Page 165 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

products was provided by the hundreds of other hobbyists interested in
miniature ships and ship parts. Eventually what started out as a hobby
became one of the largest businesses of its kind.

Electrical Toy Sells Out State Street

F

OR perhaps a year or more, an editor on a Chicago business publication had
been working on an electrical toy. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing
remarkable about this toy. When you picked it up you thought it just another
“Jack-in-the-box.” When the little hook holding “Jack” in the box was lifted,
however, there really was a surprise in store for you. “Jack” had two big
electrical eyes which lit up fiery red when he popped out of the box!

When the toy was ready for market, the editor, who had had considerable
selling experience, decided to take it around to the store buyers himself. This
was in September. By the middle of November he had sold every store on
State Street, except the largest, whose toy buyer had been too busy to give the
toy any real study. The small factory handling the production of the toy had
made up the quantity the inventor thought would sell the first holiday season.
But now demands for the toy came from outlying stores and also from the
“big” store. However, he had made the profit he had set out to make that year
and the other buyers had to wait until the following Christmas for stock. The
next year a much larger quantity of the toys was made up and again he sold
out.

The mechanical or electrical toy field offers a rich market for the inventor
who can capture a new idea in toys or take an old idea that has been on the
market and put it in a new dress. Every holiday, fond mothers and fathers, to
say nothing of grandparents, aunts and uncles, search the toy sections for
something new and different for Jimmie or Sally Ann. Their wants are
insatiable and the inventor who can satisfy those wants will profit
handsomely.