Lego VS Elgo

[Electricsteam]

Another early brick building toy was Elgo American Plastic bricks. Aside from the close sounding name I don't really know much about them, I assume they tried to knock off Lego with the studs and tubes. Anyone know the history behind this toy?

[tkatt]

[anothergol]

Anyone know the history behind this toy?

According to who?

According to Lego, Lego is all original, no one ever made building blocks before them, everything else is a ripoff :)

Hard to believe it's a coincidence, but Lego was named Lego in 1934, for Elgo it seems uncertain, while what's certain is that their blocks appeared before Lego's.

Good info here, although it's lacking the precious date:

http://www.toyhistory.com/Halsam.html

They were pioneers into plastic toys with their Elgo (ELliot+Goss) division. Beginning with bakelite dominos and checkers, they improved their products through the use of plastic-injection molding. In 19__, a small Danish company named Lego came to Chicago to meet with Halsam officials. It seemed that Lego also made plastic building bricks and was set to begin marketing in the United States. Because the products and the company names (Elgo and Lego) were so similar, the Danish officials wanted to avoid and unpleasantness. Sam's son, Bill Goss (the first to speak with Lego officials), remembers the Lego executives as upstanding and forthright. Lego paid Halsam a sum of $25,000 to square itself and clear the way for their arrival in America. The rest, they say, is history.

Edited March 13, 2016 by anothergol

[Electricsteam]

According to who?

According to Lego, Lego is all original, no one ever made building blocks before them, everything else is a ripoff :)

:P I really like the Elgo system 90% 2x4 with a whole bunch of doors and windows to use.

[Poop-I thought this might fall under lego history, my bad mods]

Edited March 13, 2016 by Electricsteam

[mpfirnhaber]

Elgo plastic bricks are a continuation of a line of wooden building blocks made by Halsam, who patented their bricks in 1941. The first plastic versions came about in the late 40s. Lego didn't introduce tubes to their bricks until 1958.

The name Elgo is a combination of the names of the two foudners of Halsam: Hal Eliott and Sam Goss.

As such, calling Elgo a "kockoff" of Lego is not accurate. If you insist on using the phrase, then let's stick to calling Lego a "knockoff' of Kiddicraft :)

[rodiziorobs]

My parents have a bunch of these from when they cleaned out my grandma's old house. I never realized what the brand was, as none of the bricks are stamped (or are they? I don't remember) and the packaging didn't survive.

Theirs are mixed with apparently a knock-off Elgo--some bricks which are compatible but a different mold, with different texture and terrible clutch. Since they are not Lego compatible, I guess I never saw them as a knock-off, nor realized there was such a difference in age--they were like Lincoln Logs or Tinkertoy in that regard--similar to Lego but altogether separate.

I will have to take a closer look at them next time I visit.

Edited March 15, 2016 by rodiziorobs