Kirby Manufacturng Co Toys with Bells On Middletown Connecticut Information wanted

[BellToyBoy]

 
I'm looking for information on Samuel Kirby, president of Kirby Manufacturing Co., Middletown Connecticut where he was President in 1915. The company made steel and cast iron bell toys which were similar to those made in East Hampton, Connecticut around the same time by Watrous Manufacturing Co.

In a 1924 Kirby ad there is a toy that uses the same "Rough Rider" cast iron figure used by Watrous Manufacturing many years earlier. I'm looking to find any information on Samuel Kirby, this company, and the management of it. I have some copies of early ads for the company that were published in Playthings Magazine thanks to Richard Mueller.

The Company was located in 1929 at 61-65 Hubbard St. Middletown CT, Branch office 366 Fifth Ave, New York. In 1924 they were at 153 Hubbard Street, Middletown, CT. They were still in business in 1929, though I don't know whether Samuel was still there. According to a Playthings ad they made baby reins, rattles, jump ropes, carnival hats and shakers, horns, chimes, swinging clowns, wheelbarrows, wagons, etc...

Elsinore Springer, in her book "That Vanishing Sound" showed a cut from the 1903 catalog and states "...1903 catalog of bell toys illustrated no less than twenty-six styles of belled reins." I've searched for a copy of any Kirby Manufacturing Co. catalog but I have not found one yet.

I have found a patent for party hats with bells and I have several. It's amazing that any party hat from ninety years ago has survived. Certainly no party hat I've ever worn still survives!If you have any information on Kirby Manufacturing or know of a source for one of their catalogs please let me know about it.

Thanks,
La vie est belle,
Robert K. Watrous
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