Th 8 Most Wildly Irrisponsible Vintage Toys

[Shangas]

Wow!

I actually remember seeing those little toy steam-engines. I believe there's a variation called the "Donkey engine".

It's a boiler, smokestack, furnace and a piston that attaches to a big flywheel. And it was supposed to teach you how steam-engines worked.

When I was 11 years old, our Year 5 teacher brought one of those machines into our classroom. He showed us how it worked. He filled up the boiler with water and then he lit a fire underneath it with little blocks of fuel (in retrospect, it was probably solid lumps of paraffin wax). He kept tapping the engine with his finger and eventually the machine built up enough pressure for the wheel and piston to start moving on their own.

After that, he told us all to get out some LEGO. We had to build little machines out of lego. And when we were done, we would give them to him. And he would use a rubber band to hook the wheels of our machines up to the steam-engine's flywheel. And we got to see our machines move.

Boy that was fun...

Here we are:

Another model:

Single-cylinder stationery steam-powered 'donkey engine'.

That's what our teacher brought into class. Boy it was fun to watch...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

After that, he told us all to get out some LEGO. We had to build little machines out of lego. And when we were done, we would give them to him. And he would use a rubber band to hook the wheels of our machines up to the steam-engine's flywheel. And we got to see our machines move.

Pneumatic V8 engine made from Legos

 

[ButteMT61]

This is a great thread...
I also had "Creepy Crawlers" and "Incredible Edibles" which provided a nice, ultra-hot plate type device with molds to create rubber and edible bugs, soldiers, etc. I'm sure I burned my fingers on them, but in my fort they also provided heat with a long extension cord in the winter. LOL at the safetycrats whom have sucked life out of everything...

 

[Guttersnipe]

Oh jeez, that article really brightened up my day.

It's amazing how things have changed. When my Grandpa was a kid in Wyoming in the 1920s, he was given a .22 rife as a birthday present and sent free all on his own to spend summers hunting prairie chickens, but my great grand parents had safety in mind. Grandpa had to wait another 2 years before getting get a pistol all his own . . . for his NINETH birthday!!!!

Here's the pistol:

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I don't really see why most of the vintage toys on that list would have to be that far out (minus that one with uranium and radium).

When I was about 11-12, and my older brother 14 we would melt lead and aluminium and try to make our own moulds for toy soldiers and bullets for muzzle loaders. I was perfectly able to do this without my brother's help, and I was never stupid enough to want to stick my fingers in molten metal (I knew that red hot steel was already a lot hotter than I cared to touch from experience).

My brother and I tried several times to build our own steam engine, but were never successful. Experimenting with building one is probably more dangerous than using one that works properly.

I got my first pocket knife when I was 7 or 8. Before that I had used my brother's (and I probably cut myself 50 times before I was 13, just made me tougher).

Between age 12-15 my friends and I made wooden swords and fought with them. Several times I got hit pretty hard and it drew blood. I stabbed a friend in the eye (our mom's made us wear safety goggles after this).

My brother and I tried to make our own fireworks. And the list could go on... in short, these were activities similar in risk to some on the list. Nobody got sued and we had a lot of fun (not saying we should have done all we did, but just sayin'). Plus we are still here to tell the story.

 

[Connery]

Johnny Reb Cannon

This toy cannon had some serious power. It could shoot toy cannons 35 feet into the air. It made Radar Magazine's "Most Dangerous Toys" list as the cannon balls seemed "perfectly sized to lodge into an eye socket, down an open mouth..."

Remco's Johnny Reb Cannon Toy ~~~~lollollol

[video=youtube;QR6WP69VcUg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR6WP69VcUg[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

^
Proto-Civil War Re-enactors! :thumb:

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

It's amazing how things have changed. When my Grandpa was a kid in Wyoming in the 1920s, he was given a .22 rife as a birthday present and sent free all on his own to spend summers hunting prairie chickens, but my great grand parents had safety in mind. Grandpa had to wait another 2 years before getting get a pistol all his own . . . for his NINETH birthday!!!!

Wow, I would have loved to have had a pistol all my own at age 9... since pistols are a little more dangerous than a rifle due to being shorter, I had to wait a little before being allowed to shoot one without supervision. Is that Harrington and Richardson a .32?

 

[scottyrocks]

I've always kinda wanted that atomic energy kit. Sorta like... if chemistry sets worked for junior mad scientists, imagine what they could do with a REAL cloud chamber....

And what proto-geek could pass up a vial of uranium?

