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Simple, block-shaped toys have been around for hundreds of years, but it took a 20th-century Danish genius named Ole Kirk Christiansen to invent the interlocking pieces we know today as LEGO bricks. It all started in 1932 in the village of Billund, long before LEGO had achieved world domination as a brand.
A master joiner and carpenter, Christiansen opened a humble woodworking shop with his son Godtfred, just 12 years old at the time. They manufactured stepladders, ironing boards and later expanded to make wooden toys, and in 1934 dubbed their business LEGO, a contraction of the Danish “leg godt” (“play well”).
And play well they did. The company expanded from only six employees in 1934 to forty in 1942. LEGO was also fairly progressive, and became an early adopter of new technologies and materials. In fact, the group became the first Danish company to own a plastic injection-molding machine. When the Christiansens came across prototypes of a British toy called “Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks” in 1947, they adopted the idea and started manufacturing their own version two years later. The bricks had pegs on top and hollow bottoms, allowing children to lock the bricks together and create elaborate structures never possible with the simple wooden blocks of yesteryear.
Dubbing them the (decidedly un-catchy) “Automatic Binding Bricks,” they were the forerunner to today’s LEGO brick. But they hadn’t quite got the formula right yet. The bricks lacked the tubes found inside modern LEGOs which greatly improve stability. Further, it seemed the world wasn’t ready for plastic toys just yet; sales of plastic LEGO toys in the early 50s were mediocre at best.
In 1958, the LEGO brick finally came into its own. And while founder Ole Kirk Christiansen never lived to see his company’s heyday, his son Godtfred Christiansen pioneered and patented the now-standard LEGO stud-and-tube configuration, and introduced roof bricks to the “LEGO System of Play,” which was comprised of 28 sets and 8 vehicles.
After a devastating warehouse fire in 1960, the company decided to ditch production of wooden toys altogether and focus instead on plastics.
LEGO hasn’t changed the design of their brick since then, which means today’s sets are compatible with sets from 1958 onward.
More LEGO fun: In 1961, the LEGO wheel was invented. At first blush that may not sound as momentous as humanity’s initial development of the wheel (approximately 5,000 B.C.E.), but considering that today LEGO turns out more than 300 million tiny wheels per year, it actually makes them the most prolific wheel manufacturer in the world. Along with 3,000 other types of pieces, they’re packaged into 37,000 LEGO sets per hour. And according to LEGO, the process they use to mold their plastic is so accurate that a mere 18 out of every million bricks fails to meet quality standards.
But whatever you do, don’t call them LEGOS. This note used to greet visitors to legos.com:
This article was written by Ransom Riggs and excerpted from the mental_floss book In the Beginning: The Origins of Everything. You can pick up a copy in our store.
Comments (28)
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LEGO bricks or toys are awesome, but I hate the new sets where every piece is a weird shape made specifically to build a robot or whatever. Why bother with LEGO (bricks or toys) when you could just buy an identical, premade robot? I’ll stick to standard square/rectangle incarnations, thank you.
posted by adrienne on 8-21-2008 at 12:03 am
I’m with adrienne on this one. It’s so much more fun when you see what you can create with only the basic blocks.
posted by nutmeag on 8-21-2008 at 7:18 am
LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS!
Try and stop me!
posted by Ryan on 8-21-2008 at 9:49 am
I can understand your points, adrienne and nutmeag, but my 6-year-old mix and matches those “weird” pieces to make his own robots, spaceships, etc., so it’s still the same fun for him as it was for you with the basic blocks — it’s all about the creation, even more than the final product.
posted by IAinND on 8-21-2008 at 9:51 am
Legos are great, but where do K’Nex fall in with this category of toys? I’d love to see a piece about them.
posted by bas on 8-21-2008 at 12:10 pm
While in the military, I visited “Legoland” in Bullund, Denmark. They had amusement rides in the shape of GIANT Legos. Also, Mt. Rushmore, The Eiffel Tower and other world landmarks made entirely of legos. Have not seen that many pieces of legos since. So when I see these pics of these lego sculptures, those are nothing compared to the legos I’ve seen.
posted by Jay on 8-21-2008 at 12:14 pm
Great article ~ although I’d have to lean toward agreeing with adrienne and nutmeag on the new generation and all of the weird blocks. On the other hand, IAinND, my wife and I are having our first baby in about a month, so I’ll start buying up LEGO sets for her and see how she does! (Then, once we’ve established that she can be trusted to not break things, she can add Daddy’s old pieces to her collection!)
posted by Roger on 8-21-2008 at 12:44 pm
I was fascinated by Duplos as a kid. I’m going to look up info on them right now.
posted by Shasta on 8-21-2008 at 2:00 pm
I believe they also hold the record for “Most Painful Toy to Step On Barefoot at Night”
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 8-21-2008 at 10:38 pm
I completely agree, PartiallyDeflected.
