LITTLE BLACK BOX by Poynter Products, Inc., 1959 - 2 Different Toggle Lever Versions - Made In Japan

Here are 2 Little Black Box versions with 2 different toggle lever variations produced by Poynter Products, Inc., 1959, which I will refer to as the Box 1 first version and the Box 2 second version as high-lighted in red print on the first two attached photos above. Both boxes were manufactured from a toy company in Japan in agreement with the Poynter Company. The name of the Japanese toy company who manufactured the boxes are unknown. The Box 1 first version does not have the "JAPAN" stamp on it's bottom metal base platform, but the Box 2 second version is stamped with the word, "JAPAN", near it's battery door cover. A third version release of the Little Black Box has the words "POYNTER PRODUCTS INC. PATENT PENDING MADE IN JAPAN" stamped near it's battery door cover, which also has the positive and negative signs stamped on to it's outer battery door cover to help indicate which ends of the two C size batteries go in first into it's battery compartment. The first and second versions of the Little Black Box do not have these positive and negative signs stamped on to their outer battery door covers. You have to read the illustration diagram on the Operation Instruction Sheet to find out which ends of the two C size batteries go in first into their battery compartments.

These 2 Little Black Box versions operate on two C size batteries. The dimensions of both of these boxes are high-lighted in red print as seen on third photo above. Box 1 is slightly larger than Box 2. Both boxes have the creepy looking green hand that comes out of the top trap door to turn itself off. The green hand on the Box 1 version is removable while the green hand on the Box 2 version is not removable. Both boxes have a black thick paper cut out cover that sits over the top of the motor and gear housing, when you lift up the trap door manually to look inside. Both black thick paper covers have a different cut out pattern on each box. There is metal rocking extension arm that creates the rocking motion on both boxes which is located underneath the bottom of the metal platform base as seen on the second photo above. The Box 1 extension rocking arm is straight with a rounded end and the Box 2 extension rocking arm is angled with a rounded end. Both Black Boxes come packaged in the same identical orange, black and white storage box with a small instruction sheet as seen in the fourth photo above. The storage box dimensions are 4 and 5/8 inches Length by 3 and 1/2 inches Width by 4 and 3/4 inches Height. The instruction sheet dimensions are 3 inches wide by 4 and 1/4 inches long. I came across upon a third version of the Little Black Box, which is not shown here on this post, which also came in the same identical storage box and instruction sheet as pictured above and identical to the Box 2 but with some minor differences, which I will refer to as the Box 3 version which I will further talk about towards the end of this column.

The Little Black Box is activated when one moves the toggle lever to the ON position, causing the box to go into a rocking motion, giving the impression that something inside the box is trying to get out that goes on for about 10 seconds. Then suddenly, the top trap door slowly begins to open as a green hand comes out, pushing the toggle lever towards the OFF position as the green hand quickly springs back inside the black box as the trap door quickly closes, bringing the operation of the Little Black Box to a complete stop, ready to be activated again.

Both versions are made of a hard rigid black plastic that uses sliding friction that slides over the raised platform walls on the metal base. No screws or metal tabs hold the plastic box section on to the metal platform base section. But because the plastic black box uses sliding friction, extra care is needed when removing and replacing these two sections together. If done unevenly and/or forcibly it could crack one or more of the bottom plastic corners of the black box itself which are under stress to begin with. Metal wins over plastic every time. Never carry the black box around by the box itself, for fear that the bottom metal platform base could suddenly slip out completely from underneath the plastic black box section itself, which could damage the gears and wiring components on the metal base, which is why one should always carry the black box with the metal platform base sitting on the palm of ones hand to keep it from doing just that, especially when the batteries are inserted into metal platform base, which adds additional weight to the metal base itself.

When inserting and removing the two C size batteries from the bottom of the metal platform base itself, I find the best way to do it safely and carefully is to lay the black box side ways exposing the bottom side of the metal platform base to access the battery door cover. When you open the battery door cover, you will find two different metal brass battery contact patterns inside the battery compartment. The dot pattern is the positive end and the ring pattern is the negative end, to indicate which ends of the two C size batteries go in first as seen on the instruction sheet diagram in the second photo above. The battery door itself has 2 battery contact brass metal strips attached to it. Always make sure to hold the toggle lever in place in the OFF position when inserting or removing the batteries from the unit to prevent an unwanted activation of the Little Black Box which could damage the inner workings of the unit.

The toggle levers on these 2 Little Black Box versions are different in their set-up. The toggle lever on the Box 1 version, is attached to a raised ON/OFF metal face plate, which in turn is directly attached to the plastic black box itself. The toggle lever has an angled position of 45 degrees when set to either the ON or OFF position. There are 2 wires that run from the raised metal platform motor base directly into the plastic black box itself. One wire is attached directly underneath to the metal ON/OFF face plate and the other wire is attached directly to the bottom end of the toggle lever. There is some wire slack in case one wishes to separate the plastic black box section from it's raised metal platform base section which has to be done carefully without pulling the 2 wires apart from either sections. The toggle lever will lock in place when set to the ON position to activate Box 1 version but it has free play movement when set to the OFF position. Because of this free play movement, one must always hold toggle lever in the OFF position when inserting or removing the batteries from the unit to prevent an unwanted activation of the unit which could damage the internal workings of the Box 1 version. Also, when carrying this Box 1 version around with the batteries still inside the unit, care must be taken to prevent the toggle lever from flopping over to the ON position, triggering an unwanted activation. The toggle lever on the Box 2 version, is mounted directly to the motor on the metal platform base which eliminated the 2 wires that were connected directly inside of the Box 1 version. This new upgrade now allowed the new plastic black box section and the metal platform base section to separate completely apart freely, eliminating the fear of pulling any wires apart, making both the plastic black box and raised metal base platform sections, easier to repair and/or clean. The ON/OFF print is molded directly into plastic black box material on the top ends of the rectangular slot opening, to allow the toggle lever to freely slide in and out when separating both the plastic box section and metal base section from each other. This toggle lever has an angle position of 60 degrees when set to the ON position and an angle position of 80 degrees when set to the OFF position which has a more controlled activation movement, unlike the Box 1 version toggle lever, the Box 2 version toggle lever that has more free play movement when set to the ON/OFF position, but it is not as loose, but more controlled and it does not lock. But it's still wise to hold the toggle lever on the Box 2 version to the OFF position when installing or moving batteries to prevent an unwanted activation of the unit which could damage any internal workings just in case.

