How to make electric toys

This book appears to be intended for young people interested in making electrically driven toys and gadgets, from little motors to lighting arrangements. It is basically a series of recipes on making one toy after another, with explanations of the principles involved. In the 1950s, electrical sets became fairly common, with manuals to allow the user to build dynamos, motors, electromagnets and so on, and this book is basically an enlarged version of such manuals, with the reader having to go out and buy or make the bits and pieces to make the toy.

Interesting note: the book is dedicated to the author's son, Brock Yates, who discovered the joys of electricity when, at the age of 3, he stuck a hairpin into a wall socket! Brock Yates is a very well known automotive writer, as well as being the originator of the "Cannonball Express" cross-country race and the movie of the same name. Small world.