Tinker Toys

The Tinkertoy Construction Set was created in 1914, one year after the A. C. Gilbert Company’s Erector Set, by Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Pettit in Evanston, Illinois. Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the toy after seeing children play with pencils and empty spools of thread. He and Pettit set out to market a toy that would allow and inspire children to use their imaginations.

How Tinkertoys Work

The cornerstone of the set is a wooden spool roughly two inches (5 cm) in diameter with holes drilled every 45 degrees around the perimeter and one through the center. Unlike the center, the perimeter holes do not go all the way through. With the differing-length sticks, the set was intended to be based on the Pythagorean progressive right triangle.

A Toy That Made History

The sets were introduced to the public through displays in and around Chicago which included model Ferris wheels. Tinkertoys have been used to create surprisingly complex machines, including Danny Hillis’s tic-tac-toe-playing computer (now in the collection of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California) and a robot at Cornell University in 1998.

From Invention to Icon

When Pajeau and Pettit first tried to market their creation, toy buyers were skeptical. The pair hired midgets to play with Tinkertoys in the display window of a Chicago drugstore during the 1914 holiday season. The stunt worked. Within a year, over a million sets had been sold.

Modern Tinkertoys

Hasbro owns the Tinkertoy brand and currently produces both Tinkertoy Plastic and Tinkertoy Classic (wood) sets and parts. While the plastic versions offer brighter colors and more themed building options, many parents and collectors prefer the original wooden sets for their timeless appeal and durability.

Educational Value

Tinkertoys teach engineering principles, spatial reasoning, and creative problem-solving. The open-ended nature of the toy means there are no wrong answers, just endless possibilities. Children learn about structural integrity, balance, and symmetry through hands-on experimentation.

The Tinkertoy was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998, recognized as one of the most influential construction toys ever created.

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