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Aug 21, 2023

Granddaughter of Rockford toy company founder hopes to bring back play

In most families, keepsakes are things like photo albums, fine china or jewelry. In Emmy Klint's family, it's toys. And not just any toys, but Nylint toys, steel-pressed cars, trucks and construction

In most families, keepsakes are things like photo albums, fine china or jewelry. In Emmy Klint's family, it's toys.

And not just any toys, but Nylint toys, steel-pressed cars, trucks and construction vehicles made by the Nylint Corporation, a company founded in Rockford, Illinois, by Klint's grandfather, Ragnar Klint, and his brother, Bernard Klint.

Nylint toy forklifts, firetrucks, 18-wheelers, dumps trucks and roadsters were made in the company's Rockford factory for several decades and sold around the world. They were famous for their durability and realistic features and popular among children and toy collectors.

Nylint went out of business in the early 2000s, but Emmy Klint doesn't want her family's toy-making story to end there.

Klint relaunched Nylint toys in 2020 with Sunshine, a yellow wagon, and Rain, a grey van. The die-cast metal vehicles retail for $65.

"My grandfather passed when I was about seven," Klint said. "I think that having something that he made, a physical thing that I could play with and became attached to, really cemented my love for Nylint."

Klint's goal is to share that love with her son and other children so that the next generation of kids will know the joy of playing with toys like the ones made by hundreds of Nylint employees at the company's headquarters on 16th Avenue.

More:Sock monkeys and miniature cars relics of Rockford's manufacturing past

The Nylint Corporation got its name from its founders — the Klint brothers and the brothers' uncle, David Nyberg.

It was founded in 1937 and started out making household items like kitchen utensils and door handles.

Then came the war. Nylint produced war-related products and materials for four years. After the war, Nylint shifted its focus to toys.

Emmy Klint's dream is bring back the "old Nylint" — a Rockford factory making the same kind of toys her grandfather made: big rigs, trucks of all kinds and automobiles.

Sunshine and Rain were made in China, Klint said, because it was too hard to place a small order with metal manufacturing and stamping companies in the U.S.

"I really wanted to make it in the United States," Klint said, "but no one make these types of toys in the United States anymore."

"They all wanted at least a minimum of a $2 million order," she said.

So Klint went abroad for her first order — 8,000 toys.

"The goal is basically to just see if people are still interested in the Nylint name and the Nylint brand," she said. "If we get enough interest, I'm hoping that we can go to manufacturers here in the United States who might be more willing to work with us."

More:'Come find your happy': Retro toy store in Rockford getting fresh start in new location

The Nylint name is still well-known in Rockford and among toy collectors throughout the Midwest primarily because the metal toys have withstood the test of time.

"My son plays with a 1950s rocket launcher," Klint said. "A 70-year-old plastic toy is not going to withstand that sort of abuse from a child."

Jeremy Beach owner of Beach Boy Toys at 2019 Broadway has several Nylint toys. Not all of them are for sale.

His prized possession is a firetruck purchased at a Rockford Kmart with the receipt still attached to the box.

"It's more of a historical piece for the neighborhood," he said.

Beach said collectors or "diehards" as he calls them, love it when they come across a Nylint toy still in its original packaging.

"It's the name. Everybody knows Nylint. Everybody knows Structo. Everybody knows Tonka."

Beach wants to see Nylint make a comeback, too. He thinks collectors would have the strongest interest.

"A lot of the kids these days, they like digital things," he said. "Physical, metal, playable toys, there's not a big market for it anymore. That's why the line eventually went down. But I think they're cool."

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; [email protected]; @chrisfgreen