an old-style steel toy dump truck by Tonka

Tonka is an American toy company most known for its signature toy trucks and construction equipment. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. This article is about the semi-truck For the North American use of the word see Pickup truck. Engineering vehicles, known by the other terms construction Equipment, earth movers heavy equipment or just plain equipment are machines specifically designed to execute

On September 19, 1946 Mound Metalcraft was created in Mound, Minnesota with three men as partners, Lynn Everett Baker (1898-1964), Avery F. Events 335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Mound is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Crounse, and Alvin F. Tesch. The first products produced by the fledgling company were two versions of a metal tie-rack. Their original intent was to manufacture garden implements. However when their building's former occupants, the Streater Company, attempted to market two metal toys and failed, the three men at Mound Metalcraft thought they might make a good side line to their other products. After some modifications to the design by Alvin Tesch and the addition of a new logo created by Erling Eklof with the Dakota-Sioux word "Tonka", which means "Great" or "Big", the company began selling metal toys. This soon became the primary business. ^[1] On November 23, 1955, Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys Incorporated. Events 800 - Charlemagne arrives at Rome to investigate the alleged crimes of Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The logo at this time was an oval, showing the Tonka Toys name in red above waves, presumably honoring nearby Lake Minnetonka[1]. Lake Minnetonka is a Lake in the US state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history the lake has been a Resort destination Celebrating the company's 60th anniversary, Tonka released a big dump-truck toy. The impact of the Tonka truck concept has been enduring and pervasive.

The company was purchased by Hasbro of Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1991. Hasbro ( is an American Toy company It is one of the largest toy makers in the world second only to the toy giant Mattel. Pawtucket (pronounced Pa-TUCK-et is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. Rhode Island ( officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States

Other products

Tonka has produced a wide variety of toys over the years, including dolls (Star Fairies, Bathing Beauties and Hollywoods) and other toys aimed at girls like Keypers. A doll is an object that represents a baby or other human being but includes likenesses of animals and imaginary creatures Bathing Beauties was a 1980s toy series of the Tonka company The dolls were designed to be taken within the bath by children Hollywoods was a doll toy series of the 1980s made by the Tonka company Keypers are Toys from the 1980s era Keypers also had a Cartoon on TV for a short period of time and released a few Videocassettes with episodes They were also the original manufacturers of the Pound Puppies toyline. Pound Puppies was a toyline sold by Hornby in the 1980s It later inspired an animated TV special an animated TV series and a feature film

They have also produced a variety of computer games, including Tonka Raceway, and purchased the rights for the Sega Master System after Sega decided to stop competing against the Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S.. The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based Video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986. is a multinational Video game Software and Hardware development company and a former Home computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by The United States of America —commonly referred to as the However, the Master System's market share declined, since Tonka didn't have experience with video games or how to market them.

Hasbro sold the digital gaming rights for various properties (including My Little Pony, Magic: The Gathering, Tonka, Playskool, and Transformers) to Infogrames for USD$100 million in 2000, buying back the rights for USD$66 million in June 2005. My Little Pony is a line of colorful Toy ponies marketed primarily to young girls and produced by the toy manufacturer Hasbro. This article is somewhat over-complete Please do not add significant new content without first discussing it on the talk page Playskool is a Toy brand owned by Hasbro. The toys are intended for children and babies who are up to five years old Infogrames Entertainment SA ( IESA) ( is an international Holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. ^[2]

In 1964, Tonka acquired the Mell Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois, allowing Tonka to expand into producing barbecue grills, eventually under the "Tonka Firebowl" label. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. barbeque block party Kansas cityjpg|thumb|right|275px|A barbecue on a trailer at a Block party in Kansas City. There are multiple varieties of grills, with most falling into one of two categories Gas - Fueled and Charcoal. ^[3][4]

The Winifred Museum in Winifred, Montana, has a collection of more than 3,000 Tonka toys, possibly the largest collection in the world, according to the museum. Winifred is a town in north-central Fergus County, Montana, United States. ^[5]

References

1. ^ Tonka by Dennis David and Lloyd Laumann
2. ^ "HASBRO REACQUIRES DIGITAL GAMING RIGHTS FROM INFOGRAMES FOR $66 MILLION", Hasbro press release, 8 June 2005.
3. ^ Dennis David, Lloyd L. Laumann, Tonka, 2004, MBI Publishing Company, pp. 85-6, ISBN 0760318689
4. ^ LIFE Magazine ad, May 27, 1966, 2Neat Magazines
5. ^ Winifred Museum home page, accessed May 11, 2008

External links

• Tonka Trucks - The Tonka web site
• Tonka Toys - Comprehensive collector site
• Neat Old Toys - Site with large amount of information on Tonka history
• The Rock Lords collector archives - Collector guide for the Rock Lords toyline from Tonka/Bandai
• Action Figure Archive - Vintage Tonka action figures guide, message boards and online store. Events 330 - Byzantium is renamed ''Nova Roma'' during a dedication ceremony but is more popularly referred to as Constantinople 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common