The Standard Toy Marble Company

[Steph]

If I knew about this one before, I forgot about it.

STANDARD TOY MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. (1894-1922) Akron, Ohio. Owned and operated by Frank J. Brown and family, manufacturers of ceramic marbles; commies, crockies, Jaspers. Believed to be the first to manufacture and market marbles for industrial purposes, largely as inert, filtration objects for municipal water systems; manufactured ceramic marbles as large as 5 inches in diameter, likely as pump value balls.

http://www.americantoymarbles.com/glossary.htm

The largest in this group is about 1 and 5/8".

The second grouping has 1 and 1/2" marbles.

[kbobam]

This glossary reference http://www.americant...om/glossary.htm is really amazing!

Have you posted it prominently elsewhere? It's kind of 'hidden' in the context here. ( :

[Steph]

That used to be a popular link. Clearly I should consult it more often since these marbles were a surprise to me. I thought they were more marbles from the American Marble & Toy Mfg. Co. but nooooooo.

[Steph]

Ray Laubs just gave me an excuse to bump this thread. He's doing some interesting marble-related glasswork. Posted this mirror today.

(p.s., It's for sale. The mirror is etched from the back. The LEDs are inside of the oak frame. There is a wood backing that closes it all in.)

[Steph]

Okay, well, since there haven't been any oohs or aahs about the marbles *sticks out tongue*, I'll just post some more of the history from Brian's glossary. It's not too late to ooh and aah about the marbles.

BROWN, FRANK J.: proper name. Founder of The Standard Toy Marble Company in Akron, Ohio in 1893; a manufacturer of ceramic marbles; Brown got his start in the marble business as Sam Dyke’s protégé and used a license to manufacture clay marbles obtained from Dyke. He also obtained a license to use Matthew Lang’s injection molding process to make porcelain marbles. Brown’s company made all types and styles of ceramic toy marbles. During the 1890s Brown was elected to the Akron City Council where he served with such distinction the Council gave him an overcoat (which at the time was a big deal, since there wasn’t any real pay involved for his service.) When the City of Akron purchased the local water company, Brown offered to provide ceramic marbles to use in the proposed filtration unit. This experiment was a success so Brown offered his marbles to other water companies. Producing marbles for industrial purposes was at that time a novel idea and proved to be the future of marble-making.

CHINAS: noun. The name given to a marble made of porcelain, can be glazed, unglazed, painted or dyed. A very popular type of marble first made in Europe; Germany exported large numbers to the United States; sometimes highly decorated, with strips and designs or pictures with detailed images. The highly decorated varieties are rare and valuable. First made in the USA in the 1880s in Akron, Ohio - the last companies to make them in the USA, was The Canton Porcelain Co. (1910s-1930s) near Akron. They were also made and sold for industrial purposes; first by The Standard Toy Marble Company. Matthew Lang of Akron, Ohio, invented an injection molding system to make them for his company, The East End Marble Company, Akron, Ohio, later he licensed his patent to other Akron area marbleworks in exchange for royalties. Marbles made of porcelain are among the hardest and most difficult marbles to break or crack during play. Un-polished China Marbles, meaning un-glazed, make some of the very best shooter marbles, because their slight texture gives players a firm grip, better control, aim and backspin. Also see Un-Polished Chinas, Ceramic Marbles, Commies. Also called allies, chalkies, and plaisters. (See photo)

INDUSTRIAL MARBLES: noun. Any inexpensive ceramic or glass marble, lacking any consideration for its appearance; when glass, usually clear; when ceramic they can be of almost any material; common clay, stoneware, porcelain, etc.; never glazed, painted or decorated in any way. The vast majority of marbles made since the beginning of the 20^th century are for industrial purposes. The first industrial ceramic marbles were made by The Standard Toy Marble Company of Akron, Ohio (1893-10922) and used as filtration marbles in water purification plants. The first American industrial glass marbles were used as furniture casters beginning in the 1890’s, these were large Bullet Mold, glass marbles made by J.H. Leighton at one of his eight glass marble factories in the Akron area. The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, of Akron, Ohio (1903-1917,) made most of its glass marbles for industrial purposes; lithography grinding balls, pump value balls, etc. opening up a whole new market for glass marbles. Once used on road-side reflectors and in signs to make them more visible at night. At present glass marbles are used in huge numbers as inert bodies for chemical vats in the petro-chemical industries, where their inert character and ability to make sterilize are highly prized; also in making fiberglass; also found inside some spray paint cans; also made in huger numbers of the floral industry, etc. Without the demand for industrial marbles the manufacture of toy marbles in the United States as a sideline would have ceased at the beginning of WWII.

JASPER: noun. A ceramic marble; stoneware, called Lined Crockery by collectors; a variegated white-bodied stoneware with lines of blue and green, rarely pink, running through the body of the marble; can be glazed or unglazed; mainly manufactured in Germany from the mid-1850s to the 1930s; however, examples were discovered during an archeological excavation at site of The Standard Toy Marble Company, in Akron, Ohio.

LINED CROCKERY MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term for a specific type of variegated stoneware marbles with green or blue lines running through a white marble, rarer with both green and blue lines. Manufacture red by dying the clay, blue or green, and mixing it with white clay. An old type of European toy marble sometimes called, Dutch Marbles (although actually made in Germany,) or Jaspers, Jaspies, or Cloudies. Also manufactured at The Standard Toy Marble Company in Akron, Ohio, discovered in archeological excavations at the company site.

U.S. Patent No. 432,127: government document. This patent, applied and granted in 1890, “Apparatus for Rounding Plastic Clay Slugs,” was the invention of Samuel Comely Dyke, of Akron, Ohio. The patent covers both a marble making device and a process, was first put into use in 1884 and turned out first mass-produced toys; allowing one person to manufacture 800 marbles per hour. Before this time all marbles were hand-made. It was used in Akron, Ohio by numerous marbleworks, owned by Same Dyke and later licensed to others. It was last used in the USA by The Standard Toy Marble Company of Akron in 1920. Soon after the turn of the 20^th century Sam Dyke’s process of manufacturing clay marbles was adopted by the German marble-makers in Lauscha, Germany and used there until 1936. See patent, http://www.akronmarbles.com/us_marble_patents.htm

[lstmmrbls]

Guess I now need some of those. Anyone have any for sale?