Many of Lego's shipments were returned, following poor sales. Plastic products initially were not well received by customers, who preferred wooden or metal toys. In 1953, the bricks were given a new name: Lego Mursten, or "Lego Bricks." They would stick together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. In 1949, the Lego Group began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." Lego bricks, then manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another but could be "locked" together. The addition was granted in 1947 as British Patent Nº 587,206. In 1944, Page applied an "Improvement to Toy Building Blocks" as an addition to the previous patent, in which he describes a building system based on rectangular hollow blocks with 2X4 studs on top enabling the construction of walls with staggered rows and window openings. Hilary Fisher Page designed these "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks." In 1939, Page had applied for a patent on hollow plastic cubes with four studs on top (British Patent Nº.529,580) that allowed their positioning atop one another without lateral movement. In 1947, Ole Kirk and Gottfried obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. : 25 One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. Christiansen selected Lego, and the company began using it on their products.įollowing World War II, plastics became available in Denmark, and Lego purchased a plastic injection molding machine in 1947. : 17 Christiansen was considering two names himself, "Legio" (with the implication of a "Legion of toys") and "Lego," a self-made contraction from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." Later the Lego Group discovered that "Lego" could be loosely interpreted as "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin. In 1934, Christiansen held a contest among his staff to name the company, offering a bottle of homemade wine as a prize. : 15 His son Gottfried began working for him, taking an active role in the company. To reduce waste, he used the leftover yo-yo parts as wheels for toy trucks.
In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of increased activity until it suddenly collapsed. Farmers in the area sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys Christiansen continued producing practical furniture in addition to toys to stay in business. The business was not profitable because of the Great Depression. On 10 August 1932, Christiansen's shop started making wooden toys such as piggy banks, pull toys, cars and trucks, and houses. It was these miniature models of stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing toys. He began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. When the Great Depression hit, he had fewer customers and had to focus on smaller projects. Christiansen constructed a larger workshop and worked towards expanding his business even further. The workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire ignited some wood shavings. : 8 The shop mostly helped construct houses and furniture and had a small staff of apprentices. In 1916, Kristiansen purchased a woodworking shop in Billund, which had been in business since 1895. The Lego Group began in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen in Billund, Denmark. Hilary Fisher Page's Interlocking Building Cubes of 1939