Technofix (Gebruder Einfalt)

Technofix was the trade name of Gebruder Einfalt, producing some of the most charming lithographed tin clockwork toys of the postwar era. Their tin roller coaster, figure-eight racing sets, and highway playset are particularly sought after. Technofix and Gebrüder Einfalt are the same firm and are frequently treated as two makers when they are one.

The brothers Georg and Johann Einfalt, whose Nuremberg firm of 1922 traded under the Technofix name — this record and the Einfalt entry in this encyclopedia describe the same company.

Technofix built its reputation on gravity. Its toys are lithographed tin track systems — spiral ramps, figure-eight courses, highways, roller coasters — down which vehicles run under their own weight, wound up to the top by a single clockwork motor or a hand crank and then released to circulate for minutes at a time.

The engineering economy of this is remarkable: one small motor and a few pressings of printed tin produce sustained, varied movement, and the lithographed scenery on the track structure does the rest of the work. The No. 255 figure-eight race and the roller coaster are the best-known examples, and the trolley and highway sets apply the same principle to street scenes.

Technofix continued into the 1970s, latterly with plastic vehicles on tin track, and closed as the German tinplate trade ended. Its toys are among the most satisfying tinplate to own because they still work, and work impressively, when complete.