Trix metal construction kit
The Trix metal construction kit established the success of the Trix brand from the United Toy Factories Nuremberg taken over by Stephan Bing . For more than 66 years, this metal construction kit was the second mainstay of the company alongside the model railways and was known worldwide. As early as August 1931, around four years before the Trix Express model railroad was presented at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1935, the Trix metal construction kit went on sale in Germany in series. Metal construction sets, like those made by the Meccano and Märklin companies at the time, were considered teaching aids rather than toys at the time. Thus this metal construction kit was initially given the officially registered name “Volksbaukasten”. After a very successful start, sales expanded to 1940 both at home and abroad. Even after the Second World War, the Trix metal construction kit held its own on the toy market until the early 1970s. Subsequently, after a long phase of stagnation, at the turn of the year 1997/98, the final end of production.
The early years (1928 to 1941)
Stephan Bing , CEO of Bing Werke AG until 1927, seized the opportunity in October 1928 to buy the United Toy Factory Andreas Förtner & J. Haffner's Nachf., A limited liability company , together with some proven employees .
He was assisted by the technical director Siegfried Kahn, who developed the Trix metal construction kit. An essential element of this modular system was a new, specially developed three-hole system, which made it possible to fasten screws , offset in three rows per ribbon, in a simple manner without twisting. The three-hole arrangement was probably also the name giver for the later global company Trix - but this issue is controversial. The outstanding educational value of the metal construction kit, which introduced numerous generations to technical and scientific professions in the 20th century, is undisputed. The Trix Volks metal construction kit was presented for the first time in August 1931 at the Leipzig autumn fair.
Thanks to the extremely low sales prices, the Trix construction kits quickly found widespread use in Germany. Before the Second World War, the small starter packs were available for as little as 50 pfennigs. This price roughly corresponded to the pocket money of young people at the time. With a little practice and imagination, you were able to independently construct several small models from the initial sets. The leaflet with parts list and instructions enclosed with each box already helped; there were three more detailed instruction books for larger construction projects. If you needed more components, you went to the nearest toy store and bought more “surprise bags”, as the components wrapped in paper were popularly known.
Trix was very proud to have a total of only 48 different basic elements as components in the program. With other manufacturers, on the other hand, there was an unmanageable number of very different components, some of which were only intended for special construction projects and could not be used universally for the construction of other models. In all of its building instructions, Trix always stated which and how many basic sets were required to build a particular model. For example, if you wanted to build a " gantry crane ", the instructions specified exactly which boxes and which additional individual parts were required.
Spurred on by the great demand, Trix continuously increased the range and designed additional packs. In the course of time, numerous variants of construction kits were created which, depending on the content and scope, corresponded to the most diverse requirements of its growing buyers. Versatile mobile drive elements from clockwork to electric coils to battery-powered electric motors expanded the product range and also met high technical demands. However, the gravity drive introduced with the Motosand box (through the trickling sand) remained a technical marginal phenomenon , apparently it had too few possible applications. Like the Trix Electro 12 (with twice the content as Electro 11 ), this set was only in the sales range for a few years. From 1934 onwards, Trix organized nationwide model building competitions that boosted both the sales figures and the inventiveness of the mostly young participants - it is certain that many adults were involved in the model designs. In many cases, numerous new designs were created during this time that could not be found in any instruction book. In turn, the manufacturer benefited from this wealth of ideas by transferring the best ideas into the product range.
All in all, the Trix modular system was far superior to the Meccano and Märklin systems in terms of the variability of the design options. Nevertheless, the Trix construction kits also had their weaknesses. In particular, the simple, almost rough design of the components as well as the inadequate tools included repeatedly gave rise to criticism. Ultimately, however, it was only the simple equipment that enabled the low sales prices and the associated high editions in the period before the Second World War.
In a shop price list of the items that are expected to be available in 1941 , the metal construction kit packs 1 and 1a are still listed. According to the current state of knowledge, there is no later printed matter about the Trix metal construction kit, so that it must be assumed that production was discontinued at the beginning of 1941 due to the war, because the manufacturing facilities were used for armaments production.
Further development and end (1948 to 1998)
After the currency reform in 1948, there was a major change in the system: The threads were changed to the metric M3.5 thread, whereby the holes in the components remained unchanged, but the screws were no longer compatible. The pre-war thread was similar to the US # 6-32 UNC with a flank angle of 60 degrees.
Trix also went over to making the individual basic and additional boxes such as 1 (8941), 1A (8942), 1B (8943), 1C (8944), 1D (8945) and the electrical box (450/11) larger in various combinations Merge sales units. The construction sets “ Junior Trix ”, “Element Trix”, “Moto Trix” and “Present Trix”, which were popular at the time, appeared at short intervals . In the 1960s, the “Master Trix”, “Engineer Trix” and “Trix Assistant” kits followed. At the same time, there were still the small basic sets from the pre-war era as well as important individual parts such as B. rubber tires (450) in different sizes, the electric motors (2050 for direct current , 2060 for alternating current) and the wind-up clockwork (2170) with forward and reverse rotation as an alternative drive variant. Thus the universal range of the Trix metal construction kit system for almost all age groups was perfected. Even adults found pleasure in the interesting and technically diverse construction options.
The official sales prices were adjusted to the then still small budget of the population. With the exception of “Present Trix” and “Moto Trix”, which went over the counter for 19.95 DM and 10.95 DM respectively, most of the items from this series were affordable. The prices for the basic and additional sets were between 1.25 and 1.50 DM and for the "Element Trix" set around 4, - DM. Accessories such as the Trix electric motors (3.50 DM) and that were a bit more expensive Trix movement (DM 5.75). The new engineer template book with numerous updated building instructions was available from 1950 for 2.50 DM, the Element instruction booklet for 0.60 DM. For the particularly hard-working hobbyist, empty, highly polished wooden boxes were offered with space for approx. 60 basic sets for 9.50 DM. All prices mentioned refer to the first years of the post-war era. In the later years there were considerable price increases, depending on the article, especially for the large construction kits.
In the late 1970s, general interest in metal construction kits decreased significantly. The Walther company , which had already been on the market with its "Stabil construction kit" since 1904, stopped all production. Even the market leader Märklin reduced its production during this time. Also Trix did not escape this downward trend, yet the company launched in the facelift again vigorously. Among other things, further, complementary components such as B. a particularly long flat band with a total of 28 drilled openings and a larger grooved wheel as a rim for the new large rubber tires. The instruction booklets enclosed in the boxes have also been editorially revised and freshly published with numerous new photos and diagrams. At that time, TRIX also delivered an ALS learning kit , which was intended as a construction material for school-based knowledge lessons and was intended to further spread the material.
Despite all efforts - the classic metal construction kit had outlived itself. The interests of young buyers were in a state of flux in the 1980s. After a long phase of stagnation, the final end came immediately with the delivery of the last modular model ( Bugatti racing car type 57, circulation: 333 pieces) at the turn of the year 1997/98. With that, an outstanding product of the German toy industry disappeared, which after all existed for a period of 66 years.
Literature (selection)
- J. Franzke (Ed.): TRIX - United toy factories. Schuco, Bing & Co., 2000, Vol. 4, pp. 10-16.
- H. Schwarz, A. Henze, M. Faber: Eisenzeit. The history of the metal construction kit. In: Writings of the Nuremberg Toy Museum, Volume I. Nuremberg 1995.
