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Harry Candee Ives
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Harry Candee Ives (May 26, 1867 – October 31, 1936) was an American toy manufacturer, inventor, and business executive associated with the Ives Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. A son of company founder Edward R. Ives, he helped develop Ives from a maker of cast-iron and mechanical toys into one of the leading American manufacturers of toy trains. Ives also served as an officer and president of the Toy Manufacturers Association of America and represented the American toy industry in national discussions over tariffs, imports, and the educational value of toys.
Ives was born on May 26, 1867, in Plymouth, Connecticut, the son of toy manufacturer Edward R. Ives. His father established the business that became the Ives Manufacturing Company during Harry's childhood. The company later moved its operations to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Some later accounts state that Ives was originally given the first name ''Harvey'' but adopted ''Harry'' while young.[https://ivestrains.org/webonly/publication/tracks/tracks922.pdf Ives Train Society, ''Tracks'', Harry Ives recollections and later life.]
Ives married Lerria Carter. They had three children, Virginia, John, and Wadsworth. His daughter Virginia later married and became Virginia Ives Hobbs.
Ives spent most of his working life with the family toy business. Following a fire on December 22, 1900, which destroyed patterns, parts, and tooling used in the company's cast-iron toy production, Ives Manufacturing temporarily operated from rented quarters and began moving toward stamped-metal toy production.[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ct0648/ Historic American Engineering Record, "Ives Manufacturing Company," Library of Congress.]
During this period Harry Ives was involved in the company's development of toy trains. The Historic American Engineering Record credits him with the idea of installing clockwork mechanisms in locomotive bodies, with longtime Ives pattern maker Charles Hotchkiss helping translate the concept into production.
Ives subsequently developed an extensive line of clockwork and electric trains, track, stations, signals, switches, and accessories. The company's Holland Avenue factory, completed in 1907, has been described by the Historic American Engineering Record as the first American factory constructed specifically for the manufacture of toy trains.
By 1913 Ives was serving as treasurer of the corporation. He later became president of the company.[https://www.ivestrains.org/webonly/publication/tracks/tracks921.pdf Ives Train Society, ''Tracks'', Harry Ives and tariff policy.]
Ives remained involved in the technical development of toy trains and was named as inventor on several railway-related patents.
In 1924 he filed an application for an improved toy-railway truck incorporating structural and electrical features; the patent was issued in 1925 as [https:patents.google.com/patent/US1542139A/en US Patent 1,542,139].[https:patents.google.com/patent/US1542139A/en Harry C. Ives, "Toy Railway Truck," US Patent 1,542,139, issued June 16, 1925.]
A second application filed in 1924 concerned an electrical contact device for toy railways. The design used roller contacts intended to maintain electrical connection with a conducting rail while reducing friction. It was granted in 1926 as [https:patents.google.com/patent/US1590628A/en US Patent 1,590,628].[https:patents.google.com/patent/US1590628A/en Harry C. Ives, "Electrical Contact Device for Toy Railways," US Patent 1,590,628, issued June 29, 1926.]
The patents were issued while Ives was in his late fifties and indicate his continued involvement in practical engineering and product development.
Under Ives, the company's products increasingly presented mechanical toys as educational models of modern industry and transportation.
In addition to trains, Ives manufactured ''Struktiron'', a metal construction system introduced in the 1910s. The system consisted of miniature structural-steel components that could be assembled into bridges, buildings, and other structures.[https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/issues/24/into-the-material-world/42026/toys-shape-minds-no-6 Canadian Centre for Architecture, "Toys Shape Minds No. 6."]
The company also produced toy ships, including ocean liners, tugboats, yachts, destroyers, submarines, and merchant vessels. Advertising presented such toys as a means of familiarizing children with transportation and engineering.
Ives extended this educational theme through publications and promotional material. The company issued versions of ''How Six Boys Built a Railroad'' and ''The Railroad That Six Boys Built'', and promoted an imaginary "Ives Railway Lines" through membership cards, pins, tickets, conductor equipment, and other material that encouraged children to operate their toy railway as a miniature transportation system.[https://ivestrains.org/CD/paper/catalogs/ives_catalogs__1.htm Ives Train Society, Ives catalogs.]
In 1915 Ives introduced the '''Controlophone''', a sound-operated controller for electric toy trains. Contemporary electrical literature described the device as a "voice controller for toy electric trains". A sharply spoken word produced an acoustic impulse that actuated an electrical control; the device did not recognize the meaning of spoken words.
The Controlophone could be connected to control trains, small motors, or electric lights and could operate with either alternating or direct current. Although advertised as voice control, its operation was based on sound intensity rather than speech recognition. The device appeared in the 1915 Ives catalog but was not retained in subsequent catalogs.[https://ivestrains.org/webonly/publication/tracks/tracks316.pdf Ives Train Society, ''Tracks'', "The Controlophone."]
Ives became active in efforts to organize American toy manufacturers during the growth of domestic toy production in the early 20th century.
