Online Encyclopedia
LEGO
LEGO is a Danish toy company best known for its line of interconnecting plastic bricks. The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934, a portmanteau formed from the Danish phrase "leg godt", meaning "play well". Until 1949, the LEGO company primarily produced wooden toys, though modern LEGO toys are made from plastic.
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History of LEGO
LEGO's product was not always the refined system of high-quality plastic building bricks that it is today. It had humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter from Billund, Denmark. His innovative family-owned business would one day grow into one of the most well respected toy companies in the world.
Beginnings
In 1916, Christiansen opened a woodworking shop in Billund, and earned his living by constructing houses and furniture for farmers in the region, with the help of a small staff of apprentices. His workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire, lit by his two young sons, ignited some wood shavings. Undaunted, Ole Kirk took the disaster as an opportunity to construct a larger workshop, and worked towards expanding his business even further; however, the Great Depression would soon have an impact on his livelihood. In finding ways to minimize production costs, Ole Kirk began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. It was these miniature stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing toys.
Ole Kirk's shop started making wooden pull toys, piggy banks, cars and trucks. He enjoyed a modest amount of success, but families were poor and often unable to afford such toys. Farmers in the area sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys; Ole Kirk found he had to continue producing practical furniture in addition to toys in order to stay in business. In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of activity, until its sudden collapse. Once again, Ole Kirk turned disadvantage to his favor, turning the disused yo-yo parts into wheels for a toy truck. His son Godtfred began working for him, and taking an active role in the company.
It was in 1934 that the company name LEGO was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." Some claim that "LEGO" means "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin, although this is a rather liberal translation of a verb form that would normally translate as "I read" or "I gather".
When plastic came into widespread use, Ole Kirk kept with the times and began producing plastic toys. One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. It wasn't until 1949 that the interlocking plastic bricks, which made the company famous, were developed. These "Automatic Binding Bricks", manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; the revolutionary concept, however, was that these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they couldn't be pulled apart. In 1953, the bricks were given a new name: LEGO Mursten, or "LEGO Bricks."
The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of LEGO's shipments were returned, following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones. Despite such criticism, however, the Kirk Christiansens persevered. By 1954, Godtfred had become the junior managing director of LEGO. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in LEGO bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not very versatile. It wasn't until 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed. The bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This added support in the base, enabling much better locking ability and improved versatility. That same year, Ole Kirk Christiansen died, and Godtfred inherited leadership of the company.
Growth
LEGO matured substantially over the coming years.
In 1959, the Futura division was founded within the company. Its small staff was responsible for generating ideas for new sets.
Another warehouse fire struck the LEGO company in 1960, consuming most of the company's inventory of wooden toys; fortunately, the LEGO brick line was strong enough by then that the company decided to abandon production of wooden toys. By the end of the year, the staff of the LEGO company had grown to 450.
1961 and 1962 saw the introduction of the first LEGO wheels, an addition that expanded the potential for building cars, trucks, busses and other vehicles from LEGO bricks. Also during this time, LEGO introduced toys specifically targeted towards the pre-school market, and made an arrangement allowing Samsonite to begin producing and selling LEGO products in Canada, an arrangement that would continue until 1988. There were more than 50 sets of bricks in the LEGO System of Play by this time.
In 1963, the material used to create LEGO bricks, cellulose acetate, known to have problems with discoloration and warping, was dropped in favor of more stable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS plastic, which is still used as of 2004. ABS had a number of additional advantages over cellulose acetate: it is more resistant to heat, acids, salt, and other chemicals, and is non-toxic. LEGO bricks manufactured from ABS plastic in 1963 still hold most of their shape and color 40 years later, and still neatly interlock with LEGO bricks manufactured in 2003.
1964 was the first time that instruction manuals were included in LEGO sets.
One of LEGO's most successful series, the LEGO train system, was first released in 1966. The original train sets included a 4.5-volt motor and rails; two years later, a 12-volt motor was introduced.
On June 7, 1968, the LEGOLAND Park in Billund was opened. This theme park featured elaborate models of miniature towns, built entirely from LEGO bricks. The three acre (12,000 m²) park attracted 625,000 visitors in its first year alone. During the next 20 years, the park grew to more than eight times its original size, and eventually averaged close to a million paying visitors per year. More than eighteen million LEGO sets were sold in 1968.
