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The Standard Toy Marble Company 1893 - 1922 The Standard Toy Marble Company was started in the early 1890's by Frank J. Brown. Mr. Brown was formerly an employee of Sam Dyke at the S.C. Dyke and Company and also worked for a short time at the American Marble and Toy Manufacturing Company. At both of these companies he held the position of foreman. It is obvious that he was skilled in the art of working clay; so much so that he was confident enough to hang his own shingle. Many different types of marbles were produced by this company including plain clay commies and bright shellac colored ones, glazed brown and cobalt marbles, variegated clay, and giant marbles for industrial purposes.
The marbles above were all recovered at the factory site of the Standard Toy Marble Company. Collection of Brian Graham Below is an interesting article from the American Boy Magazine in 1922. This article does not name the company but it is known from our research that the man in the right of the photo is Frank Brown. This same article was printed in many publications including The Brick and Clay Record, and Plaything's.
200,000,000
Marbles a Year VERY year boys buy 200,000,000 marbles. Statisticians
vouch for the figure. Supplying America with marbles is such a big job that
whole manufacturing plants do nothing else but make them. Most marbles are made of clay. A marbles factory,
therefore, is much like a small brickyard. Workmen shovel clay into a
pugmill, where great wheels pulverize it and drop it into a bin below. A
conveyor belt carries the pulverized clay to storage bins and these bins
again feed the clay into the pugmill. In the bottom of the pugmill are round
holes. Through these holes the clay is thrust, emerging in long strings.
Workmen cut these strings into eighteen-inch rolls and carry them to the
clay shops. In the clay shops the rolls of clay go into troughs
that are slit on either side like the miter-box that the carpenter uses.
Workmen cut the rolls into uniform bits with a saw that fits into the slits
in the troughs. The bits are, roughly, the size of the marbles that are
being manufactured. Now comes the shaping of the marbles. The bits of clay
go to the marble makers. These workers place the bits side by side in a
grooved plaster of paris mould, one bit to each groove. Then they deftly
pass an oblong plaster block over the clay bits, rolling them until each is
round and symmetrical. The speed of these marble makers, many of them young
women, is astonishing. The best of them will turn out 25,000 to 30,000
marbles in one day. The final process in marble manufacturing is the
burning and coloring. The newly-formed marbles, still soft, go into a kiln
where they are burned to hardness. A kiln is nothing but a very large oven,
perhaps holding a hundred thousand marbles or more. Next the marbles are
colored-who wants uncolored marbles? They are dumped in a pan of colored shellac and wood alcohol. The pan revolves and the marbles bump about and jostle
each other and drink up the coloring matter. The marbles are now ready for market. They must, of
course, be packed for shipping. Have you ever tried counting up to a
million? If you have you know why the manufacturers of marbles pick a faster
method. They count their marbles by weight. One thousand clay marbles,
nine-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, weigh just six and one-half pounds.
Marbles also are measured by the cubic foot. To ship, workmen pour the marbles into bags of 1,000
marble capacity. The bags go into barrels-fifty or sixty bags to a barrel.
The storekeeper buys marbles by the bag; you probably buy them five or ten
at a time. Marbles, by the way, do their share of work in the
world. Oil companies buy marbles in huge quantities to clean oil
receptacles. Large-sized marbles, rolled through oil pipes, dislodge the
paraffin that clings to the sides of the pipe. Rubber, ink, salt, chemical
and powder manufacturers find various uses for marbles. Marbles help grind
the large stones essential in lithography. All in all, marbles, like the
rest of us, have their chores to do. |
