The story
Founded by Adolf Bing and Ignaz Bing in 1866, in Nuremberg.1
The company produced fine pewter and copper tableware before embarking on toy production in 1880; their first teddy bears were released in 1907. By the early 20th century, Bing was the largest toy company in the world, and Bing's factory in Nuremberg was the largest toy factory in the world. Although Bing produced numerous toys, it is best remembered today for toy trains and live steam powered toys. In addition to toys, it made scientific and educational novelties and a vast range of kitchenware, tableware, office equipment, record players, electrical goods, etc.
The "Nuremberg Style" of manufacturing toys on steel sheets with lithographed designs that were stamped out of the metal, formed, and assembled using tabs and slots, was perfected by Bing. This manufacturing method was widespread in the 1950s, long after the Bing company had been dissolved.
Toy Trains
Bing's first trains hit the market in the 1880s. When Märklin formalized several standards for track gauges in 1891, Bing adopted them and added O gauge by 1895 and gauge III (2.5 inches), causing confusion as Marklin Gauge III became Bing gauge IV (3 inches).
In the 1922, under the auspices of Bassett-Lowke, Bing introduced a still-smaller gauge, half that of O gauge at 16.0 mm (0.625 in), called Bing Table Railway. The Bing Table Railway was the basis of the later OO gauge at 4 mm scale (1:72 scale) in the United Kingdom and HO gauge at 3.5 mm scale (1:87 scale) in North America and on the Continental Europe but with a gauge of 16.5 mm (0.65 in).
Bing produced numerous items for export, which were then sold either under its name or to other companies. Bing made trains styled for the British market for Bassett-Lowke and A. W. Gamage, and it produced trains for the North American market, which it exported and marketed on its own. Early in the 20th century, Bing jockeyed for market share with the Ives Manufacturing Company, who did not surpass Bing in sales for good until 1910. Throughout their histories, the two companies frequently copied one another's designs. Sometimes, the two companies use the same catalog number on their competing products. Due to cheap German labor and low shipping and duty costs, Bing often undercut the prices of its U.S. competitors. By 1914, Bing had 5,000 employees. By comparison, Märklin employed 600.
Live Steam engines
The range of live steam engines included stationary engines, railway locomotives, road vehicles, and boats. Steam engines were made throughout most of the company's history. From the start, they made stationary engines and mobile models. The stationary models were generic in outline and not representative of particular prototypes. Mobile engines were more recognisable, and the more expensive versions could almost be classed as scale models, albeit inaccurate. The Railway locomotive versions were often very similar in outline to their clockwork and electric models.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bing (company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4