Where were lego bricks invented

Обновлено: 03.05.2024

Subcategory: Construction set

Inventor: Ole Kirk Christiansen

Producer: The LEGO Group (founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 )

Production start: 1932 (marketed since 1935) - Billund, Denmark

Features: In 1932 Ole Kirk Kristiansen, master carpenter and joiner, establishes his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. His firm manufactures stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys such as cars, aeroplanes and yoyo's. His son Godtfred starts working in the business at the age of 12 and creating models at 17. In 1946 the LEGO Group is the first in Denmark to buy a plastic injection-moulding machine for toy production. At the machine demonstration in Copenhagen the British salesman has given Ole Kirk Kristiansen a handful of plastic bricks to take away with him. The bricks have been invented by a Briton, Hilary Fisher Page, but they have not been a success for his company, Kiddicraft. Ole and son begin redesigning the plastic cubes and in 1949 the company launches its first building set: Automatic Binding Bricks, a forerunner of the LEGO bricks we know today.

Interesting facts : In 1934 the company and its products adopt the name LEGO, formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well"). Later, it is realised that in Latin the word means "I put together".

First LEGO product line (1932)

LEGO Duck (1935), the first toy marketed by LEGO, made of birch wood.

LEGO Yo Yo (the surplus was used as wheels on the wooden cars and carts) and the early cars with the LEGO logo (1930s).

LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks (1949). The first LEGO bricks were the 2x2 and 2x4 slotted bricks. They were only sold in Denmark. These bricks had no "LEGO" text embossed anywhere on the brick, introduced only in 1953 with the new series "LEGO Mursten". Windows and Doors with wings that slotted into the slots in the ends of the bricks, were also introduced in 1949.

LEGO Toy Building Bricks, figure from Patent (Oct. 24, 1961, filed July 28, 1958) granted to Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the third son of Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks by the Briton Mr. Harry Fisher Page. LEGO reprised the design of this set to create Automatic Binding Bricks, after examining a sample given by the British supplier of the first injection moulding machine they had purchased.

Ole Kirk Christiansen (Filskov, Apr. 7, 1891 – Mar. 11, 1958), master carpenter and joiner, inventor of the LEGO construction toys and founder of the LEGO company.

Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell.

Hailed as the “Toy of the Century,” the plastic Lego bricks that make up the Lego System of Play were invented by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a master carpenter, and his son, Godtfred Kirk. From these small interlocking bricks, which can be connected to assemble an infinite number of designs, Lego has evolved into a huge worldwide enterprise that makes toys and movies and runs theme parks.

But before all that, Lego began as a carpentry business in the village of Billund, Denmark in 1932. Although he initially made stepladders and ironing boards, wooden toys became Christiansen’s most successful product.

The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934. LEGO is formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" meaning "play well." Fittingly enough, the company later learned that in Latin, "lego" means "I put together."

In 1947, the LEGO company was the first in Denmark to use a plastic injection molding machine for making toys. This allowed the company to manufacture Automatic Binding Bricks, created in 1949. These larger bricks, sold only in Denmark, deployed the stud-and-tube coupling system that was the forerunner of the Lego bricks the world has come to know.

Five years later, in 1954, the redesigned components were renamed "LEGO Mursten" or "LEGO Bricks" and the word LEGO was officially registered as a trademark in Denmark, positioning the company to launch the "LEGO System of Play" with 28 sets and 8 vehicles.

Today Lego is one of the biggest and most profitable toy companies in the world, with little sign of slowing down. And the LEGO brand has gone well beyond plastic toys: dozens of video games based on LEGO have been released, and in 2014 debuted to critical acclaim.

Everyone's favorite building blocks were born in 1958

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

B.A., History, University of California at Davis

The small, colorful bricks that encourage a child's imagination with their multitude of building possibilities have spawned two movies and Legoland theme parks. But more than that, these simple building blocks keep children as young as 5 engaged in creating castles, towns and space stations, and anything else their creative minds can think of. This is the epitome of the educational toy wrapped up in fun. These attributes have made Lego an icon in the toy world.

Beginnings

The company that makes these famous interlocking bricks started as a small shop in Billund, Denmark. The company was established in 1932 by master carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who was aided by his 12-year-old son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. It made wooden toys, stepladders, and ironing boards. It wasn't until two years later that the business took the name of Lego, which came from the Danish words "LEg GOdt," meaning "play well."