Also, I’ve always called them LEGOS. I use it in a loving manner that reflects the hours and hours I spent playing with them as a child. Hmmm. Interesting move, LEGO group.
posted by Kieran on 8-22-2008 at 12:34 am
Lego bricks, Legos, schmegos! We all love our plastic building blocks, whatever we call ‘em. My favorite Lego artist is Nathan Sawaya…check him out via my name/link. His little anecdotes that go with his sculptures are witty and fun, as well. I wish I lived in NYC – I might well stalk him. LoL.
posted by Nori on 8-23-2008 at 3:47 pm
It’s funny because as a girl I was always the one that loved boy toys more than girl toys-true…hang with the boys-true be a “boy”-false me and my boyfriend enjoy playing boy games and he doesn’t look at me differently and we love LEGOS! yes they are painful to step on but hey at least we all had good times with them!
posted by Brianna on 12-10-2008 at 4:23 pm
….What makes Legos a boy toy?
posted by Angel on 12-10-2008 at 10:10 pm
I thought the new “sets” were weird, too, until my son started getting them. While he also loves his large box of random regular Legos, he is crazy about the sets. I like that he follows the building plan step by step and concentrates so much. He is 6 and builds sets like the 700 some piece Star Wars ships, etc. The satisfaction he gets when completing a project is immense, and he never gets tired of them. BTW, I will never call them “Lego building bricks”…. they are LEGOS, period.
posted by Shannon on 3-25-2009 at 10:46 pm
@Angel – This was news to me too, but apparently LEGOS are thought of as boy toys by lots of people. My friends’ daughters have about a million baby dolls and Disney princess figurines, but no LEGOS. I think they’re missing out; LEGOS were my favorite toy growing up! I had a giant tackle box with all my LEGO pieces organized in the compartments by size and color. I guess it’s no surprise I ended up an engineer…
posted by erininhouston on 5-12-2009 at 11:57 am
I grew up with Lego building blocks back in 1964 here in the states. In 1985-86 lived in Jelling Denmark about 10 miles from Bilund. It is an amazing place to visit. If you pronouce Lego it like we do in the US (Leg-goes) to a Dane they will look at you like you grew a new head. It is pronounced more like Lee’goh (very short go with the slightest hint of a t or h at the end).
posted by David G, Columbus OH on 5-28-2009 at 12:55 pm
I’m 31 and I still have legos that I play with. I think they are an integral part of spacial and mechanical development for children. I had many sets that I enjoyed but it was making spring loaded guns and catapults that really took up my time. And even for a while using the robotic sets that I think will help interest children in building and designing the machines of the future.
posted by lsmith on 7-14-2009 at 4:56 am
I just sent my old Legos (sorry LEGO) to my nephew in VA. He got some Legos thru school (I hope they were donated, I’d hate to think our schools spend $$ on Legos), and he was fascinated.
I got a call the night my Mom had arrived w/ the Legos and they were already building things. My sets had a 2 large flat pieces for putting a bldg on, so they built a cabin, instead of the usual spaceships.
posted by Jonny on 7-19-2009 at 3:47 pm
Mental Floss has probably already done a story about “The Man Who Saved Christmas” starring Jason Alexander. the story of the inventor of the Erector Set construction toy,great product, spent many ours as a child creating structures with those toys, good for developing manual dexterity i’m sure as all the bolts,nuts washers, hand tool needed were very small
posted by murphy on 8-7-2009 at 9:31 pm
I think all building toys are great. Whenever you hear the history of an inovative person, they will always mention a building toy that fueled thier imagination.
Note to all parents buy these toys for your kids now, we need all the crative people we can get.
posted by SkyGirl on 8-9-2009 at 5:31 pm
i LOVE legos! they are awsome. i like the littel people. but i wish that they would make more girl loego people tho. o well…..
posted by kandice on 8-10-2009 at 12:34 am
I hate it that Lego parts are now made in China. It is a matter of time before some parts get recalled. It will be a major headache to locate all the pieces that get recalled since we have so many sets and they are scattered all over!
posted by pf on 8-11-2009 at 12:54 am
Lego parts made in China? Wow!
posted by pf on 8-11-2009 at 1:11 am
OMG! I can’t believe it! I just looked at my son’s birthday present, NXT 2.0. And it did say components made in Denmark, China… Argh! I actually paid over $300 for something made in China. Shame on Lego! I will have to be more careful when I buy Lego next time.
posted by SoloMom on 8-11-2009 at 9:31 pm
I have been getting Lego sets for my birthdays, special occasions and Christmas. I find that my older sets hold up better when played with. The newer and bigger sets tend to fall apart when moved. And Lego makes a fortune with the Star Wars sets! Because my parents really like SW and now my brother and I do too!
posted by Michael on 8-12-2009 at 2:17 am
During the World War years toys were made primarily of wood or pasteboard because of the unavailibility of metals due to the ‘war effort’. For Christmas 1942 at the age of seven I was the lucky recipient of a small set of “American Bricks” – the wooden version. Because of my love for this toy, the following Christmas I got a much, much larger set to augment my original small set. These may well have been the forerunner of Legos as they were similar to the size of the Legos.
There are actually old sets available on eBay – mostly as a later plastic version but still some in the original wood configuration. I’ve been tempted by nostalgia.
posted by Chuck on 9-16-2009 at 11:16 pm
The admonition against calling the pieces “LEGOS” vs “LEGO bricks or toys” is simply about the LEGO trademark and potential brand name dilution. They are simply trying to keep the name from becoming a generic description of a building block toy.
posted by The Count on 10-5-2009 at 8:56 am
You want to get lawyers contacting you about brand names in a hurry? Just refer to something as being similar to “a Zamboni” in an article and you’ll quickly be informed that the Zamboni is a brand name for an “ice conditioning machine” and should not be referred to that way.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 10-23-2009 at 1:10 pm