890s Ives had added a popular line of cast iron toys to their regular production. Some even bore tinplate over the cast iron with additional attractive stenciling added.
Founder Riley Ives died in the 1890s, but son Edward was joined by Riley's grandson Harry during that same explosive decade. The family toy making magic would continue nearly unbounded.
"Ives' Bridgeport factory was looked on as something of a paradise in those early days,î according to Richard O'Brien author of the splendid, Story of American Toys. "Edward Ives was benignly paternal to his workers, looking after them when they were ill or troubled, and Harry followed in his father's footsteps. Although production of Ives' famous clockwork toys continued, the turn of the (20th) century brought a change in the company's focus."
That change was even more profound cast iron toys.
"After Ives and other manufacturers had mastered the intricacies of cast ironî, notes O'Brien, "thousands of nicely modeled cast-iron trains, fire engines, horse-drawn wagons, cannon, cap pistols, and cap bombs flowed from the Ives factory straight to distributors in New York."
The wonderful combination of Ives clockwork mechanisms and cast iron design thrust Ives into a mighty role as captain of the toymakers during the early 1900s. Even disaster became something of a victory. In late 1900 a fire destroyed the main Ives factory making 1901 a rebuilding year. Ives not only rebuilt but added a remarkable train that could actually run on a modified track.
Ives had opted to remain with clockwork mechanical trains prior to that time, partly because many U. S. homes still lacked electricity. Ives masterminded an altered track which could handle both clockwork and electrical locomotives easily.
Starting in 1910 Ives jumped into the production of electrical trains on a full scale basis and nearly immediately overtook the established competition. Reportedly they out-tracked American Flyer and Lionel even hinted they might welcome an Ives buy-out. The 1910 buy-out never happened but the two did strike an agreement to provide Lionel with lots of Ives railroad accessories.
Ives was also master of the direct approach when it came to marketing toys. The fictional Ives Railway Lines on many of rail pieces appealed directly to the youngsters, as did their slogan:
"Ives Toys Make Happy Boys."
They back it up with their advertising. For example this effort in the prestigious Saturday Evening Post:
"Ives Toys broaden the boy as he plays. He uses his ingenuity and thinks for himself as he learns the fundamentals of transportation. The self-reliance he acquires while playing with Ives toys helps him in later life, what ever his vocation."
Ives was there with construction toys too. In 1913 the company launched the Erector set-like Struktiron line. The following year the Ives catalog proclaimed the structural steel Struktiron parts could build everything from bridges to skyscrapers, "in fact anything which in real life is built of structural steel, can be accurately reproduced."
The Strucktiron sets sold at toy dealers, department stores, and even hardware stores from $1 to $10 each. Catalog pages and advertisements illustrated such diverse set projects such as rocking chairs, railroad bridges, lawn swings, cranes, telegraph poles, and wind mills.
Elsewhere their parade of trains continued. For anywhere from 65 cents to $1 youngsters could add a passenger car, refrigerator car, merchandise car, stock car, buffet car, lumber car, and even a caboose to their existing lines.
In 1914 there was also an electric street car available from Ives. It was aptly named the Suburban but a little pricey at $3.25. An accessory "trail car" for the Suburban was 75 cents.
About the only Ives car more expensive than the Suburban that year was expansive drawing room car for the Twentieth Century Limited. Nearly 15 inches long with glass windows it was $3.50. A glass dome railway station on the Ives Lines was $4, but the so-called double station with glass dome and more than 22 inches long cost a solid $10 in 1914.
Ives encountered a pivotal year in 1917 when the company halted production of its once promising Strucktiron construction sets and began marketing clockwork boats. Harry Ives was determined that the boats would be the summer solution to seasonal train sales. Instead of sailing or selling the boats sunk. Disappointed youngsters discovered, among other things, that the boats would not float in water and the paint would flake off.
Despite the toy boat failures, Ives insisted upon making more of them. In fact they continued to be one of the company's products right on through the ill-fated 1920s.
As the years went by the rival Lionel company turned to print advertisements to openly challenge the quality of Ives best-selling trains. Ives rather meekly countered by claiming there trains were more realistic, and continued to target directly at children.
During the early 1920s and the toy train wars continued, Ives steadily lost ground to the competition. While Ives trains continued to be probably more realistic and likely of superior quality they were more expensive to produce and at the same time less affordable in the market place.
Harry Ives gave up the presidency of the company in 1928, but remained as chairman of the board. It was too late. The Ives firm officially went bankrupt in 1928, and was ultimately purchased by Lionel and American Flyer. Some accounts, including the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, say the factory and tools initially remained untouched as they were not part of the purchase. Reportedly the Ives factory closed totally in 1930, however the Ives brand, and catalog, were still marketed through 1932.
The Ives legacy is once again well defined by O'Brien.
"Ives was a veteran company that produced some of the greatest toys in the history of the country, and was still producing them on the day Harry Ives left,î the author concluded.