In 1969, the DUPLO system went on sale. This was a newly developed system, targeted towards younger children; DUPLO bricks are much larger than LEGO bricks, making them safer for very young children, but the two systems are compatible: LEGO bricks can be fitted neatly onto DUPLO bricks, making the transition to the LEGO system easily made as children outgrow their DUPLO bricks.
The 1960s were such a period of growth for the LEGO company that by 1970, one of the biggest questions they faced was how best to manage and control its expanding market.
Expansion
By 1970, the LEGO company had a staff of more than 900. The coming decades would mark considerable expansion into new frontiers of toy making and marketing. LEGO began to target the female market with the introduction of furniture pieces and dollhouses in 1971. The LEGO universe expanded its transportation possibilities with the addition of boat and ship sets, with hull pieces that actually floated, in 1972.
During this same period, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, joined the managerial staff of the company, after earning business degrees in Switzerland and Denmark. (Kjeld's surname is spelled with a "K", instead of a "Ch", due to a mistake on his birth certificate; he kept the spelling.) One of Kjeld's first achievements with the company was the foundation of manufacturing facilities, as well as a research and development department that would be responsible for keeping the company's manufacturing methods up to date. Human figures with posable arms made an appearance in 1974 in "LEGO family" sets, which went on to become the biggest sellers at the time; in the same year, an early version of the "minifig" miniature LEGO person was introduced, but it was not posable and had no face printed on its head. A LEGO production plant was opened in Enfield, Connecticut in the United States.
"Expert Series" sets were first introduced in 1975, geared towards older, more experienced LEGO builders. This line soon developed into the "Expert Builder" sets, released in 1977. These technical sets featured moving parts such as gears, differentials cogs, levers, axles and universal joints, and permitted the construction of realistic models such as automobiles, with functional rack and pinion steering and lifelike engine movements. Finally, the LEGO world came together in 1978 with the addition of the LEGO "minifig" that is still known today. These small LEGO people have posable arms and legs, and a friendly smile. The figure was used in many varieties of LEGO sets, allowing consumers to construct elaborate towns with buildings, roads, vehicles, trains, and boats, at the same scale, and populated with the smiling minifig LEGO citizens.
Another significant expansion to the LEGO line occurred in 1979, with the creation of LEGO Space sets. Astronaut minifigs, rockets, lunar rovers and spaceships populated this successful series. FABULAND, a fantasy series targeted towards younger children, debuted in this year as well, as did the SCALA series, featuring jewelry elements marketed towards young girls. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen became the president of LEGO in this year; another decade concluded with LEGO still going strong.
LEGO bricks had always had a constructive potential that was seen by some educators as being an invaluable asset in helping children to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities. Since the 1960s, teachers had been using LEGO bricks in the classroom for a variety of reasons. In 1980, LEGO established the Educational Products Department (eventually renamed LEGO DACTA, in 1989), specifically to expand the educational possibilities of their toys. A packing and assembly factory opened in Switzerland, followed by another in Jutland, Denmark that manufactured LEGO tires.
The second generation LEGO Trains appeared in 1981. As before these were available in either 4.5V (battery powered) or 12V (mains powered), but a much wider variety of accessories were available, including working lights, remote-controlled points and signals, and even decouplers.
The "Expert Builder" series matured in 1982, becoming the "Technic" series. August 13 of that year marked the LEGO company's 50th anniversary; the book 50 Years of Play was published to commemorate the occasion. In the following year, the DUPLO system was expanded to include sets for even younger audiences, particularly infants; new sets included baby rattles and figures with adjustable limbs. In another year, LEGO minifig citizens gained a realm of knights and horses, with the introduction of the first Castle sets. Light & Sound sets made their appearance in 1986; these sets included a battery pack with electrical lights, buzzers, and other accessories to add another dimension of realism to LEGO creations. Also that year, LEGO's educational division produced the Technic Computer Control, which was an educational system whereby Technic robots, trucks, and other motorized models could be controlled with a computer. Manaus, Brazil gained a LEGO factory in this year, as well.
In 1986, the Technic line was expanded with the addition of pneumatic components.
In August of 1988, 38 children from 17 different countries took part in the first LEGO World Cup building contest, held in Billund. That same year, LEGO Canada was established. The LEGO line grew again in 1989 with the release of the LEGO Pirates series, which featured a variety of pirate ships, desert islands and treasure; the series was also the first to depart from the standard minifig smiley face to create an array of piratical characters. LEGO's Educational Products Department was renamed LEGO DACTA in this year; the name is derived from the Greek word "didactic", which roughly means "the study of the learning process." MIT's Dr. Seymour Papert, from the Laboratory of Computer Learning, was named "LEGO Professor of Learning Research," after his ongoing work in linking the Logo programming language with LEGO products.
