The story of Sam Dyke

Akron, Ohio 1884

Excerpt from “A Spin On The Past,” by Michael C. Cohill, Hounding Productions, Ravenna, Ohio, Copyright 2001.

CHAPTER THREE

THE FIRST MARBLES MADE IN AMERICA

Akron Daily Beacon , July 25, 1886 - 1:3

“Yesterday afternoon in this city S.C. Dyke, at his factory on South Main Street, for the little toy jugs that have helped make Akron known in all parts of the country, made the first marbles ever made in America for market...”

Okay, so maybe not the very first marbles made, but without any question these were the very first mass-produced marbles, and as far as big time claims go, these were also the very first mass-produced toys of any type. And, okay, the date is off a bit - as Sam Dyke claimed he was mass-producing clay marbles as far as 1884 (The Parkersburg Sentinel, May 10, 1924, Parkersburg, West Virginia). The thing is, the headline was great. Sam was of course a newspaperman, a marketing man and the protégée of Walter Wellman, so why not use the newspapers to give a big boost to sales? What Sam was really announcing was the completion of this brand new state-of-the-art toy factory, The S.C Dyke & Co., on Main Street, in Akron, Ohio.

The most interesting thing about this new factory was its ability to turn out so many marbles, up to one million per day -- one million marbles is five railroad boxcars full (Akron Daily Beacon, June 18, 1890 -1:3, Akron, Ohio). Mass production allowed for this magnificent feat, and that allowed the retail price of a toy marble to plummet. Before, a penny couldn't have even purchased a single common ordinary clay marble (called `commies'). Now, for a penny or two, a child could afford to buy a whole handful of commies.

Lithograph: Catalog advertisement, 1889; for Dyke's American Marbles. Caption reads: "The above cut represents American made Marbles which are entirely new and original. Being made in a great variety of variegated colors, they are very pleasing to the eyes. These marbles are packed in strong and neat boxes, much superior to those in which foreign marbles are put up."

This was one of those overnight success stories that only took about four years for people to notice. But, take notice they did, and not just the wee folk interested in knuckling down for a game of Keeps. The adults in town took notice, particularly those most proper sort in polite society who were somewhat confused by the nature of his business. The nerve: that man’s come up with a way to steal money from the pockets of little children. It was difficult for people to understand, at first, that children could be consumers, directly marketed to as though they were adults. This was too revolutionary an idea: children buying something other than sweets or other consumables, when they should be saving their money to help with rent and their clothes! Talk like that must have gone on until people started to realize that, with every day's production of a million plus marbles, San Dyke was well on his way to making a million dollars. He was operating something just short of a goldmine, right here in our good city. And with that realization, just like that, others forgot those previous ‘issues’ and started up their own marble factories in competition.

The first fellow to openly compete with Sam turned out to be his brother, A.L.. In a letter, one of Sam's grandsons wrote that A.L. had somehow "wormed his way into the business" (letter from Sam Brightenson to Fred G. Wright). Sam and A.L. had one of those love-hate relationships. There were a number of times when the two of them lived and worked together and got along famously. Then their relationship would bust-all-to-hell, and they would split-up to become bitter rivals for a time. This makes it all the more difficult to clearly establish what, where and with whom Sam was working in the years between 1884 and 1888. What is clear -  in the year 1889, the city directories listed A.L. as a manufacturer of toy marbles.

Photograph: A small collection of “commies,” common clay marbles, in various sizes, from under a 1/2" to over an 1 ½”. You might notice that some of these marbles are not perfectly spherical. The technique to produce perfectly spherical marbles was not developed until after the turn of the 20th century.

