Baby Grow-A-Tooth
Baby Grow-A-Tooth is a Remco doll first produced in 1968. We've nicknamed this doll "Matilda" as she has a Christmas story like the one in "Santa Claus and the Little Lost Kitten" by Louise W. Myers (published in 1952). My sister purchased her on eBay in early December with Priority Mail delivery. After being logged into the tracking system at the seller's post office, the package containing the doll disappeared. The seller, buyer, and post office all tried to locate her. She eventually was found and delivered just before Christmas - to the relief of all parties.
This doll has two functions: she has a pacifier and spoon that cause a spring-loaded tooth to appear/disappear when inserted into her mouth in sequence. The other function is that she sits up in her crib to touch some rattles suspended at the foot of her crib when the switch on the crib is activated. This is accomplished by having magnets in the crib that hold the doll's feet in place while current is passed into and out of the doll through the heel contacts, driving her internal electro-mechanical works. Quite a creative bit of engineering. Remco later released another doll called "Baby Sister Grow-A-Tooth" that lacked the crib and the ability to sit up. Baby Sister came with a pacifier, spoon, and a magic bottle. I wonder if the change was because Baby Sister would be cheaper to manufacture and would not require batteries. I also wonder if children were inadvertently shorting out the batteries when metal objects fell across the electrical contacts in the crib.
Patent: US 3568362 (sitting up action) US 3535818 (growing tooth)
Getting back to the doll, the box for Baby Grow-A-Tooth lists the following actions for the doll:
We had to try this out! Unfortunately, nothing happened when we powered her up. It was my job to open her up and see what was going on. We hoped it was only the usual seized up motor. This was not the case. She had a stripped gear - which means that she is essentially unrepairable unless we can find a replacement gear in another Baby Grow-A-Tooth or other Remco product.
This doll has two functions: she has a pacifier and spoon that cause a spring-loaded tooth to appear/disappear when inserted into her mouth in sequence. The other function is that she sits up in her crib to touch some rattles suspended at the foot of her crib when the switch on the crib is activated. This is accomplished by having magnets in the crib that hold the doll's feet in place while current is passed into and out of the doll through the heel contacts, driving her internal electro-mechanical works. Quite a creative bit of engineering. Remco later released another doll called "Baby Sister Grow-A-Tooth" that lacked the crib and the ability to sit up. Baby Sister came with a pacifier, spoon, and a magic bottle. I wonder if the change was because Baby Sister would be cheaper to manufacture and would not require batteries. I also wonder if children were inadvertently shorting out the batteries when metal objects fell across the electrical contacts in the crib.
Patent: US 3568362 (sitting up action) US 3535818 (growing tooth)
Getting back to the doll, the box for Baby Grow-A-Tooth lists the following actions for the doll:
- She wiggles her arms
- Oh...Her eyes are opening
- She sits up her crib all by herself
- She plays with the cradle toy
- Give her the pacifier...
- Look! She grew a tooth
We had to try this out! Unfortunately, nothing happened when we powered her up. It was my job to open her up and see what was going on. We hoped it was only the usual seized up motor. This was not the case. She had a stripped gear - which means that she is essentially unrepairable unless we can find a replacement gear in another Baby Grow-A-Tooth or other Remco product.