Cowboy drinking straw
Lasso that milk with this cowboy drinking straw. Your beverage of choice can be drawn through a straw that attaches to the gun. 1953

Rocket riding toy
A children's spring-powered rocket riding toy. 1953

Flame plaque
This flame is packed and ready to go in a plaque design for Jiffy Jet of Minneapolis. 1948

Pig costume
A pig costume for use as an advertising display device. 1956

Lollypop balloon
This toy consists of a tube with a balloon on one end and a confection on the other end. The tube is constructed to give a sound, somewhat like a flute, when the child places the end with the confection in his mouth and blows through to inflate the balloon, or when the balloon is deflated. 1924

Mechanical kicking mule
A mechanical kicking mule. Air slowly returning to the bellows (20) will, after about 30 seconds, strike the end of the hook lever (16) causing the mule to kick. 1924

Rocket pedal car
This child's rocket pedal car was designed by Harry Sebel, son of the founder of  D. Sebel and Company and the maker of Mobo Toys. Mobo turned out a number of pedal car designs, which are now highly-valued collector's items. 1951

Paranoid bear
This winged, stuffed bear seems a little anxious that someone might see him dressed up in that silly hat and bells. 1950

Toy ride-on sailboat
This ride-on sailboat looks like fun, and could probably be reconstructed fairly easily in the garage. 1929

Boy Bunny Tot doll
These nice illustrations are from consecutive patents for boy Bunny Tot dolls. Edward McCandlish's illustrations would have been familiar to Washington Post readers in the 1920s and 30s. McCandlish drew his Bunny Tots stories for the newspaper's children's pages and later published a series of Bunny Tots books. 1924

Rex Mars atomic pistol
The Official Rex Mars Planet Patrol Atomic Pistol with a sensational 300 ft. beam flashlight. 1953

Junior Raindrop doll
Meet Junior Raindrop, a hoodlum water drop who joins a gang in the hilarious 1948 animated Forest Service film The Adventures of Junior Raindrop. This patent design is for a Junior doll and was illustrated by Rudolph Wendelin, who is most famous for his drawings of Smokey the Bear. Be sure to watch the film and find out what happens to outlaw Junior. You can help support this site with a Junior shirt. 1950

Pyrotomic Disintegrator Pistol
The Pyrotomic Disintegrator Pistol. This toy gun was made by space-toy manufacturer Pyro Plastics Corp. You can see a photo of the pistol at toyraygun.com. 1953

Flag toy
A toy design for a retractable flag. "It is an additional object of this invention to provide a head on the inner rod which will rotate therewith when the flag is being actuated." 1920

Space rifle toy
A Tom Corbett Space Cadet rifle designed for toy maker Louis Marx. 1953

Monorail toy design
Let your imagination ride aboard a brand new concept in transportation. A design for a toy monorail. 1953

Toy airplane water pistol
A toy airplane water pistol. Perfect for swooping in and shooting your sister from behind. 1952

Toy soldiers
Toy soldiers simulating drill maneuvers. The figures are designed to turn, raise their guns to firing position and "explode a cap or otherwise create a noise similar to the firing of the gun, and at the same time cause powder to be ejected through the barrel of the gun..." 1920

Toy gun for a bicycle
A toy gun for a bicycle handlebar. 1954

Bunny in a barrel
A pop-up bunny in a barrel toy. He looks surprised -- and a little unhappy -- to be free. 1952