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The Crandall Families
There are two Crandall families involved in the wooden toy
business of the 1840s - early 1900s. These two families may have been related,
we do not know for sure. The two most inventive members seem to have been Jesse
A. Crandall, son of Benjamin Crandall, and Charles M. Crandall, son of Asa
Crandall.
Benjamin Potter Crandall
Benjamin Potter Jr.
Charles Thompson
William Edwin
Jesse Amour (invented nested blocks, hobby-horse
suspension improvements, and a rocking horse with a seat between flat cutouts of
horses.)
Asa Crandall
Charles M. (invented the tongue and groove system for
joining toy pieces. Examples included the "Building Blocks",
"Acrobats", "Menagerie", "John Gilpin",
"District School", and others.)
Fred W.
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Jesse Crandall Patent Model - 1861 |
Jesse A. Crandall, probably the family's most prolific inventor,
improved upon many toys including the popular rocking and hobby-horse.
Below is a remarkable surviving example of Jesse Crandall's patent model
for his spring mounted rocking horse. He seems not to know whether to
call it a hobby horse or a rocking horse, so he refers to it as a hobby
horse in the illustration and a rocking horse in the description.
Between 1790 and about 1880, the US Patent Office required that all
patent applications have an accompanying working model to demonstrate
the invention. Jesse Crandall's invention in this model was the
"U-shaped" spring that suspends the riding horse and the way
the horse is attached to the base platform. A simple design. We have not
yet seen a full size version of this toy.
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Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Judith Lile
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Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Judith Lile
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Can any Crandall collectors out there help me with this
page?
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