The Miami Wood Specialty and Wright-Dayton Companies

(Updated March 22, 2023) Lorin Wright was Orville's only surviving brother during the 1920's and 1930's; Wilbur had died in 1912, and Reuchlin in 1920. Lorin and wife Ivonette Stokes had four children, Milton, Ivonette, Leontine, and Horace. Milton and wife Ann Grosvenor married in 1917 and had two sons, Milton and George Wilkinson. Ivonette and husband Harold Miller married in 1919 and had three children, Jack, Ivonette, and Marianne. Leontine had married John Jameson in 1923, and they had a son and daughter, John and Leontine. Finally, Horace was married to Susan Blair. Lorin lived a full interesting life, and one of his many accomplishments is the subject of this post, The Miami Wood Specialty Company.

The Miami Wood Specialty Company was incorporated January 13, 1922. "The capitalization of the organization is $15,000. Incorporators were Mr. and Mrs. Harold S. Miller and Mr. and Mrs E. A. Short."(1) Harold's wife, Ivonette Wright Miller, recalled the following: "In 1922, a man we knew, needing funds to carry on a wood working business, came to Scribze (Harold) to get financial help to keep his project going. After discussion and inquiry into the business, Scribze decided to put a small amount of money into it. After about a year, a friend by the name of George Gibboney bought into the business. It wasn't long until Gibboney found out that the manager was selling company assets and was not accounting for it. He asked to get out. He did so and surrendered his stock certificates. In about a year they could say they were making money, not much yet, but some." (2) 

In 1922, Eldon A. Short was President of the Miami Wood Specialty Company, and Lorin Wright was Vice President. Lorin's son-in-law Harold S Miller was Secretary & Treasurer. The business location was at Delphos Avenue, west of Westwood Avenue. By 1923, Eldon had left the company, and George C. Gibboney was President. Lorin remained VP, and Harold Secretary and Treasurer.(14)  

Continuing her account, Ivonette wrote, "We remember Uncle Orv's Christmas Eve dinner in 1923 as one of his most interesting. It was on that occasion he showed us a model of a toy he had once seen. It had captured his imagination. He thought it was an ingenious toy, so decided he would make one by hand and bring it out for the family children to play with. It was a contraption with a narrow base board about 18 inches long. One end it had a spring board that could be put under tension and then released by a trigger. It had a launching seat on it and a little wooden clown with wire hooks for arms. On the other end of the base was a revolving double trapeze with a counter balancing clown holding to the bottom side. When a similar clown was released from the spring board, it flew through the air and caught the top side of the trapeze to revolve. 

The whole family had so much fun with it that Scribze asked Uncle Orv if he could take it to the toy factory in which he was a stockholder, (The Miami Wood Specialty Co.) to see if it could be manufactured. In the meantime Uncle Orv had done some scientific experimenting with it. He worked out the angle of the seat, the amount of tension of the spring board, etc., and had a great time working on the details. 

Orville Wright finally patented it and assigned it to the company. The toy was called 'Flips and Flops'. Uncle Orv designed and built several machines to speed up the production and ten thousand were manufactured. Each one had to be replaced because they had wooden spring boards which warped in damp weather. They were replaced by Swedish steel. Mr. Bernard, their salesman, went out and brought in more orders than they could finance. So Dad Wright (Lorin) bought into the company. He had his money back in about six months and still owned 1/3 of the stock. Because he was in the company, they were able to borrow money more freely from the bank. After several years he bought out George Gibboney's stock and transferred 1/2 of it to my two brothers (Horace & Milton). Dad was made president of the company and Bus (Horace) factory manager."(2) 

Author's Flips and Flops, early version as manufactured by The Miami Wood Specialty Co.