A new series designed for advanced builders was released in 1990. Three Model Team sets, including a racecar and an off-road vehicle, featured a level of detail and realism not previously seen in any LEGO series. Where Technic was mechanically accurate, Model Team was visually and stylistically accurate. The LEGO company became one of the top 10 toy companies in this year; the only toy company in Europe to be among the top 10. LEGOLAND Billund had more than one million visitors in this year, for the first time in its history. The first-ever "LEGO Professor of Business Dynamics," Xavier Gilbert, was appointed to an endowed chair at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. LEGO Malaysia was also established in 1990. In 1991, LEGO standardized their electrical components and systems - the Trains series was made 9V, along with the Technic motors, to bring the systems into line with the rest of the LEGO range.
Two Guinness records were set in 1992 using LEGO products: A castle made from 400,000 LEGO bricks, and measuring 4.45 meters by 5.22 meters, was built on Swedish television, and a LEGO railway line 545 meters in length, with three locomotives, was constructed. DUPLO was augmented with the addition of the Toolo line featuring a screwdriver, wrench, nuts and bolts; the Paradisa line, targeted towards girls, brought a variety of new pastel colors into the LEGO system. 1993 brought a DUPLO train and a parrot-shaped "brickvac" that could pick LEGO pieces up off the floor.
The most common colors of basic LEGO bricks are red, yellow, blue, black, white, and light grey. Other colors joined the palette in the late 1990s. LEGO avoided making green bricks for a long time, fearing they would be used to build modern military vehicles and use LEGO bricks as a war toy, but that fear seems to have abated.
Early prototypes of the LEGO minifig had a variety of skin colors and facial expressions, but production designs used only a yellow skin color and standard smiling face. LEGO Pirates in 1989 expanded the array of facial expressions, and licensed series such as LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Harry Potter gave minifigs the persona of specific characters from their cinematic counterparts, but it wasn't until 2003, with the introduction of LEGO Basketball, that the palette of minifig skin tones broadened to include more lifelike colors.[1] http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=2490
Manufacturing LEGO
LEGO brick design can be deceptively simple. The vast array of pieces in the LEGO System of Play seem to require no explanation; since they are made for children, they are designed to be so straightforward as to require little or no instruction in how to use them. To achieve such apparent simplicity, a considerable amount of engineering and precision manufacturing must go into the creation of each LEGO piece.
One of the key features of LEGO bricks throughout their history is that they are, first and foremost, part of a system. Each new series and set that is released is compatible with the rest of the system; LEGO pieces, regardless of their size, shape, or function, fit together with all other LEGO pieces in some way. The gear and motor mechanisms that come with the most advanced Technic sets, designed for teenagers, can be almost effortlessly attached to the DUPLO bricks designed for three-year-old children. This characteristic enables the LEGO system to grow and adapt as children get older; the infinite possibilities presented by the system keep many adults fascinated, as well.
Manufacturing of LEGO bricks occurs at a number of locations around the world. As of 2003, molding is done at one of two plants in Denmark and Switzerland. Brick decorations and packaging may be done at plants in Denmark, Switzerland, U.S., South Korea and the Czech Republic. Annual production of LEGO bricks averages approximately 20 billion (2 × 1010) per year, or about 2.3 million per hour.
Bricks, beams, axles, minifigs, and all other pieces in the LEGO system, are manufactured to an exacting degree of tolerance. When snapped together, pieces must have just the right amount of "clutch power"; they must stay together until pulled apart. They cannot be too easy to pull apart, or the result will be LEGO creations that are unstable; they cannot be too difficult to pull apart, since the disassembly of one creation in order to build another is part of the LEGO appeal. In order for pieces to have just the right amount of "clutch power", LEGO pieces are manufactured within a tolerance of two thousandths of a millimetre (0.002 mm), or eighty millionths of an inch (0.00008 in).
