Akronite Samuel C. Dyke ignited the modern toy industry when he automated his factory in 1884. Toy marbles have been around for thousands of years; however, until recently, they were very expensive to produce because they were created by hand: one-marble-at-a-time. Sam Dyke changed all that when he invented machinery to fully mass-produce toy marbles made out of clay, later to become nick-named "commies" by the children who were enthralled by them (because they became so common among all the varieties of marbles to be eventually produced). Read More...