In 1924, Lorin Wright was President of the Dayton Company and George Gibboney was Vice President. Milton Wright became Secretary, and Harold S. Miller Treasurer. The company moved to the 2nd floor of 11 St. Mary's. By 1925, Lorin remained President, and Harold became Vice President with the departure of George Gibboney. Milton became Secretary & Treasurer.  Accounts of the success of Flips and Flops were reported in numerous news articles in 1924 and 25, "Business was not all that might have been desired and one day, in the presence of Orville Wright, the question of designing a toy strictly his own, and one that would keep the plant busy the year through, was discussed by Lorin. Orville Wright said nothing in the discussion but at his workshop, gave the problem some thought. Shortly after he startled the family with 'Flips and Flops'. Not only did Orville Wright produce the toy, but he designed and made the machinery to build it. After he had completed the toy and turned it over to his brother, it was discovered that several items in its manufacture were unusually high. It cost a lot of money to make the two little bent wire arms for the clowns. And a few weeks after this was brought to the inventor's notice, a machine was working in his shop which reduced the production cost of the wire arms more than 500 per cent.....Tinkering with the toy at odd times, Orville Wright produced it a finished product in three months. The unsuccessful imitators know that this man of science builds well...." (3) Lorin reported "the flip-flop circus act......has proved a popular seller. The act includes a clown that leaps from a springing board onto a trapeze. This specialty has been sold in all parts of the world, England, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia and other countries, Mr Wright says."(4) "Orville Wright laughed like a boy as he said he had made the thing almost infallible. It would, spinning, strike the bar almost every time."(5)

Lorin Wright's grandson Wilkinson Wright, interviewed in 1996 by Ann Deines (Honious), shared, "Well, the reason I can remember 'Flips and Flops', when I was a kid- this was before I was nine years old because we moved to another house when I was nine- they used to bring these huge boxes of these little wood turnings that had been enameled. They were white enamel, and it was a turning and it was a little sort of a clown figure, a very simple turning. It had a pointed head, like a hat as I remember, and those had been dipped so that they were either red or blue paint. And my mother would sit there at the table with a pen and India ink and she would draw little faces on those clowns- you know, choo, choo, choo, very fast- with about...it must have been about four marks or five in a slash. She drew thousands of those little clowns. I can remember her doing that." (Wilkinson's parents were Milton Wright and Ann Grosvenor Wright. Milton's parents were Lorin Wright and Ivonette Stokes Wright.) More from Wilkinson later in this post.

Lorin Wright is pictured upper left in this article from The Dayton Daily News, Sunday September 18, 1927. The article mentions Flips and Flops sales in 1923 reached 97,000 units. "Next in popularity is Toby the Tumbler. The company manufacturers a large quantity of the type of playthings known as 'pull toys'. The concern's products are sold in all of the world. Twelve per cent of its toys are sold in foreign countries." In addition to Toby the Tumbler pictured above, one of the pull toys is also displayed, a wooden kangaroo.

 

In 1926, the company moved to an 8680 SF building at 49 Front Street, at the southwest corner of Front and Second Streets. Miami Wood Specialty Company would remain at this location through 1939, and beyond as the Wright-Dayton Company to 1948. (16)

The Miami Wood Specialty Company was located at 49 Front Street from 1926 through 1939. After it's sale following Lorin Wright's death, the name changed to The Wright-Dayton Company. It remained at this location through 1948. Map shown is a 1938 aerial view, edited by author. The building still stands today.

49 Front Street, location of The Miami Wood Specialty Company through 1939, and the Wright-Dayton Company through the 1940's. As appears today, courtesy of Google Earth street view.

 

Horace married Susan Blair in 1928, and during an interview in 1996, she recalled, "I was twenty-six years old. I was practically an old maid, is what you'd say. I remember he worked for the Miami Wood Specialty Company, and he was only making twenty-five dollars a week and we couldn't get married or pay rent for that! So one day we just decided, we said, 'Well, we're going to take the bull by the horns and we'll make a go of it some way or other.' So we told them we were going to get married, and you know his father doubled his salary? (laughter)(12)

Letter from Lorin Wright to Ed Ellis, concerning health of Joseph Boyd. On Miami Wood Specialty Company letterhead, June 1931. Joseph died July 18, 1931. Joseph was a member of the 10 Dayton Boys Club, with four survivors- Lorin Wright, Frank Gilbert (of Dayton), Edward Ellis (of Columbus), and Wilbur Landis (of Detroit). Wilbur Wright was the first to die of the group of 10 friends, in 1912, followed by Reuchlin Wright in 1920.