One of the techniques that help to maintain this high degree of quality is the small capacity of the molds; some toy companies, in order to cut manufacturing costs, use molds capable of stamping out sixty pieces at a time. LEGO molds generally have a much smaller capacity, and are precision-machined, often costing tens of thousands of dollars. The injection molds are equipped with sensors to detect fluctuations in pressure and temperature, either of which can degrade the quality of the resulting piece. Human inspectors meticulously check the output of the molds, to ensure that there are no significant variations in color or thickness. Worn-out molds are encased in the foundations of buildings to prevent their falling into competitors' hands. According to the LEGO company, its molding processes are so accurate that only 18 bricks out of every million fail to meet its stringent standards. It is thanks to this care in manufacturing that LEGO has maintained such a high degree of quality over the decades; it is also part of the reason that pieces manufactured 30 years ago still interlock neatly with pieces manufactured today.
LEGO today
Since it began producing plastic bricks, LEGO has released many thousands of play sets themed on space, robots, pirates, medieval castles, dinosaurs, cities, suburbia, holiday locations, the Wild West, the Arctic, boats, racing cars, trains, Star Wars, Harry Potter and more. New pieces are being released constantly, allowing LEGO to become more and more versatile.
There are also motors, gears, lights, noisemakers and cameras available to be used with the other LEGO components. There are even bricks that can be programmed with a personal computer to perform very complicated procedures. These programmable bricks are sold under the name LEGO Mindstorms.
In the late 1990s, LEGO brought out a series of new and specialized ranges aimed at particular demographics. The Bionicle range uses Technic pieces and specialist moldings to create a set of action figures for boys, while Belville is a more conventional lego range aimed at girls and featuring large posable figures like those in the Technic range. A LEGO 4 Juniors group features medium-sized figures with jointed arms, and longer legs than the classic minifig LEGO man. In 2003, LEGO introduced a completely new system, Clikits , aimed at girls and consisting of customizable plastic jewelry and accessories.
LEGO bricks have now been used for purposes beyond play. A cult following of people who have used LEGO pieces to make sculptures, very large mosaics and complex machines has developed. Some sculptures use hundreds of thousands of pieces and weigh tens of kilograms. Large mosaics, fully functional padlocks and pendulum clocks, and even a harpsichord have been constructed from LEGO pieces. One such masterpiece solves a Rubik's Cube through the use of LEGO motors and cameras, a task that many humans cannot accomplish.
LEGO toys have been used in a number of unexpected ways. For example, at The Brick Testament http://www.bricktestament.com/ the 'Reverend' Brendan Powell Smith has painstakingly built the Bible in LEGO. The site features over 2,000 photographs of LEGO Bible scenes. The website theory.org.uk http://www.theory.org.uk/lego.htm (by academic David Gauntlett) features LEGO versions of social theorists. A set of software tools called LDraw can be used to model possible LEGO creations in 3D. Because of the high degree of uniformity in LEGO bricks, they have also been used in fields such as computer vision, in which knowing the exact dimensions and relative positions of objects is useful for creating test data.
Economic difficulties
In 2003, LEGO faced a budget deficit of 1.4 billion DKK (220 million USD at then current exchange rates), causing president Poul Plougmann to be fired and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen to take over. In the following year, almost one thousand employees were fired, due to budget cuts.
However, in October, 2004, as LEGO faced an even larger deficit, Kristiansen once again stepped down as president, while placing 800,000 DKK of his private funds in the company.
Future plans for getting the company back on track include selling the LEGOLAND entertainment parks to another of the Kristansen family held companies and reducing its workforce. Moving production of its bricks to China like so many toy companies has also been mooted but is unlikey within the next 5 years.
The LEGO system in art
One hobby among enthusiasts is to re-create popular scenes from famous movies, using LEGO bricks for the scenery and LEGO play sets as characters. Such movies are called "LEGO movies", "brickfilms", or "cinema LEGO". For example, the Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD contained a version of the "Camelot" musical sequence redone with LEGO minifigs and accessories.
Artists have also used LEGO sets with one of the more notorious examples being Polish artist Zbigniew Libera 's "LEGO Concentration Camp," a collection of mocked-up concentration camp-themed LEGO sets.[2] http://users.erols.com/kennrice/lego-kz.htm
Another notable example is the award-winning Music video for the song "Fell in Love With a Girl" by the White Stripes. Director Michel Gondry first filmed a live version of the video, digitized the result, and then recreated the video entirely with lego bricks.
LEGO itself sells a line of sets named "LEGO Studios," which contain a LEGO web cam (repackaged Logitech USB Quickcam), software to record video on a computer, clear plastic rods which can be used to manipulate minifigs from off-camera, and a minifig resembling Steven Spielberg.