As a classic television series fan, a Box 2 version was used as a prop toy on the television series, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", from 1964 to 1968 on an episode called, "The Finny Foot Affair ", that aired during the first season on December 1st 1964, starring a young Kurt Russell who displays the Little Black Box action to Robert Vaughn's Napoleon Solo character at the beginning of ACT II called," Lickety Split ", and is shown again in action about midway of ACT III called, " The Little Black Box ", for those of you folks who are fans of the series and have the dvd set where you can view the Little Black Box in action. This is where I was first introduced to the Little Black Box when watching this episode on my dvd set that caught my surprise and interest of it.

This particular novelty toy was also the precursor to the battery operated mechanical coin bank called, 'The Thing From The Addams Family", also made by Poynter Products Inc., released in 1964. The manufacturer modified the toggle lever section to a coin slot holder stand where one would place a coin in slide ways which would automatically activate the motor in the The Thing box and after it's ten second rocking motion a green hand, which looks more like a flipper hand, would slowly come out of the top trap door, grabbing the coin sitting side ways on the coin slot and dropping it into a coin storage container attached to the raised metal platform base inside the black box as the trap door closed. The coins are removed by a opening the extra door cover next to the battery door cover. The door lock tabs for both the battery door cover and coin door cover, located underneath The Thing box's metal platform base were made out of white plastic and not metal. The door lock tabs for the battery door covers on the Box 1 and 2 versions of the Little Black Box were metal lock tabs. Between the Little Black Box and The Thing coin box, the Little Black Box is the rarer box of the two. And of the 3 versions of the Little Black Box, version 1 is the rarer and harder one to find, followed by the second version and finally the third version, as far as I believe to know but not absolutely.

The Little Black Box had up to 3 versions produced as far as I believe for now, between 1959 to 1964. The Box 3 version came in the same identical orange, black and white storage box and small instruction sheet . I believe the first released version of the Little Black Box was the Box 1 version pictured above with the toggle lever attached to an ON/OFF metal face plate which was attached to the top of the plastic black box itself with 2 wires directly connected underneath the metal face plate with a removable green hand. It had no stamped "JAPAN" wording on it's metal base platform. The second release version was the Box 2 version pictured above, where the manufacturers' decided to mount the toggle lever directly on to the motor of it's metal platform base and forming a rectangular slot opening on the top front of the black plastic box itself with the ON/OFF print molded into plastic to allow the toggle lever to freely separate the black plastic box itself from it's motor metal base platform, eliminating the 2 wires of the first version, yet on the second version, it's seems it was decided not to allow the green to be removable and it was first Little Black Black to be stamped with word "JAPAN" on it's bottom metal base platform, near it's battery door cover. Finally, the third version release is basically the same as the first version, but with a couple of minor differences. On the Box 3 version, not pictured here, the manufacturers' decided to make the green hand removable again, but also decided to paint the interior of the metal platform base all in black, which included the gear box and the battery box, which were never done to the Box 1 or Box 2 versions. The Box 3 version was stamped with words "POYNTER PRODUCTS INC. PATENT PENDING MADE IN JAPAN" nears it's battery door cover. Which by coincidence the coin bank box called, "The Thing from The Addams Family" the interior metal platform base, gear box (I believe the Poynter company had started using white plastic gears with metal when the coin bank was first released in 1964 to save money on production of coin bank) and battery box were all painted in black just like the third version of the Little Black Box which was still using metal gears, not white plastic, which is why I'm guessing that 1964 was probably the last year that the Poynter Products Inc. stopped producing the Little Black Box from this time period and it would not be released again until the 1980's in an all new hard plastic version. I had read information regarding the 1980's Little Black Box version on You Tube of an updated version of the Little Black Box that had come out in the 1980's, by Poynter Products Inc., but it was entirely cosmetically different from it's 1959 to early 1960's cousin. First, the green hand was no longer green, but a regular flesh toned looking hand which looks less scarier than the creepy looking green hand of the earlier Little Black Box versions. The toggle lever now had a red plastic ball attached on the top end of it's plastic lever with an over sized red plastic ON/OFF face plate. The gears and platform base were now made entirely out of plastic, not metal like the early versions. I'm sure the new storage box and it's instruction, if any, was entirely different as well, for it did not show these 2 items in it's You Tube video presentation. The same thing sort of happened to The Thing From The Addams Family mechanical coin bank versions that were released in 1964, where the gears were white plastic with metal and metal bases, which later changed to all plastic in the early 1970's on various releases, leading to a flesh color toned hand, replacing the green flipper hand.

The only person who would know more of the variations of this Little Black Box versions as well as the The Thing coin bank box versions would be Mr. Don Poynter himself. It would be nice if someone would put together a book listing all the products that his company produced through the years while it was in business and their variations.

Please feel free to post any helpful additional information and thank you all for your interest.