Toy metal bodies with spring mechanisms to propel them have been around for decades. They are related to the automata built for royalty in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time elaborate geared mechanisms were created to amuse heads of state. These included the singing bird in a cage and mechanisms that delivered sweets down the long dining tables of the time. The armillary sphere developed to show the position of the stars and earth is a scientific use of a mechanical drive train to demonstrate the real world as it was understood at the time.

A wind-up toy from the recent past.

By the nineteenth century small, less complicated mechanisms were built into toys. Methods of travel were a favorite motif, as seen here with two toys based on motorcycles.

With the arrival of the scientific age, robots became a subject for the mechnical toy maker.

The 1950's robot mechanical toy.

Cuckoo clocks use weights to drive their mechanisms. There are many clocks that still use this method of motivation, which has also been around for centuries.

The cuckoo clock of the Black Forest.

Since then the materials of choice have changed from metal to plastic, and these toys are still made today.

Metal hopping chick. You can still find these today, made of plastic or with stuffed bodies.

The late twentieth century and twenty-first century version of these toys would be the motion activated toys that sing, dance, howl, clutch or yodel. The Macarena ape that sings and dances, and Billy Bass that turns half-way from his mounting board to sing. There are mounted reindeer heads that sing Christmas carols, candy bowls that swat at anyone taking a piece of candy at Halloween, and all sorts of critters that make their signature sound when triggered. These automata are battery-operated, and as such, always react on queue, although they usually have an on/off switch to deactivate them when there is a lot of activity within their sphere of observation.

For some of us, the joy of mechanical toys never grows old, and the toy manufacturers still make them for us.

So, the next time you are at a store, with either new merchandise or antiques, look for mechanical toys, and surprise a youngster with it. Or keep it yourself and start a collection of your own. They will make you smile.

* * * Find information about cheap baby toys. * * *

* * * More about computer usb toys. * * *

* * * For something completely different, read about sleigh beds. * * *

* * * Read about collecting dog toys. * * *

* * * Read about collecting cat toys. * * *

* * * Read about collecting bird toys. * * *

The images on this post are from Stock Xchnge.

Go to the Table of Contents to see all the topics covered so far.

Click American collectibles to go to the latest entry on this site.