In 1916 he served as a vice president of the newly organized national toy manufacturers' association, whose leadership also included A. C. Gilbert. Ives subsequently served two terms as president of the organization.[https://www.ivestrains.org/webonly/publication/tracks/tracks917.pdf Ives Train Society, ''Tracks'', Harry Ives and the Toy Manufacturers Association.]
During World War I he participated in discussions between American toy manufacturers and the federal government concerning wartime production and the domestic toy industry. Contemporary financial reporting lists both Ives and Gilbert among representatives of the industry in 1918.[https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/commercial-financial-chronicle-1339/september-14-1918-497439/fulltext ''Commercial and Financial Chronicle'', September 14, 1918.]
Ives argued that mechanical toys had an educational function and that toy manufacture should be considered part of the development of children's mechanical and industrial knowledge.
Ives was also an advocate for the American toy industry in disputes concerning competition from European manufacturers, particularly German toy makers.
In 1913, while treasurer of Ives Manufacturing, he submitted an argument concerning tariff policy and the American miniature-railway industry.
On August 2, 1921, Ives appeared before the United States Senate Committee on Finance as a representative of American toy manufacturers. He argued for tariff treatment that would allow American manufacturers to compete with imported toys and described toys as an element in the early education of children.
Contemporary newspapers continued to identify him as president of the Toy Manufacturers Association of America later that year.[https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088291/1921-12-14/ed-1/seq-1/ Historic Oregon Newspapers, December 14, 1921.]
During the 1920s Ives Manufacturing faced increasing competition from Lionel Corporation and A. C. Gilbert Company|American Flyer, while continuing to develop new products.
In September 1927 Charles R. Johnson became president of Ives Manufacturing, succeeding Harry Ives, who became chairman. Contemporary trade reporting described Johnson as having joined the company approximately a year earlier and associated his appointment with an infusion of new capital.[https://www.ivestrains.org/webonly/publication/tracks/tracks315.pdf Ives Train Society, ''Tracks'', Ives corporate history.]
Ives Manufacturing entered bankruptcy proceedings in July 1928. Historic American Engineering Record research gives the company's liabilities as $188,303.25 while reporting approximately $245,000 in Christmas orders already booked.
The company's assets were sold at auction on July 31, 1928. Interests associated with Lionel and American Flyer subsequently continued production under the Ives name. Harry Ives remained associated with the reorganized business for a period after the bankruptcy.
Later accounts state that he finally lost control of the company in September 1929.
After leaving control of Ives Manufacturing, Ives headed the Electric Heater Company of Bridgeport for a period before his retirement.
The Electric Heater Company had developed from Bridgeport enterprises involved in electric water-heating equipment. Hans E. Dineson had established the Aqua Electric Heater Company in 1919. Harvey Hubbell Jr. later became associated with the enterprise and supplied capital during its reorganization as the Electric Heater Company. Dineson regained control in 1931.[https://connecticutmills.org/find/details/hubbell-the-electric-heater-co Connecticut Mills, "Hubbell/The Electric Heater Co."]
Ives retired in October 1931, approximately the same period in which control of the Electric Heater Company returned to Dineson.
Following his retirement, Ives moved to Washington, Connecticut. Later accounts state that he lived on a farm near Washington Depot that had been left to him by his friend Gregory Bryan.
Accounts of Ives's retirement preserve several personal details rarely found in corporate histories. His first grandson, Harvey Hobbs, was reportedly named for him. According to later recollections, when his daughter Virginia considered buying an Ives train for the boy, Harry advised her to buy a more modern train rather than choose one merely because it carried the family name.
Ives died in Washington on October 31, 1936, aged 69. He was buried in Washington Cemetery on the Green in Washington, Connecticut.
Harry Ives's career encompassed the transition of the American toy industry from cast-iron and clockwork toys to electrically powered, mass-produced toy railway systems. During his tenure, Ives Manufacturing combined toy trains with construction sets, ships, publications, and railroad-themed promotional programs that presented mechanical play as a form of education.
His patents and participation in product development demonstrate that he remained involved in the engineering of the company's trains as well as its management. His leadership of the national toy manufacturers' organization and appearances before the federal government also made him a public representative of the developing American toy industry during the early 20th century.
The Ives name continued on toy trains for several years after the 1928 bankruptcy, although control of the enterprise passed from the Ives family.
* Ives Manufacturing Company
* A. C. Gilbert Company
* Lionel Corporation
* Toy train
* [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ct0648/ Ives Manufacturing Company — Historic American Engineering Record, Library of Congress]
* [https://www.ivestrains.org/ Ives Train Society]
* [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1542139A/en Harry C. Ives, ''Toy Railway Truck'', U.S. Patent 1,542,139]
* [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1590628A/en Harry C. Ives, ''Electrical Contact Device for Toy Railways'', U.S. Patent 1,590,628]
Category:1867 births
Category:1936 deaths
Category:American toy industry businesspeople
Category:American inventors
Category:American manufacturing businesspeople
Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut
Category:Toy train manufacturers
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