When was legos invented

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 , the LEGO brick finally came into its own.

After a devastating warehouse fire in , 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 onward.

At first blush that may not sound as momentous as humanity's initial development of the wheel approximately 5, BCE , but considering that today LEGO turns out more than million tiny wheels per year, it actually makes them the most prolific wheel manufacturer in the world. The plastic is heated to degrees. The softened plastic is forced into molds using 25 to tons of pressure. The plastic cools in less than 10 seconds and is then ejected into large bins. Christiansen insisted on making the highest-quality toys possible, which explains why Legos fit together so perfectly.

Each Lego mold is accurate to within two-thousandths of a millimeter. In my opinion, the most amazing Lego sculptor is Nathan Sawaya. Bowed by personal and financial disaster, Christiansen laid off much of his staff and struggled to make ends meet.

Since times were so hard, Christiansen made the hard decision to use his wood to create inexpensive goods that might actually sell. Among them were cheap toys. Christiansen actually slid into bankruptcy, but refused to stop making toys when his siblings tried to make it a condition of a bailout loan. But his love of toys pushed the company ahead, even when it limped.

Christiansen may have been a good ironing-board builder, but it turned out he was a brilliant toymaker. He refused to cut corners for the toys his company produced. Soon, his prototypes for ingenious models of cars and animals and his adorable pull toys gained a national fanbase.

His bestseller, a wooden duck whose beak opens and closes when pulled, is now a coveted collectible. But by then, he was established enough to not only bounce back, but to be forward looking. As a result, many manufacturers looked to advances in plastics to create cheap alternatives.