Tuesday, September 18, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 18

September 18, 1946 – Mound Metalcraft was created in Mound, Minn., on this date. “The first products produced by the fledgling company were two versions of a metal tie-rack. Their original intent was to manufacture garden implements. However, when their building's former occupant, the Streater Company, attempted to market two metal toys and failed, the [owners of] Mound Metalcraft thought they might make a good side line to their other products.

After some modifications to the design by Alvin Tesch and the addition of a new logo created by Erling Eklof with the Dakota Sioux word "Tanka", which means "Great" or "Big", the company began selling metal toys. This soon became the primary business. On November 23, 1955, Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys Incorporated. The logo at this time was an oval, showing the Tonka Toys name in red above waves, presumably honoring nearby Lake Minnetonka.

The impact of the Tonka truck concept has been enduring and pervasive, especially the Mighty Dump Truck and associated "Mighty" line of construction equipment models introduced from 1964. The all-metal "Tonka Trucks" were sold throughout the world and earned a reputation as being indestructible, although the steel has been increasingly replaced by plastic from the late 1980s onwards.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonka




Tonka Truck


http://www.google.com/imgres?q=tonka+trucks&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1166&bih=555&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=_oMAMEnY9ixARM:&imgrefurl=http://tonka.wikia.com/wiki/Dump_Truck&docid=6s1rumNZhY1moM&imgurl=http://images.wikia.com/tonka/images/a/aa/Dumptruck.gif&w=500&h=342&ei=-CsIUM67O4jLqgHMwem-BA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=312&vpy=196&dur=697&hovh=186&hovw=272&tx=165&ty=112&sig=106044584169635347659&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=204&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:144

No comments:

Post a Comment