 

Harold and Ivonette's son Jack Wright Miller died at the age of 13, September 25, 1933 after a long illness. At this time, Harold Miller was listed as secretary and manager of the Provident Collateral Loan Company, and vice president of the Miami Wood Specialty Company.(6)

Ivonette and son Jack(15)

 

Ivonette continued in her recollection: "After the volume of 'Flips and Flops' sales decreased, they went into sales incentive toys and made aeroplanes called the 'Wright Flyer'. Uncle Orv designed the printing press that was used to put the advertiser's name on the wings. (Sketch shown later in this post) He also designed a specialized machine to put out parts..." (2) 

 

As displayed at the Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center at West Third Street and South Williams in Dayton, Ohio. "This printing press was used by Miami Wood Specialty...to make balsa wood Wright Flyers. These airplanes were given away as cereal premiums. Children saved a specified number of cereal box tops, sent them in, and received the airplane. On loan from Wright Brothers National Memorial." Photo by author, October 2020.

 

Side view of Miami Wood Specialty printing press. Photo by author, October 2020.

 By 1936, the Company was manufacturing 1.5 million toy airplanes annually. "Virtually all production is consigned to manufacturers who distribute the toy planes as premiums....Lorin stated that 'About eight years ago a young man came in and wanted us to make him some toy planes. Since then, our business has been primarily that', with a total estimated output of 10 million units. (8)

"These Planes are designed and manufactured by Lorin and Orville Wright at Dayton, Ohio. This 1934 model "Wright Dayton" Plane is really three planes in one- it can be flown as a monoplane, bi-plane or sea-plane." Advertisement from Lebanon Daily News, Lebanon, PA, June 25, 1934.

Gaylord Marquardt, one of the employees of Miami Wood Specialty Company, was hired at the age of 18 in 1933.  Gayle, who worked second shift, shared the following account with Dale Huffman in July of 2003- "One night this very distinguished gentleman showed up...I soon learned he was Orville Wright and that he had been there before asking for some help on special projects. Orville walked over to me and asked if I could run some pieces of wood through the saw I was operating. Well, of course I told him I would be pleased to do it." Dale Huffman then writes that Gayle's hand was "caught too near the blade...and the knuckle on his right hand was cut." Gayle explained, "It was bleeding and Orville had a fit. He quickly ran to the office and got first aid equipment and put medicine on it, and wrapped it up and asked if I needed a doctor. He was very attentive, and very helpful. He was also very concerned and apologized over and over again....After that, every time Orville came into the shop and saw me he would ask how I was and would mention he was sorry my knuckle had been injured.....I have memories of a lifetime, that include the night Orville Wright bandaged my hand." Gayle was 88 years old when he shared this account with Dale. (9)

To view the table saw used at the Miami Wood Specialty and Wright-Dayton Companies, watch this video presented by Nick Engler.

 

Wilkinson Wright also shared his memories of working at the Miami Wood Specialty Company with Ann Deines (Honious), saying, "I don't remember whether it was high school or maybe junior high, I worked in my grandfather's toy factory. He had a toy factory over on the east side of Dayton off of East Third Street, the Miami Wood Specialty Company, where he made various toys. But the thing that they made the most of were little balsa wood airplanes that you shoot with a rubber band......."

The Miami Wood Specialty Company AutoGiro Plane, once assembled, the shooter (wood dowel and rubber band) would hook on the metal nose and the plane shot in the air, "When the Plane reaches its greatest height the Wings will open out and the Plane will spin slowly down. If the Plane is shot at an angle into the wind it may be made to return to its starting point." From author's collection.

Wilkinson continued, "And Orville often would stop in there. I think he and Lorin saw each other almost every day......Lorin would stop by at South Broadway on his way back to work after lunch....Orville quite often, maybe before he went home for lunch, would stop by and visit Lorin. Or sometimes, as I say, there didn't seem to be any set pattern, but he'd stop out at the toy factory. And he was not a part-owner of that, but he was deeply interested and did a lot of work. He designed a printing press for them to print the designs on the balsa wood, the wings and the bodies of the airplanes. He designed some jigs. This involved sort of clamping and gluing little parts together, and he designed some jigs that did that sort of thing for them. He was always fascinated by anything mechanical. You've seen the modern computers, you know, where you can throw an image on the screen and then it'll revolve around and you get a three-dimensional view? Yeah. Well, Orville when he was working on anything mechanical, he would pick it up and he would turn it over and over and over in his hands. And he seemed almost to communicate through his hands. But he would look at it and look at it and analyze it."(11)

