Play set:Tinker Beads No. 2

The Toy Tinkers of Evanston, Illinois, began the business of producing Tinkertoy construction sets in 1914. Inspired by watching children play with pencils and spools, Charles Pajeau designed the building toy out of wood and packaged the sets in a mailing tube to hold shipping costs down. Pajeau supplied toy designs and creative energies. He teamed up with Robert Petit ran the firm's finances. In 40 years of operation, the company estimated that they made and sold about 50 million toys. Pajeau, ready to retire in 1952, turned the company over to A. G. Spalding Brothers Company, which continued producing Tinkertoys through the 1960s. In 1970 Questor Corporation acquired Spalding, and with it, Tinkertoys. Gabriel Industries took over the production of the building sets in 1978 and was subsequently taken over by CBS Incorporated later that same year. CBS sold its interest in Tinkertoys to Hasbro Inc. in 1986, and Hasbro still makes Tinkertoys today in its Playskool division.