Bing was a German toy company founded in 1863 in Nuremberg, Germany by two brothers, Ignaz and Adolf Bing, originally producing metal kitchen utensils. They began toy production in 1880 and by the early 20th century, Bing was the largest toy company in the world, and Bing's factory in Nuremberg was the largest toy factory in the world. Although Bing produced numerous toys, it is best remembered today for toy trains. 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... This article is about the city in Germany. ... 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A toy train is a toy which represents a train, distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. ...

Bing's first trains hit the market in the 1880s. When Märklin formalized several standards for track gauges in 1891, Bing adopted them, and added O gauge by 1895. Additionally, Bing introduced a still-smaller gauge that was 1/8 inch narrower, which it called OO. However, Bing's OO gauge was much larger than modern OO gauge. 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Märklin (or Maerklin) is a German toy company, founded in 1859. ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and model railroading. ... 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... OO gauge model railways are the most popular standard in the United Kingdom, being one of several 4 mm scale standards (4 mm to the foot (305 mm), or 1:76. ...

The "Nuremberg Style" of manufacturing toys on steel sheets with lithographed designs that were stamped out of the metal, formed, and assembled using tabs and slots, was perfected by Bing. This manufacturing method remained in widespread use well into the 1950s, long after Bing had disappeared. Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface, as well as a method of manufacturing semiconductor and MEMS devices. ... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning...

Bing produced numerous items for export which were then sold either under its own name or for other companies. Bing produced trains styled for the British market for Bassett-Lowke and A. W. Gamage, and it produced trains for the North American market, which it exported and marketed on its own. Early in the 20th century, Bing jockeyed for market share with the Ives Manufacturing Company, who did not surpass Bing in sales for good until 1910. Throughout their histories, the two companies would frequently copy one another's designs. In some instances, the two companies even used the same catalog number on their competing products. Due to cheap German labor and low shipping and duty costs, Bing was often able to undercut the prices of its U.S. competitors. By 1914, Bing had 5,000 employees. By comparison, Märklin employed 600. Bassett-Lowke was a toy company, based in the Northampton, England founded by Wenham Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899 that specialized in model railways, model boats and ships, and construction sets. ... The Ives Manufacturing Company, an American toy manufacturer from 1868 to 1932, was the largest manufacturer of toy trains in the United States from 1910 until 1924, when Lionel Corporation overtook it in sales. ... 1910 in topic: Arts Architecture- Art- Film- Literature- Music- Television Science and technology Aviation- Rail transport- Radio- Science Other topics Australia- Canada- Ireland- South Africa- Sport Births- Deaths Lists of leaders: State leaders - Religious leaders 1910 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

World War I forced Bing out of the export market at its peak. In 1916, Ives and the A. C. Gilbert Company formed the Toy Manufacturers Association and lobbied to protect the growing U.S. toy manufacturing industry, which had grown in the absence of foreign competition. As a result, tariffs on German toys rose from 35 percent to 70 percent. Additionally, German wages rose after the war, as did shipping costs and inflation. This created an unfavorable climate for German exports. Additionally, Lionel Corporation's advertising that criticized the manufacturing methods of its competitors' trains, targeted mainly at Ives, also hurt Bing's image because Bing's methods were so similar. Bing struggled to sell through its old inventory and misjudged demand. When the market evaporated for its 1 gauge trains, it re-gauged some models to O gauge, where they looked oversized, and other models to Lionel's Standard gauge, where they looked undersized. Yet by 1921, Bing had re-established itself in the U.S. market, largely through sales through catalog retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co. However, by 1925, Lionel was also selling through Sears, and Bing quickly found itself squeezed out of the market. Bing attempted to compensate by increasing its presence in Canada, where it competed with mixed success with American Flyer. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest toy companies in the world. ... A tariff is a tax placed on imported and/or exported goods, sometimes called a customs duty. ... Lionel Corporation was an American toy manufacturer, specializing in toy trains and model railroads. ... 1 gauge is a toy train and model railroading standard, popular in the early 20th century, particularly with European manufacturers. ... O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and model railroading. ... As railways developed and expanded one of the key issues to be decided was that of the rail gauge (the distance between the two rails of the track) which should be used. ... 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Sears, Roebuck and Company (NYSE: S) was founded in Chicago, Illinois as a catalog merchandiser in 1886 by Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck. ... 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... This American Flyer S gauge 4-4-2 steam locomotive and tender dates from 1960 American Flyer was a popular brand of toy train and model railroad in the United States in the middle part of the 20th century. ...

By 1927, Bing was in serious financial trouble and the company's president, Stephan Bing, and his son, left the company. Initially going to work with another Nuremberg-based toy firm, the Bings, who were Jewish, soon fled to England because of the rise of Adolf Hitler. 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889–April 30, 1945) was the Chancellor of Germany from 1933, and Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and chancellor) of Germany from 1934, to his death. ...

By 1932, Bing was in liquidation, and it went out of business for good in 1933. Much of its tooling was acquired by Bub, a rival toy company. 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Stephan Bing helped to start the British company Trix. Other Bing executives started the similarly-named company Trix Express. Trix may mean: Trix, a breakfast cereal Trix, a model train company This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Bing items can be identified and dated by its trademark. Items bearing the letters "GBN" (for "Gebruder Bing Nuremberg") in a diamond date before 1923, while items bearing a sideways "B" next to a "W" (for "Bing Works") date from 1924 to 1932. 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ...

Source

• Wills, Keith (November 1997). "Bing Trains in America." Classic Toy Trains, p. 118.