Lorin's grandson Milton Wright recalled the following when discussing his memories of Orville and Katharine, "And, you know, they were perfect fools about the dogs. I mean, they'd talk baby talk to every dog they saw. We had a dog, a fox terrier named Flippy, the name came from a toy that my grandfather's toy company made. The Miami Wood Specialty Company had a toy called Flips and Flops, and we had a dog named Flips and my cousin Jack had a dog named Flops. But he would talk, He would say, 'Oh Flipsy, Flipsy....' He'd talk to him like that all the time." When asked about Orville's involvement with the company, Milton replied, "He helped design the....it was a little balsa wood glider that you shot with a rubber band, and it would do maneuvers. It would turn, it would do a loop-the-loop and so forth, and he would design them. And every time he perfected a design, he'd come over to our house with my grandfather and we'd go out to some fields there and he'd watch the kids try them out. So they had a toy designed by Orville Wright.......And I had a summer job there once when I went to college, working at the toy factory. It didn't go on too much longer after that." When asked if Orville designed the Flips and Flops, Milton replied, "Oh yeah, yeah, all the...And I'm just wondering if any of those are around.....I imagine they're valuable if you can find one...."Milton was asked about his opinion of Mabel Beck, Orville's secretary, who had a reputation for being unfriendly with just about everyone, including Orville's family, and he recalled a time he visited Orville's laboratory at 15 North Broadway. When asked if Mabel was nice to him when he went to the lab, Milton responded "No, she wasn't. I remember I went once and he heard me, my voice, and she was saying something, and he said, 'Oh, come down...' And then I had my dog in the car and she was barking, and he said, 'Oh, bring ol' Flipsy in'. So he brings the dog in, in the office. That didn't please Mabel Beck too much, I don't think. But she was always there."(13)

Orville's cousin Jay R. Petree stated the following: "Orville telegraphed me when his brother Lorin died. In his home that night before the funeral was an aunt from Indiana and myself. He later told me he had wondered whether or not I might have been interested in coming to Dayton and managing the Miami Wood Products Company that the family owned. The words were not spoken at the time, unfortunately, for we would have wanted to come. There was always a reticence in both Orville and me in such matters. He would never presume to make his own wishes known without some indication on my part that I might desire it. The death of his brother was a great loss to him, second only to the loss of his brother Wilbur."(7)

Ivonette concluded with "After Dad Wright died in 1939, the Miami Wood Specialty Company was sold to Lowell Rieger." (2)  The company name was changed to The Wright-Dayton Company. In 1941, Lowell was named Vice President and General Manager of the Monarch Marking Systems Company. Due to his committments at Monarch, in March of 1941, he turned over responsibility of running Wright-Dayton to his sons Frederic Lowell Rieger, and James Herzing Rieger. James is listed at the General Manager in the Dayton 1944 directory.

From a 1946 news article, "The Wright-Dayton company turns out a two-foot ironing board, two models of a flying folding-wing airplane and flip-flop clown novelty. All of these are staple toys that continue popular, according to Fred L. Reiger, firm official."(10)

 

Orville Wright's "Flips and Flops" continued to sell after the Miami Wood Specialty Company was sold and renamed The Wright-Dayton Company. This ad appeared in The Indianapolis Star, Sunday November 2, 1947 issue.

 The last listing of the Wright-Dayton Company is found in the William's Montgomery County Directory for 1948, listing James, Frederick, and their mother Mrs. Wanda Rieger as involved with the company, the manufacturer of model airplanes and toys, still located at 49 Front Street. 

In "Wright & Wright Printers, The Other Career of Wilbur and Orville" by Charlotte K. and August E. Brunsman, 1988, the author's wrote, "Together with sons Milton, Horace and son-in-law Harold Miller, Lorin owned and operated the company. Horace was in charge of manufacturing. When the company began the manufacture of balsa wood toy gliders they sought a method of printing them. Recalling his printing experience, Orville designed and built, circa 1930, a printing press. It had a three roller ink distributor, printed from a curved printing plate, and was fully automatic. After Lorin's death in 1939 the company was sold to Lowell P. Rieger family. Fredrick Rieger, one of the sons, was employed by The Monarch Marking Systems Company and assisted at the toy company. He often operated the printing press and, on occasion, modified its design. In 1987, Horace and Rieger met to recollect the design of the press, which had been disposed of when the toy company was closed in 1947. Based upon their conversations, Rieger made a detailed drawing and, together with Horace, on March 18, 1987 signed a copy of it which is in the Wright & Wright, Printers display in the replica Cycle Shop building in Carillon Historical Park. Along with the drawing is one of the toy gliders loaned to the Park by Ivonette and Harold Miller."

