Tog'l
Encyclopedia
Construction set
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems...
produced by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
from 1968 through 1970, similar in concept to Lego
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
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Composition
At its core was a cube-shaped building block called a "Tog'l Block". Each side of the block had a hole or a pin that could be used to connect to the corresponding element (pins snapped into holes) on the side of another block. A chief advantage of Tog'l blocks over Lego (and similar) bricks is that a Lego brick can only attach to other bricks on two of its faces (top or bottom), while Tog'l blocks could attach to others on all six of its faces (each of its six faces could attach to another block).Another feature that gave the product its name was that one side had a hinge that allowed models built with Tog'l blocks to flex and move. Other building elements included wheels, axles, pinion gears, tubes, girders, air bellows, windows, doors, blue pins, green "hemisphere" pins, red double pins, clown heads, pig heads, hands, feet, and many other variations with generic uses or specific purposes.
Motorization
There were optionally two types of motors to make the toys move. Both a wind-up motor and a rubber band "elasti-motor" were available for separate purchase. The wind-up motor ran longer, but the elasti-motor ran faster.Tog'lman
Toward the end of its run a 6-inch tall bendable figure was added called "Tog'lman" that came in three colors: blue (engineer), green (fireman) and red (racer). Tog'lman was similar in scale and flexibility to another MattelMattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
toy, Major Matt Mason
Major Matt Mason
Major Matt Mason was an action figure created by Mattel, an astronaut who lived and worked on the moon. When introduced in 1966, the figures were initially based on design information found in Life Magazine, Air Force Magazine, Jane's, and other aviation- and space-interest periodicals...
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