Does anyone remember these? They were gum or candy or perhaps both. But I do remember having some as a kid in the 60's. I'm surprised my mother allowed it. She had smoked some when younger but quit and I never knew her to smoke. I remember a comedian on TV going on about "Lawn Darts" and other things that would never be allowed for kids today. For some reason I thought of this while listening to news talk today. One segment does headlines from around the world and they mentioned that Phillip Morris is running adds in Britain stating that they want people to stop smoking. Anyone seen these? Anyway, what else can you think of from the past that wouldn't be allowed today to be marketed or sold? Cigarette adds themselves come to mind of coarse.
Here's my favorite, one that every little child should have... In 1951 A.C. Gilbert, the man who invented the Erector Set, introduced a brand new educational toy: the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. Gilbert worked closely with physicists at M.I.T. while developing the kit, and also had the unofficial approval of the U.S. government, which thought that such a toy would help the average American understand the benefits of nuclear energy. The Lab came equipped with a Geiger-Mueller radiation counter, a Wilson cloud chamber (to see paths of alpha particles), a spinthariscope (to see "live" radioactive disintegration), four samples of Uranium-bearing ores, and an electroscope to measure radioactivity. It also included a comic book featuring Dagwood Bumstead (the man who couldn’t leave his own house without knocking the mailman down) describing how to split an atom. The Atomic Energy Lab’s main drawback, other than possible radiation poisoning, was its price tag: a whopping $49.50, which would be over $300 in today’s dollars.
oooh our children are soo cosseted today compared to how we were in our childhood days. Even the playground has a cushioned base instead of concrete.. Makes sense of course...but they've also removed all the fun rides, and replaced them with things that barely move in case any child god forbid might get a bruise. I don't advocate kids being smashed up of course but to take swings out of a playground or a slide ( as they have at the playground quite close to us)...in case they fall off is just taking things too far IMO...
That creepy crawly thing looks slightly familiar. Perhaps a later version I remember seeing. Never had one. My mother wouldn't allow that "Operation" game. @Ken Anderson but LMAO at that Atomic Nuclear Lab "toy" This is flipping insane! I've never seen this. I'm literally laughing at the insanity of this. Talk about something that would never be allowed today. Lets all get into cigarettes and radiation kiddies!
Here you can still buy sweets that were once sold as FAGS Now thay are called FADS I seen them in the local supermarket this morning
@Ken Anderson "The Atomic Energy Lab’s main drawback, other than possible radiation poisoning, was its price tag: a whopping $49.50, which would be over $300 in today’s dollars." Here, I gotta disagree with you. In truth, we Earth inhabitants are constantly bombarded with atomic particles as well as radiation, for every one of our born days. The very highly-energetic Cosmic rays have been detected undiminished deep in the underground rock mines of the Earth, seemingly able to pass through miles of rock. Our bodies, then? Constantly exposed. I feel that enough was known and understood by 1950 about nuclear energy to market a product allowing direct hands-on work and experience, without exposing folks to nuclear danger. Fact is, a Geiger Counter radiation detector is constantly indicating background radiation presence. The key to safety lies in the provision of only Alpha-particle producing materials, of low intensity at that. 'Round about 1950, American homes were being flooded with Television sets, each and every one of which produced a significant amount of X-rays, emitted through the glass of the Picture tubes. Each set had a warning sticker inconspicuously posted on the BACK of the set, where no one ever saw it, advising of the radiation danger. True enough, the higher-quality sets had a thick flat glass plate over the front of the Picture tube, which I always assumed was leaded glass, but those went away fairly soon. Much rumoring went on about allowing kids to congregate up close to the set. Radiation strength varies as the inverse of the square of the distance from the source. Thus, doubling the distance reduced intensity to 1/4 as much. So, I hear cancer rates have increased over all the decades since then. If true, did Gilbert's Nuke Kits contribute, or widespread Television use, hours and hours per week, or atmospheric nuclear bomb testing, or........maybe all things? Frank
I don’t know @Kitty Carmel I hadn’t seen them in years because I’d never looked for them I just happened to see them yesterday beacuse I was looking for something else in that department ...Our supermarket is only a small country one , so maybe that’s why I noticed them
Here's one that was taken off the market after four deaths and more than six thousand reported injuries. We had these when I was a kid.
Big Bang toy carbide-firing cannon. I ordered one as a kid from Johnson-Smith & Co., Detroit, and along with it, "fuel" which consisted of calcium carbide granules contained in a tightly-lidded can. Carbide combines with water to form Acetylene gas, which as almost everyone knows, is highly flammable, even explosive. Two small threaded plungers are visible at the rear of the barrel: the horizontal one increased spring pressure on a piece of lighter flint, while the vertical one "struck" the flint with a rilled surface, creating sparks which ignited the acetylene within the cannon. Loading was by dribbling a bit of water down into the barrel, followed by a few granules of carbide. After a few seconds, it was ready to fire! See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-Bang_Cannon