Constructional toy
Premo Rubber Co. Ltd.
Category
Toys
Date
circa 1951
Materials
Cardboard, paper and rubber
Measurements
Bricks - 12 mm (min. length); 50 mm (max. length), Box - 235 mm (length); 165 mm (width); 30 mm (height), Instructions as Folded - 186 mm (width); 215 mm (height)
Place of origin
Petersfield
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 663569
Caption
The donor remembers her and her brother playing with these, and credits them with his eventual career - as a structural engineer!
Summary
A set of 'Minibrix' rubber building blocks in their original box (circa 1951). The box base is white with a yellow lid, which shows a boy and girl making a building on a table. According to the information on the lid this is the Junior Set. Inside is an instruction sheet with diagrams for many different models to make, on the back of which is a list of the entire 'MINIBRIX' range, with prices. The blocks themselves are made of coloured rubber (white, yellow, pink, blue and green) and resemble Lego bricks, with holes on one side and 'bobbles' on the other to enable them to interlock. Most are rectangular, but there are also a few small sloping ones. The box and the blocks are quite dirty, and the instructions are torn. The image included with this object are digital copies of original photographs (now returned to the donor). Both photographs were taken in 1951. One photograph shows a bridge made by the donor in 1951 out of the her Minibrix set and the other shows a contemporary image of the donor at age 10 years old. The image of the bridge was taken with her first camera. The donor recalls "They were hugely popular among children in the late 1940s and 1950s as the bricks seemed quite realistic. But were expensive and were then superseded by Lego. The trick was to lick the little rubber 'lugs', so that they slipped more easily into the adjacent holes and then held together more firmly! They gave a satisfying 'pop' when pulled apart. I remember it was very heavy! It may be that some of those you have already are coloured? The pastel shaded ones came in about five years after the dark red ones, as I recall, and were therefore more like modern Lego . . .I have to admit I always loved my Minibrix, and constructing things with them; maybe that's why I ended up studying architecture and came to love Sudbury Hall so much . . . all those warm red/brown bricks! Think my younger brother enjoyed them too - he became a structural engineer . . ." Total number of items is 108.
Marks and inscriptions
On box lid: MINIBRIX/ COMPLETE BUILDING SYSTEM IN MINIATURE/ WITH/ All-Rubber/ SELF LOCKING HAND FINISHED BRICKS/ MADE IN ENGLAND/ Junior Set Along edge of box lid: Manufactured by/ []EMO RUBBER COMPANY LTD PETERSFIELD, HANTS., ENGLAND
Makers and roles
Premo Rubber Co. Ltd., maker