I found an article in an old French technical magazine La Nature from 1895 about a tin toy made by Martin.
This piece is put in motion when a string is wound around this reel, and pulling forcefully, the rotation of the axle and the wheel is determined.
When the car is placed on the floor, it travels at high speed, and the dog’s legs.
It was first made in 1894
length approx 18 cm (7.1 inch)
The Martin article number is 130
The free translation of the text from the article from the magazine La Nature 1895 :
SMALL INVENTIONS
The dog car. –
We have often described the small mechanized toys that the street vendors sell in the streets of Paris, and, in Les Petites Inventions of n ° 1117 of last October 27, we gave the Combat de taureaux.
Today it is the dog car that we will introduce.
Represented below, it gives the appearance of an Antwerp (Belgium) milkmaid with a cart.
A metal axle crosses the little tin car, and ends on the outside with a coil protruding from the wheel with the surface of which it is in contact; a string is wound around this reel, and pulling forcefully, the rotation of the axle and the wheel is determined.
The car is placed on the floor, it travels at high speed, and the dog’s legs, set in motion by a simple mechanism, perform the galloping movement admirably.
There is a lot of ingenuity in his little Parisian mechanical toys.
The dog car is built by Mr. Fernand Martin, 88, Menilmontant Boulevard in Paris
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s these milkmaids with their dog carts were frequently seen, they were in the version with one, two and even three dogs.
All postcards are from my own collection