1948 - Buck Rogers Sonic Ray Gun By Norton-Honer Manufacturing Co. (revised)

[Joe K.]

See:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-Buck-Rogers-Sonic...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

And, specifically:

 

http://www.whentoyswerefun.com/47504.jpg

 

 

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

Ze photo.

[dratomic]

Except we already had this pegged as 1949 or something, right? It's in the same ad that had the Atomic Robot Man.

[Joe K.]

You're right, Doc. Here's the 1949 Miles Kimball ad:

What caught my eye in this 1953 Toys & Novelties ad were:

New Die-Cut Counter Display Box and

Now! Available In New Multicolor Combinations

Sometimes, it's nice to know how long a particular toy was in production. In this case, five years is a pretty respectable run!

[dratomic]

Agreed -- I caught those, too, and was quite excited. I've got all three color variations (well, the variations on the variations) and it's nice to put a date to them, specifically. Same with the box. Too bad we don't have this sort of information on all the toys -- stuff that allows us to SEE the timeline development. (As with the Planet Robot, too.)

[Joe K.]

Here's a two page, full-color ad, purportedly from 1949, for the Buck Rogers Sonic Ray 25th Century Signal Light gun.

Here's the left side:

http://www.whentoyswerefun.com/55331a.jpg

And the right side:

http://www.whentoyswerefun.com/55331b.jpg

Might one of you be able to photoshop them together as one complete image?

This gun has always been associated with the Norton-Honer Mfg. Co.

No where in this ad is Norton-Honer mentioned. Instead, Commonwealth Utilities Co. is named. Any theories why?

[Blechroboter]

Here´s the united Atomic News.

[Electric Robot and Son]

I have one of these in a Norton-Honer Mfg. Co. box and one in a Commonwealth Utilities Co. Box. I think the Commonwealth Utilities Co. version is earlier. The Commonwealth Utilities Co box says patent pending, the Norton-Honer box says pat des no 149113 and copyright 1952.

[Joe K.]

Thank you, Klaus.

And, thank you, Joe. Learn something new everyday!

[dratomic]

Later ones have the little knob on the side, earlier ones don't...

Maybe?

[Joe K.]

That would seem to make sense, Doc. The "little knob", the "Secret Sonic Control" knob, turned the buzzer off.

Also, don't some (later?) have the words "Buck Rogers Sonic Ray" molded into the right side, just above the grip? Others (earlier?), have the two control knobs on both sides.

[Phil R]

I was looking at my old Buck Rogers black and white strips of Murphy Anderson. This one dated 9/22/48 first used the sonic ray in the strip. Buck used the sonic ray gun to signal Earth in an emergency hundreds of miles in space through cosmic storms and solid objects. What a gun! The gun must have been in production stage at that time. :o

[dratomic]

That's awesome, Phil! Great catch! :)

[Brian..]

Phil's observation proves spot on. The gun was on sale in September 1948. Here's a picture ad from the Van Nuys News in October 1948.

 

[Tinplate6]

I like the prototype lens assembly better than the production model; the tapered barrel tip case with the indentations, and bulls-eye lens has more style, and matches the comic strip version.