As printed in Wright & Wright Printers, Charlotte K. and August E. Brunsman, Courtesy of Carillon Historical Park.

 

Author's Flips and Flops as manufactured by The Wright-Dayton Company.

 

The Wright-Dayton Company Flips and Flops on display at Carillon Park as gifted by Stephen Wright and Amanda Wright Lane. Stephen and Amanda's father was Wilkinson Wright, son of Milton and Ann.

The Miami Wood Specialty Company Flips and Flops on display at Carillon Park, part of the Dorothy and Richard Cummings Dayton Toy Collection. Top shelf displays A Wright Airplane, The Wright-Dayton Company. Photo by author, October 2020.

Model planes on display at Carillon Park, manufactured by the Miami Wood Specialty Company and the Wright-Dayton Company. Photo by author, October, 2020. The photo of Orville Wright and grandnephew Wilbur H. Wright shows the two with a model plane. The photo is misidentified as Orville with grandnephew Milton Wright.

Notes:

1. The Dayton Herald, Friday January 13, 1922, "New Firm Formed".

2. Wright Reminiscences, Compiled by Ivonette Wright Miller, 1978, "Ivonette Miller's Reminiscences"

3. Dayton Daily News, Sunday December 7, 1924, "Air Pioneer Revealed in Toy Designing Role".

4. Dayton Daily News, Sunday November 30, 1924, "Christmas Demand is Big, Builder's Find".

5. Sioux City Journal, Wednesday March 4, 1925,  "Tells of His First Flight".

6. Dayton Daily News, Tuesday September 26, 1933 "Eight Grade Pupil is Dead".

7. Wright Reminiscences, Complied by Ivonette Wright Miller, 1978, "Memories of My Cousin Orville Wright" by Jay R. Petree.

8. The Cincinnati Enquirer, Friday December 25, 1936, "Lorin Wright Aided Brothers in Selecting Kitty Hawk Site For First Flight, He Alleges". 

9.  Dayton Daily News, Friday July 18, 2003, "Orville applies first aid", Dale Huffman. (In another Dayton Daily News account, this one from August 27, 1928, "Garfield Baugh, 21, of 49 Kiser st., was taken to Miami Valley hospital for treatment after his left thumb was cut on a rip saw while he was at work in the plant of the Miami Wood Specialty Co.")

10. The Journal Herald, Thursday November 28, 1946, "'Made in Dayton' Toys Boost Santa's Prestige."

The Dutch Novelty Shops in Holland Michigan manufactured "Flying Clowns", similar to "Flips and Flops". I haven't investigated the time period this product was produced, and if they obtained the patent rights from Miami Wood Specialty Company. Anyone with knowledge on this company, please leave a comment.

 11. Ann Deines interview with Wilkinson Wright, 1996, Miamisburg, Ohio.

12. Ann Deines interview with Susan Wright, May 9, 1996. 

13.  Ann Deines interview with Milton Wright (grandson of Lorin Wright), September 26, 2000, Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP, Oral History Project. 

14. Williams Montgomery County Directories 1922, 1923. 

15. From woodlandcemetery.org walking tours.

16. I am still researching the date of construction of this building. The Montgomery County Auditor GIS website lists the building as constructed in 1920. I have found the dates listed for older buildings in Dayton to often be inaccurate. If the building had been constructed specifically for the Miami Wood Specialty Company, construction would have occurred in 1925/26. I don't know if Lorin leased the building, or if he had it constructed. Anyone with additional information, please leave a comment.

This Sanborn map of 1897-98 shows the lot of the future Miami Wood Specialty Company location was at that time a hydraulic side-cut of the Miami Canal. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Sanborn Maps archive.