Mettoy (an abbreviation of "Metal Toy") was a British manufacturing company founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann, who was later joined by South African-born German Arthur Katz who had previously worked for Ullmann at his toy company Tipp and Co of
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
. The firm made a variety of
lithographed
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
metal
wind-up toy
A wind-up toy is an automaton toy powered by a clockwork motor.
Background
Automata built for the sake of art, amusement, and simulation have been described since antiquity, in cases such as Heron of Alexandria designing clockwork birds during ...
s. Both Jewish, they moved to Britain following Hitler's rise to power in 1933.
[Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood, accessed 3 January 2014](_blank)
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The firm is most famous for the line of die-cast toy
A die-cast toy is a toy or a collectible model produced by using the die-casting method of putting molten lead, zinc alloy or plastic in a mold to produce a particular shape. Such toys are made of metal, with plastic, rubber, glass, or other ma ...
motor vehicles produced by its Corgi Toys
Corgi Toys (trademark) is the brand name of a range of die-cast toy vehicles created by Mettoy and currently owned by Hornby Railways, Hornby.[model railway
Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale.
The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...]
and slot car company. The company was sold in 1984, with the assets of the company transferred to independent company Corgi Classics
Corgi Classics Limited is a British die-cast toy, die-cast scale model manufacturer established as an independent company in 1984, which has its origins in the Corgi Toys brand introduced by Mettoy in 1956. It is known for its British and North ...
, but it folded shortly afterward.
History
Ullman and Katz set up their toy-manufacturing business in Stimpson Avenue, between Abington Avenue and Wellingborough Road in Northampton, with their company registered on 31 August 1932. They initially produced very similar tinplate toys to those being made in Germany. Within six years the Northampton factory was said to have 600 employees, and from 1944 Katz was the managing director.
During the Second World War the factory manufactured not only munitions but also a cooking stove for troops posted in tropical jungle environments. The Northampton factory moved to a large site, originally used as a boot factory, in Northampton at the corner of Spencer Bridge Road and Harlestone Road, later occupied by Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
and Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
supermarkets.[Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map of Northampton South 1901]
Products
* Slot Cars – Playcraft Highways was the first HO Scale slot car, designed by Derek A Brand and introduced in 1959. This set the standards and track geometry that many subsequent brands followed. Although not a commercial success in the UK, it was developed into Aurora Model Motoring in the United States and became a market leader.
*Toy car
A model car, or toy car, is a Physical model, miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were ...
s – The company created a “Castoy” line of toy motor vehicles with clockwork motors in 1948.
*Dollhouse
A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North America ...
s – Mettoy manufactured dollhouses from 1954 to 1965.
*Toy aircraft – In addition to toy metal aircraft Mettoy issued a Vapour Trails line of model aircraft
*Toy boats
*Toy train
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a toy that can run on a track, or it might be operated b ...
s – The company made a variety of low cost mainly tin toy train
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a toy that can run on a track, or it might be operated b ...
s powered by clockwork
Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or weight.
A clockwork mec ...
motors to compete with Hornby
Hornby may refer to:
Places In England
* Hornby, Lancashire
* Hornby, Hambleton, village in North Yorkshire
* Hornby, Richmondshire, village in North Yorkshire Elsewhere
* Hornby, Ontario, community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canad ...
. Between 1961 and 1969 a range of low-cost, mainly plastic, HO scale
HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO.NMRA"M ...
trains were sold as Playcraft Railways. The range was 99% imported from the French manufacturer Jouef
Jouef is a French brand and former manufacturing company specialized in scale model railroads. The brand name is currently owned by Hornby.
Apart from model railroads, the company also produced model cars and slot cars.
History
Manufacturer Ge ...
, but was accompanied by buildings kits – initially from Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
and later from Pola in what was then West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.
*Toy weapon
Toy guns are toys which imitate real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns From Gilroy Gardens and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices ...
s – Mettoy designed many toy metal weapons ranging from toy machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s to ray gun
A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon that releases energy, usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have variou ...
s.
*Tie-ins
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
– Mettoy made a series of Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic story ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in repri ...
space toys and a hospital playset
Playsets, or play sets, are themed collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. The most common toy playsets involve plastic figures, accessories, and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a co ...
based on the ''Emergency Ward 10
''Emergency Ward 10'' is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like ''The Grove Family'', a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, ''Emergency Ward 10'' is considered to be one of British television's fi ...
'' television show.
*space hopper
A space hopper (also known as a moon hopper, skippyball, kangaroo ball, bouncer, hippity hop, hoppity hop, sit and bounce, or hop ball) is a rubber ball (similar to an exercise ball) with handles which allow one to sit on it without falling off. ...
s
Mettoy distributed Petite Typewriters and Bandbox radios as well as Aurora Plastics Corporation
The Aurora Plastics Corporation was an American toy and hobby manufacturing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic scale models of cars, airplanes, and TV and movie figures in the 1960s. Its principal competition in modelin ...
plastic model kits in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.
Computers
In the early 1980s the director of Mettoy noticed that many children were becoming more interested in home computers than traditional toys. Mettoy started the Dragon Data
Dragon Data Ltd. was a Welsh producer of home computers during the early 1980s. These computers, the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64, strongly resembled the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer ("CoCo")—both followed a standard Motorola datasheet config ...
branch of its firm to manufacture computers for children.[Laing, Gordon, ''Digital Retro'', The Ilex Press Ltd, 2004]
References
External links
Mettoy
on The Fforestfach History Website
The History Of Mettoy
{{Scale model brands
Die-cast toys
Toy cars and trucks
Toy train manufacturers
Model manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Toy brands
Toy companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct toy manufacturers