Monday, January 28, 2008

The LEGO Block's 50th Anniversary

The LEGO block is over the hill today. The original patent for it was submitted at 1:58 p.m. January 28, 1958; however, the LEGO block we know today wouldn't appear until five years later when they began using the current materials to make it.

The LEGO company began as a Danish manufacturer of small wooden toys in 1932. Ole Kirk Christansen, the founder, came up with the name LEGO as a combination of the Danish words "leg" and "godt," which, put together, mean "play well."

The forefather to the modern LEGO brick was created in 1949 and was tweaked and developed until 1958, when it took the form still used today. Blocks from 1958 will fit with blocks from today.

One thing I did not realize is the sheer scale of the LEGO operation. There are 2,400 different brick shapes, and the LEGO company also produces 25 other product lines, and is sold in more than 130 countries (there are 190 countries recognized in the UN).

Neatorama has a good article with the 10 Neatest LEGO Facts, in tribute to the wildly-popular toy's birthday.

I thought I would share something I found on YouTube: The Dark Knight trailer, in LEGOs. It's perfectly matched to the real trailer.




3 comments:

DM said...

If you hurry up and check www.google.com you can see that the "Google" is made of legos.

I saw the Google thing this morning, and I was like "what the heck..." but now it all makes sense.

Joanna Benskin said...

Yup, it's linked. :)

My blog isn't heavy traffic, so I doubt you'll get many hits from there, though.

Joanna Benskin said...

Also, are you aware of the Lego version of the Monty Python Camelot song?