The LEGO trademark
LEGO's name has become so synonymous with their flagship toy that many use the words "LEGO" or "LEGOs" to refer to the bricks themselves, and even to any plastic bricks resembling LEGO bricks, although the LEGO company discourages such dilution of their trademark name (see trademark). LEGO catalogues in the 1970s and 1980s contained a note that read:
The word LEGO® is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you! Susan Williams, Consumer Services.
"LEGO" is officially written in all uppercase letters.
Consumers on a budget are sometimes willing to forego the LEGO brand in favor of a cheaper alternative. Since the expiration of the last standing LEGO patent in 1988, a number of companies have produced interlocking bricks that are nearly identical to LEGO bricks. Toy company Tyco produced such bricks for a time; other competitors include Mega Bloks and Coko . These imitations are typically compatible with LEGO bricks, and are marketed at a lower cost than LEGO sets. Such brands are somewhat troublesome to the LEGO Company, due to concerns about possible confusion between genuine LEGO products and LEGO product imitators. In 2003 the LEGO Company won a lawsuit in Norway against the marketing group Biltema for its sale of Coko products, on the grounds that the company used such product confusion for marketing purposes.
Similar action has been taken against Coko distributors in other countries; in 2002 a Chinese manufacturer of Coko products was ordered by the Beijing High People's Court to hand over its plastic molds for destruction, and to issue a formal apology to the LEGO Company.[3] http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=2484&country
code=2057&yearcode=2003&archive=true&bhcp=1
LEGOLAND
LEGO has built several theme parks around the world, each known as LEGOLAND, featuring large-scale models, particularly of famous landmarks. The oldest of these is located in Billund, Denmark. Others followed: "LEGOLAND Windsor" (in England), "LEGOLAND California" in Carlsbad, and "LEGOLAND Deutschland" in Günzburg, Germany.
When the Mall of America opened in 1992, one of its premier attractions, attached to the Camp Snoopy amusement park, was the LEGO Imagination Center. Another LEGO Imagination Center is located in the Downtown Disney area of Walt Disney World. These two locations are large LEGO stores with lots of displays of LEGO statues as well as a play area with bins of bricks to build with; they offer a large selection of LEGO sets for sale, including sets which are advertised in LEGO catalogues as "Not Available In Any Store."
The 2003 opening of a dedicated LEGO shop in Birmingham's Bull Ring shopping centre (England) was marked by the production of a limited edition specially branded LEGO piece.
Diversity of the Corporation
LEGO was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.
External links
- LEGO Official Website http://www.lego.com/
- Peeron http://www.peeron.com/ LEGO Set and Part Inventory Database
- LUGNET http://www.lugnet.com/ LEGO Users Group Network
- Brickshelf http://www.brickshelf.com/ Free site to post pictures of LEGO creations
- LDraw, LEGO CAD Tools http://www.ldraw.org/
- Brikwars http://www.brikwars.com/
- BZPower http://www.bzpower.com/ (Bionicle site)
- LEGOLAND California Vacation Adventure http://www.maintour.com/socal/legoland.htm
- Classic-Castle.com http://www.classic-castle.com/ a LEGO fansite dedicated in particular to Castle-themed LEGO creations
- Classic-Space.com http://www.classic-space.com/ a LEGO fansite dedicated in particular to Space-themed LEGO creations
- From Bricks to Bothans dot net http://www.fbtb.net/ a LEGO fansite dedicated in particular to Star Wars themed LEGO creations
- Bricklink http://www.bricklink.com/ (Buying and selling sets and parts)
- MOC Pages http://www.mocpages.com/ Website containing many peoples LEGO creations
- The Brickish Association http://www.brickish.org/ British LEGO Fan Association
Enthusiasts' projects
- LEGO mosaics & sculptures http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/
- More LEGO sculptures http://bill.wards.net/blosxom/lego/models/sculpture/
- LEGO machines http://www.jpbrown.i8.com/
- LEGO Castle Project http://www.minifig.co.uk/
- The Brick Testament: Bible scenes acted out in LEGO bricks http://www.bricktestament.com/
- The Brick Apple http://www.brickapple.com/
- Abston Church of Christ http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/index.html
- The Chronicles of Ikros, an original story http://www.ikros.net/
- Several famous works of art re-built with LEGO pieces http://www.lipsons.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lego.htm
- FoundryDX http://www.foundrydx.com/main.html
- A LEGO Counting problem http://www.math.ku.dk/~eilers/lego.html – in just how many ways can six lego bricks be combined?
- A 'Brick' filming enthusiast site http://www.brickfilms.com