Identifying 1970s Lego Like Bricks / blocks & Tinker Toy type set

[marshmutt1]

Oops accidentally posted this in mentor first...

These sets are from the 1970s (my childhood):

The Lego like blocks are larger than Lego and have smaller top connectors.
The bottom connectors have a relief split at the top of the cylinders. No marks

The Tinker Toy Like Set was with my tinker toy sets. the blue connectors are like the ones I see with the plastic tinker toy sets but no long rods. Just short yellow connectors. No marks

Appreciate the inputs

[boutique5280]

The red and white bricks look like "American Bricks" which were made in the 1950's.  Don't know about the other Tinker Toy piece.

[marshmutt1]

Thanks - it appears that that is the one for the bricks.  I looked them up (Hasam Products Co. )

Interesting Info:
They produced their bricks till  about 1973 which is about right. I figured I got these in the early 1970s.
They originally made the bricks from pressed wood starting about 1939.  Around 1946 they worked with Elgin Plastics and started making them out of plastic until about 1973.  You probably know all this, but I really enjoy finding out the details.

Without your pointer I may never have found them.  I tried multiple searches with different key words but mostly the Lego stuff kept popping up.  Without a direct title search I was SOL.  Thanks.

Now to find the answer on the tinker set.

[mudshark61369]

@marshmutt1,

Your info about Halsam and Elgo American bricks is a bit off. Halsam bought Elgo plastics which then became a division of Halsam in the 1940s. American Bricks were branded as Elgo for awhile in the 50s, but returned to being branded as Halsam through the rest their production history, which ended in the late 60s.  In the last few years of their production they switched from being produced only in red and white plastic bricks to being multicolored, due to competition from Lego.  It is probable that stores were still selling old stocks of American bricks for a few years after production ceased. 

I did find in of all places, an Airport gift shop, reproductions of  American bricks that had smooth sides as opposed to the rough brick finish of the originals, in the 1980s, that had the Halsam name but were not made in the U.S.. Maybe Taiwan but I can't find any record of them.

As for the other set, I was thinking Hasbro - Tinker Toy, but the connectors are wrong.  My next thought was K'nex, but there again the connectors and other parts do not match the pieces that came with those sets.

[mudshark61369]

@marshmutt1,

It was bugging me that the American bricks you photographed had no texture to the tops or sides, so I took a trip up to my toy room.  Among the American Brick sets, I found a Playskool, American brick set, with  shiny  untextured surfaced bricks and No Halsom products stamp on the top of the bricks. 

Playskool made those sets under license starting in 1970.  They were multi color and had tan colored roofs instead of the That Halsom / Elgo put out. Some of their later sets had small plastic roofs, tires, hand cranks and other items, included with them, and came in round tin containers later in the 70s.

[marshmutt1]

Sorry late reply - I have to tether to phone out here.

Yeah... the Elgo info was not super clear on what I found.  Makes sense though and you are correct.
I did a bit more searching and this is what I found (whether 100% correct or not...) Harold (Hal) Elliot & Sam Goss Jr.  Owned both Halsam (Hal+Sam) and Elgo (EL+GO / Elliot+Goss).
Halsam produced the Elgo Plastics American Bricks from 1947-1962
Playskool Merger Takeover of Halsam in 1962 and still used the Halsam Brands like American Bricks  (Hal & Sam were still VPs on the board).  This was from 1962-1973
In 1973, all production moved to the new Chicago Playskool factory (Hal and Sam retired) and the Halsam branding like American Bricks disappeared and all bricke were then marketed exclusively as Playskool.
In 1984, Milton Bradley took over and the Plastic Bricks were discontinued pretty much making the Halsam legacy disappear.

Too bad though - the Halsam design snaps together much more firmly than the Lego Brand bricks

A side note - Lego paid a settlement of 25,000 due to the similarity of Elgo and Lego.  Though both names were separately created it gave Lego a free hand to continue with the branding.

Feel free to correct any of the info.  All was gleaned from the Halsom Products Museum page I found. The history of things is kinda cool...

P.S.

I have 332 pieces which include some blue and yellow bricks (mostly 1 x 2 bricks and 2x2 roof angles) .
I also have a few black 2x2- figure not too common on that color. Lots of windows and clear 2 x 8 bricks, etc.

I am pretty sure these were the early 70s Playskool Halsam sets - wish I still had the tubes in which they came.
Enjoy getting info.  I am a bit neurotic on wanting to know what items are and their history.  Pretty knowledgeable on some things not as much on others.
THANKS AGAIN.

[michher-6131]

I have a set of the smooth sided American bricks. I received them in 1965 for Christmas. Much better than legos, they held together much tighter. They still do!

[michher-6131]

Mine from 1975 have the tan roofs and the blue and yellow corner pieces. The majority are the smooth red and white. I still have the canister they came in! We didn’t have much money so I tried to take care of my toys.

[michher-6131]

Sorry, I meant from 1965. I got them from a Santa Claus!

[toysaver]

The blue model is made from a Plasticant set.

GERMAN PLASTICANT 420 NOT COMPLETE WITH TWO MANUALS | eBay

[marshmutt1]

Wow- thanks.  I likely got this in Germany from one of my relatives back then.   Cool to know.  I had given up on finding them.

[kh-laura]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.