Lionel non-train items- What else did they make

i don't know where i was even at but during the war, they made all kinds of stuff.  some sort of moris code pad...wasn't paying a lot of attention.

Airex* fishing reels, the billboard was real.

In the 80s(?) a two top sides/flip over hot wheel type car.

*spelling?

Add Chemistry sets, electric build it sets, Microscope sets, airplanes, (prewar) navel nautical equipment, ovens and range tops for girls, Erector style girder sets (both prewar) to start the list.

Actually they owned stock in Airex, but did not actually make the fishing equipment.

Were the ovens operable IE an Easybake or just a toy?

Oh ya, the famous Helios 21, a toy dirigible in '65. Also a child's U drive boat. Don't let the kid go out too far on the lake!

They were more dangerous than a easy bake oven. The oven and stove top had actual stove type burners! Imagine how that would go over today! 

When Uncle Sam curtailed production of most consumer items that used metal, they made a cardboard cutout train set, model buildings and wooden toys during that period.

Remember the (in)famous Paper Train

In 1943, paper cutouts for breakfast cereals were popular. A man who made lots of them obtained permission from Lionel for a paper cutout version of a 224E freight set. Flanged wheels on wooden axles rolled on paper track. The set included three paper workmen, a crossing gate, a crossing signal, three crates and more than 16 feet of paper track.

Assembling all that took a lot of time and patience. After pushing the train an inch or two, something derailed.

Some reproductions have been made. But they do not have the die-cut perforated lines that could be pushed out to free the parts. Everything has to be cut out.

Lionel catalogs in the 1960's document all the diversification. It's sad to see the trains playing second fiddle (and then third and fourth).

I saw a Lionel range for girls in the TCA Museum at Strasburg. A heating filament like those in toasters lay in a circular pattern inside each "burner." I vaguely recall a large light bulb heated the oven. The range was built well, like a real oven range.

Lionel made ship compasses for the navy during the war ( I know, I own one)

  I hadn't realized it was under a separate corporate ID, only that what was good for Airex, was good for Lionel. I wasn't impressed one way or another with the one I used. But it worked.

  Was it a controlling interest? Startup, or a later investment?

 I might don't have a Lionel single electric burner at our cabin. It is a serious "toy" if it is. Come to think of it there is a toy baked enamel sheet metal & cast, gas stove too.

 Non descript rounded aluminum, or stainless cloth cord. Is that it? I used it(electric) once, digging it out of the attic when the gas ran out. Back then, it would have been ground beef, beef franks, eggs, or soup? It didn't turn red hot on high, but cooked....eggs! That's what I cooked two eggs, and it took a few minutes extra.

Gentlemen,

   I also have some very cool Lionel Coffee mugs that I really really like!

PCRR/Dave

Lionel of yesteryear was profligate in ideas and only somewhat askew in execution. Who can't remember their dip into electronic nail clippers, dog breakfast ordering blanks, self-cleaning chimney rims and one of my all-time favorites, after-dinner pun deflectors? They seemed to own the idea factory back then, but unfortunately, too late got into the men's haberdashery sweeps and got swept. Don't believe it? Read this attachment, gleaned from an old issue of "Plassic Toy Trains" I still have in my train larder...

I did not see stereo cameras listed. Lionel made Linex cameras.

I am not certain what Chuck meant by Lionel owning stock in Airex.
They purchased the company. I thought the stuff made after the acquisition has a Lionel mark somewhere. But I am not certain . I'd have to ask my buddy who owns quite a bit of it.

Lionel also purchased Anton electronics, and put their name on Anton stuff.
Anton made Geiger counters. The portable ones from fallout shelters are commonly seen. They also made a laboratory model, and ultrasonic cleaners. This stuff is definitely marked for Lionel.

Lionel made a stockyard fence electrifier called the "Stock Watch".

Update: I found a picture of a Lionel/Airex reel. At least some are marked:

Lionel sure has made some interesting stuff in past, I especially like the ship's compass in the pics that Rob has posted!

In more recent history, however, Lionel has licensed their name, so that other can make products with a Lionel name on it.  Anyone know when this practice started and with what product?

Jim

I'm glad you brought up the stock watch C W. Hardly anyone ever talks about that. Here's a photo from Stout Auctions

Don't know how many of these were actually sold but in the 1962 Lionel catalog there are pages of non-train items Lionel listed in their catalog.

There was the inventor series which featured a small working model(kit) of at least 9 inventions that changed the world.

There are also build your own communication and electronic kits, Like the old Heath kit projects.

Also the plastic lab kits where you could build your own plastic items. By injection molding, blow molding, foam casting, heat seal, plastics chemistry kit.