The basic idea behind the business was pretty simple: design a machine to turn out small clay spheres and rake in the money. As Sam Dyke owned a patent on his machine, the problem these new entrepreneurs faced was inventing a different machine they could patent for themselves. However, that turned out to be a lot harder than first imagined. The biggest problem was that science had yet to define the physics involved in perfect sphere making (such as the making of perfect ball bearings), so designing a machine that would make perfect clay balls was a challenge. As these eager entrepreneurs experimented with the art of clay marble making, they were stumbling blindly through a process modern man didn't fully understand - a process that lead directly to the scientific breakthrough defining the physics of spheres. Sam's machine (actually more of a device than a machine, as its working parts were mostly comprised of the arms of a laborer) was the easiest clay marble forming machine imaginable. (At the time, they referred to it as a machine.) The best thing about Sam's machine was that it was patented, (PATENT: US Patent No. 432,127; Apparatus for forming plastic slugs; Samuel C. Dyke) and no one else could use his technique, not even his big brother. A.L. hired a long experienced ceramics man to invent a very complicated machine to roll chunks of clay around something that looked like a wagon wheel on its side, with a bit of Rube Goldberg thrown in for good measure. (Truthfully, I can't imagine that A.L.'s machine ever worked as well in the factory as it did on paper.) Another fellow, named Matthew Lang, invented a revolutionary means of injecting clay-slip into molds to make marbles. Matthew Lang's company, located on the east side of town, was called The East End Marble Company. While the company didn't stay in business very long, Lang allowed other marble companies to use his invention to make porcelain marbles -- for a price. He received a royalty on every porcelain marble his process turned out.

So by 1890, there where three marble factories in Akron, each one turning out a product that was slightly different. Each company promising to deliver the finest and best clay marbles, the most uniquely colored, etc. Of course, this suited the young mibsters who were always looking for that great new marble -- the one they could tempt their neighborhood kids into laying down big ante for the chance to play. As more and newer and different marbles came onto the market, the size of the market grew tremendously. There was seemingly an infinite market out there and the little folk just couldn't get enough. But, there was a down-side to that amount of temptation these wonderful marbles created.

SMALL BOYS TAKEN ON A SERIOUS CHARGE

Akron Daily Beacon, April 8, 1889 - 4:2

Early this evening a number of boys broke a window in the rear of S.C. Dyke's marble factory on Main street and succeeded in getting a few bags of marbles which had been stored next to the window, some of these being found since in a lumber pile near by. Charles Haase, of Bell street, a boy engaged in selling papers and aged about 10 years, was seen looking in the broken window apparently as though interested in the a affair. He was arrested by Officer Daady and taken to the city prison where he spent the night. The boy says that he was entirely innocent of the crime either of stealing or breaking the glass. On being asked how he come to be there, he stated that he was playing with other boys on High street and on hearing the crash of the breaking of the window ran to see what had taken place. He says that he knows the boys who did the act but none of his companions. The lad says that he is not obliged to sell papers but wishes to buy a new suit of clothes for himself this keeping him out so late at night. It is reported that it is not an unusual occurrence for the boy to be out all night and hence no search was made for him even though his parents knew nothing about where he was. Warrants have been issued for the arrest Charles Bennett and Joseph Byers as being two of three boys who committed the crime. The trial was continued until after the arrest of these boys.

The above article should give you the idea that, in some corners, childhood has changed little in 120 years, and yet it's radically different in other ways. There are still juvenile delinquents breaking and entering. That hasn't changed. However, today few children are forced to earn the money to purchase their own clothes. The most important thing it shows, Sam Dyke's marbles were coveted to the point where some children were willing to break the law to get them. That says a lot about Sam Dyke's marketing success.

It seemed the only way to stay on top of the competition was to keep introducing better and more interesting marbles into the market. By this time, while marbles were made of different colored clays, they were still all in earth colors. Some marbles were painted or dyed bright colors like: red, blue, purple, green and yellow. Others, which were expensive, were glazed: mostly brown, some cobalt blue. The clay marbles glazed in colors other than brown or cobalt blue were the most expensive of all. There were also the China marbles, polished or un-polished (glazed and un-glazed, the unglazed made the best shooter marbles.) But little else could be done to make mass produced clay marbles unique. The one thing that no American company had ever successfully tried and marketed was now about to change the marbles market for all times.

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