I was given a chemistry set which I immediately opened on my grandparents sand colored carpeting and made a mess. I don't remember ever seeing it again.

 

[scottyrocks]

We used to climb into buildings under construction. Once I jumped off an unfinished second floor an wound up with a nail in my foot.

There was a billboard at the end of the block that we'd climb up into to survey the neighborhood, or at least the block.

We'd fire up the gas stove to melt crayons into bottle caps to make the perfect skully (or skelly) cap.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

My dad bought me my first pocket knife when I was about 8. It had a few functions: blade, can opener, bottle opener with slotted screwdriver, & an awl. If I was 8 then this was in '91.

 

[Philip A.]

My two years old daughter doesn't need to be told "NO! DON'T TOUCH!!!" and dragged away in panic when she gets too close to red-hot items... The simple statement "It's hot!" is enough, she knows what it means, and is mature enough to act accordingly.

Nowadays an overwhelming majority of kids are treated like retards who need to be protected from everything, and should never be antagonized. The result is that they grow into an appalling array of irresponsible, mannerless, indisciplined, and often clueless adults. Who in turn raise kids that are... Well, a sorry bunch.

By the way, before age ten we were casting lead, bending glass, manufacturing our own firecrackers, experimenting with explosive concoctions, firing rifles, making Molotov cocktails, having pocket knives, driving cars, using power tools, fishing on our own, building illegal structures up trees, trapping birds, playing with steam engines... We had a great time, did not have television, learned tons, and more importantly learned how to handle life.

Irresponsible toys? No, Sir: what is irresponsible is to NOT teach kids how to tell the difference between the sharp end and the handle.

 

[Yeps]

I remember my first pocket knife (I couldn't have been more than 10 years old, and possibly younger). I also remembered the important lesson that a sharp knife is much safer than a dull one.

 

[Shangas]

My first pocketknife actually belonged to my late grandfather. It was one of my grandmother's treasures (now sadly lost). She used to use it for odd jobs around the house and she used to let me play with it. She would show me all the features and gadgets and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But she wouldn't let me touch it very often, so when she moved to the nursing-home, the knife was lost.

I remember the knife had...

Two blades.
Screwdriver.
Corkscrew.

And perhaps betraying its age...a buttonhook.

There were lots of other nicknacks in it, but I don't remember what they were.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

This all sure does bring back memories of childhood. Did anyone ever have a "BB Gun" fight? That took some skill, no shooting in any part of the body above the chest and you packed your clothing with magazines and newspaper for protective armor. We did that a few times, no one was ever injured.

Sling shots were also a popular part of our arsenal.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My first pocketknife actually belonged to my late grandfather. It was one of my grandmother's treasures (now sadly lost). She used to use it for odd jobs around the house and she used to let me play with it. She would show me all the features and gadgets and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But she wouldn't let me touch it very often, so when she moved to the nursing-home, the knife was lost.

Isn't that typical! Sounds like some of my experiences dealing with my Mom's illness.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

When I was a kid, I was driving the family station wagon and trucks around the farm before I was in school. I could also operate every piece of farm equipment we had. I got my first gun at 8 years old and had been using guns for a couple of years before that. If you treat your children like they're mature enough to handle adult things and speak to them in an adult manner, you'll get a lot father. That's just my opinion, though.

By the way, before age ten we were casting lead, bending glass, manufacturing our own firecrackers, experimenting with explosive concoctions, firing rifles, making Molotov cocktails, having pocket knives, driving cars, using power tools, fishing on our own, building illegal structures up trees, trapping birds, playing with steam engines... We had a great time, did not have television, learned tons, and more importantly learned how to handle life.

 

[Cashmere]

OK, maaaybe scratch the radium... Other than that, I want one of each. And I'd play with them with my boys.

 

[fortworthgal]

As a kid back in the 40s, my uncle once built some type of explosive device and rigged it to my grandfather's tractor, so that it created a small explosion (apparently more visual than anything else) upon startup. lol

I had an awesome model rocket set as a kid, where you could build & launch your own rocket. I remember that you had to light it to set it off, and it would fly a pretty good distance. Of course I also loved candy cigarettes and we always bought & lit our own fireworks for July 4.

 

[scottyrocks]

This all sure does bring back memories of childhood. Did anyone ever have a "BB Gun" fight? That took some skill, no shooting in any part of the body above the chest and you packed your clothing with magazines and newspaper for protective armor. We did that a few times, no one was ever injured.

Sling shots were also a popular part of our arsenal.

Ah yes, sling shots. It's a wonder none of us had to adopt the name 'Popeye.'