Category:Bing

Gebruder Bing (Bing Brothers) was founded in 1863 by Ignaz and Adolf Bing, and started making tin toys in Nuremburg in the early 1880's, officially incorporating as a manufacturer in 1895. The company grew rapidly between 1895 and 1914, and in the lead-up to WWI, the firm employed over 5000 people. Bing was a staggeringly prolific toymaker, and by 1928, it was one of Germany’s leading toy manufacturers, with annual sales of around 27 million Deutschmarks that year. However, the trade depression that resulted in the Wall Street crash proved to be disastrous for Bing, and the firm was eventually taken over by Karl Bub, a rival manufacturer.

Range

As well as producing their own range of toy trains, track and trackside accessories and buildings, and manufacturing for Bassett-Lowke, Bing also produced toy boats, ships, cars and trams, as well as magic lantern equipment and slides, optical equipment, electric and steam motors and components, hot air engines, induction coils and other experimental electrical equipment including Gessler and Rontgen tubes, dynamos, powered fountains, science kits, and early telephone equipment. Bing made boats from about 1890 – 1914.

Bing's clockwork teddybears

After adding teddy bears to its production lines in the early 1900's, Bing soon introduced clockwork mechanisms into these bears, with a wind-up key at the side or front. Soon, rollerskating, somersaulting and "footballer" bears were introduced to Bing’s lines. Steiff claimed that Bing’s 1910 somersaulting bear copied their 1909 "Purzel-Bär", and the resulting lawsuit lasted for four years (1911-1915). Bing initially used a button-in-ear trademark, but Steiff took action against this, which led to Bing replacing the button with a metal arrow fixed under the ear. This was later replaced by a metal button under the arm – on condition that the word “button” was not used in the trademark.

Bing Table Railway

In 1921, Bing introduced its Miniature Table Railway, and helped to launch new, smaller "00-gauge" sized model trains. These models included rolling stock, track and accessories such as signals, signal boxes, level crossings and stations. The first locomotives were driven by clockwork, and by 1925, electric versions were available.

See also

• Marklin

References

• 1898 Bing toy catalogue,
• 1906 Bing toy catalogue, reprint, (New Cavendish Books 1991) ISBN 0904568520
• Jack Tempest, Collecting Tin Toys with foreword by Andrew Hilton (Collins 1987), ISBN 0004122755
• Gwen White, Toys, Dolls, Automata – Marks and Labels (B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1975, reprinted 1985), ISBN 0731429569
• Pauline Cockrill, The Teddy Bear Encyclopedia (Dorling Kindersley 1993, 2001), ISBN 0751333913