Lionel also cataloged weather stations, microscope kits, chemistry kits, mineralogy-geology kits, a microscope kit "Lionel-Porter Biocraft" that lets one study plant and animal cells and tissues.

A kit called Mathcraft that let you study math! The Toolcraft that had carpenter tools in it.

AS mentioned in the above posts,phonographs,which came in different colors,

tape recorders, sound studio, and the kids favorite "Talking Teddy"! Talking Teddy was a teddy bear which came with a phonograph and would "talk and sing" to you. The speaker was inside teddy!

Scalextric racing sets made by Lionel-Tri-ang.

Numerous kits which kept your child thinking and exploring unlike the stuff thats out there now!

Now how many of these were actual made?

Was the wood base (and lower 2/3's of the cylinder) the only way this was made?

My memory may be faulty, but I recall someone selling one of these in the Blue Hall at York several years ago, but I thought the whole thing was metal?

-Dave

The Train Room in Hagerstown MD is a great place to see many of the non train items made by Lionel. Here are a few photos from their collection. 

Hey! What about the girls set?

I asked family, its not.

There are many variations.

Here is a link to a list of JLC's inventions.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Lionel_Cowen

RC Cars, around 1981.

Somewhat related to Lionel is a Fundimensions Sound Gizmo from the same time frame:

http://www.miniorgan.com/lib/view.php?miniorgan=61

quote:

The Train Room in Hagerstown MD is a great place to see many of the non train items made by Lionel. Here are a few photos from their collection.

The Train Room has some super rare stuff. And its all nicely displayed.
One example is the U-Drive boat, which is shown in one of Lionel Grandpa's photos.
Well worth a visit.

An interesting item ... for the Lionel "atomic" locomotives?

This is a little out of my way, but I'll have to make a trip here on the way home after finals in a week and a half.

Good posts in this thread. I find Lionel's history really fascinating. It would be neat to see the current company branch into other areas once more and not be such a niche manufacturer. I guess they're doing that to some extent with the NASCAR line, but I feel like most of their products at this point are either for modelers (like the VL products) or play at peoples' nostalgia.

In 1989, during Richard Kughn's ownership, Lionel came out with die cast toy cars that they called Revolvers, where you essentially get two cars in one - flip the car over to reveal a different scheme or model. It was meant to get in on the same action companies like Hot Wheels and Matchbox were already in. A pretty creative idea in my opinion, sadly the idea didn't last long...

Here is a Halloween treat bag from Lionel Kiddie City big box toy store.

Notice Hoppy their kangaroo Mascot competing with Geoffery the Toys R Us Giraffe.

Lionel made a working model kit of a Cartwright Loom (the manual version). Once built, you could thread it and it could actually produce fabric. Years after I built the model, I saw the real thing and actually was allowed to help set it up and make a few passes. I also believe Lionel made a microscope as well.

quote:

In 1989, during Richard Kughn's ownership, Lionel came out with die cast toy cars that they called Revolvers, where you essentially get two cars in one - flip the car over to reveal a different scheme or model. It was meant to get in on the same action companies like Hot Wheels and Matchbox were already in. A pretty creative idea in my opinion, sadly the idea didn't last long...

I agree it was a creative idea. But did you ever try them? I had a bunch, and gave them to my kids, with the "Overdrive Stunt Set". They were poorly made. Compared to Hot Wheels, they rolled very poorly. The spring mechanism that was supposed to keep the center portion of the car raised didn't work well. So the center portion often dropped down and dragged on the ground, making the car roll even more poorly, and scuffing the finish.

Yet I still have a bunch of the cars, mint on the card, put away, as well as an unopened Overdrive Stunt set. The kids cars are still around too, but the first Overdrive Stunt Set is gone.

That Lionel compass is very high quality.  I used one at sea and it works very well.

Bill

Member of the future layout club.

In addition to the ship's compass and binicle shown above, Lionel made a lifeboat compass, and a hand held field compass for the military.
They also made a Polarus, and a taff rail log.

They also made military field telephones, and morse code keys.

I will probably think of more.

I remember seeing an ad for the oven/range.

I own a military morse code key.  I picked it up at a yard sale with a separate practice speaker (not lionel), and it wasn't until I got home and took the key apart to clean it that I found the "L" logo on the base.  Nice quality.

That's it, the "flip car". I think I gave mine away to some bored kids. But if I didn't they are still on the cards too.

What's a Polarus? I couldn't find a reference(polaris 4 wheelers "Bombardiered" me)   I know what a taffrail is, for a mizzen coarse sail. And I doubt its a book, so the log must be the later navigation tool for speed, depth & currents dragged behind a ship used in place of a knotted rope drag line?