Over the next several years, the company grew exponentially. From just a handful of employees in the early years, Lego had grown to 50 employees by 1948. The product line had grown as well, with the addition of a Lego duck, clothes hangers, a Numskull Jack on the goat, a plastic ball for babies, and some wooden blocks.

In 1947, the company made a huge purchase that was to transform the company and make it world-famous and a household name. In that year, Lego bought a plastic injection-molding machine, which could mass produce plastic toys. By 1949, Lego was using this machine to produce about 200 different kinds of toys, which included automatic binding bricks, a plastic fish and a plastic sailor. The automatic binding bricks were the predecessors of the Lego toys of today.

Birth of the Lego Brick

In 1953, the automatic binding bricks were renamed Lego bricks. In 1957, the interlocking principle of Lego bricks was born, and in 1958, the stud-and-coupling system was patented, which added significant stability to built pieces. And this transformed them into the Lego bricks children use today. Also in 1958, Ole Kirk Christiansen died and his son Godtfred became head of the Lego company.

By the early 1960s, Lego had gone international, with sales in Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, and Lebanon. Over the next decade, Lego toys were available in more countries, and they came to the United States in 1973.

Lego Sets

In 1964, for the first time, consumers could buy Lego sets, which included all the parts and instructions to build a particular model. In 1969, the Duplo series—bigger blocks for smaller hands—was introduced for the 5-and-under set. Lego later introduced themed lines, including town (1978), castle (1978), space (1979), pirates (1989), Western (1996), Star Wars (1999), and Harry Potter (2001). Figures with movable arms and legs were introduced in 1978.

As of 2018, Lego has sold 75 billion of its bricks in more than 140 countries Since the middle of the 20th century, these small plastic bricks have sparked the imagination of children around the world, and Lego sets have a stronghold on their place at the top of the list of the world's most popular toys.

Read the text below and choose the correct word (A, B, C or D) for each space.

Where Were LOGO Bricks Invented?

In 1932, a carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen started a company in Billund, Denmark, that (1) . wood stepladders, ironing boards, and toys. He named the company LEGO, a word (2) . by combining the first two letters of leg and godt, the Danish word (3) . "play well." Soon, Kristiansen was making only high-quality toys out of wood.

After World War II, LEGO started producing plastic toys. In 1949, the company launched Automatic Binding Bricks, its first interlocking construction blocks. In the 1950s, the name was changed to LEGO bricks, and the company came out with the LEGO System of Play, which included 28 sets and 8 vehicles. It (4) . began selling the toys (5) . of Denmark for the first time. In 1958, LEGO received a patent for the modern bricks so famous today. The new bricks not only had studs on top, but tubes inside that lock onto the studs of (6) . bricks and hold them securely together.

1. A) did	B) turned	C) reached	D) made
2. A) formed	B) organised	C) sorted	D) regulated
3. A) from	B) for	C) to	D) after
4. A) too	B) either	C) also	D) above
5. A) outside	B) apart	C) away	D) outdoors
6. A) next	B) another	C) other	D) others

Test Answers!

GAP 1 (MADE)
MAKE => to create, to produce.
IRREGULAR VERB (MAKE - MADE - MADE)
Examples:
This car is made in Germany. V
He made tea for us all. V

GAP 2 (FORMED)
FORM => to make something by combining two or more parts.
VERB
Examples:
She didn't see enough of the film to form an opinion about it. V
In English the past tense of a verb is usually formed by adding 'ed' V

GAP 3 (FOR)
FOR => used to say what a word or sign means.
PREPOSITION
Examples:
Red roses are for love. V
What's the German word for 'dictionary'? V

GAP 4 (ALSO)
ALSO => in addition, too.
ADVERB
Examples:
~~She speaks French fluently and also she speaks some English.~~ X
She speaks French fluently and she also speaks some English. V

GAP 5 (OUTSIDE)
OUTSIDE => not in a particular city, country etc.
PREPOSITION
Examples:
~~Alan stood outside of the building.~~ X
Alan stood outside the building. V

GAP 6 (OTHER)
OTHER => the second of two things, the rest, extra.
DETERMINER
Examples:
~~Go and play with some others kids.~~ X OTHER never has an 's' before a NOUN!
Go and play with some other kids. V

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 BCE), 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 3000 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.

This article was written by Ransom Riggs and excerpted from the Mental Floss book In the Beginning: The Origins of Everything.

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