Le fameux piocheur – The man with the pickaxe

I found an article in an old French technical magazine La Nature from 1894 about the Piocheur made by Martin.
This toy is made in two different versions, a version with the well-known Martin “rubber band” method, and a second version with a key wind mechanisme
It was first made in 1894
The length of both toys is different, the rubber band version is 13 cm ( 5,1 inch) long and the key wind version is 15,5 cm ( 6,1 inch) long

Version with the key wind mechanism
permission of the Toy Museum Soltau (“Spielmuseum Soltau”) in Germany,
Picture from the magazine La Nature 1894, Source: (Cnum – Digital Conservatory of Arts and Crafts – http://cnum.cnam.fr)

A FREE TRANSLATION:
The famous pickaxe.
We have described in La Nature several tin toys, so charming and so graceful, which makes Mr. Fernand Martin, one of our Parisian industrialists, so great.
When the manager of this establishment produces a new model, he does not forget to send it to us.
We recently received the famous pickaxe; he is a mechanical worker who digs with energy.
Like the toys which preceded, the movement of the picker is communicated by a simple mechanism, hidden in the base and activated by a rubber band, forming a spring by the torsion.
It suffices to turn the winder 10 or 15 times for the pick to work.
The pickaxe rises and falls with great rapidity.
Manufacturer: Mr. Fernand Martin, 90, boulevard Menilmontant, Paris.

Version with the rubber band mechanism.
permission of KB

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