John Frier: American Inventor

[jeff_duntemann]

I have a very popular Web page devoted to Hi-Flier kites, and it generates more mail than anything else on my site except Contra. A few weeks ago, I got an email from Nancy Frier, introducing herself as the granddaughter of John Frier, founder of Alox Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis. Alox

Comments

[vila_resthal]

Jeff,

Thank you so very much for this post! My Dad and I also flew those kites when I was a child in the late '50s and early '60s, and we both had many other Alox-derived toys in our respective toyboxes also. I loved hearing about the man who made those toys that my father loved so much as a kid. His collection of marbles most likely contained many Alox-made ones. I was lucky enough to have enjoyed them as well. I had one of those Rocket Ship kites back in the '60s - I remember it well! When Dad and I bought it at one of the local stores in the small Tennessee town he grew up in, the packaging was slightly dust-covered, but the kite was clean and flew better than any other kite I ever had...

If you ever decide to expand this post into a longer article, I'd love to beg you to allow me to post it in the Features section of my online e-zine, Aphelion Webzine. I think my readers would get a real kick out of it.

Dan Hollifield

Alox Manufacturing.

[vila_resthal]

Jeff, thanks for the Alox marble related information. I am a marble collector and Alox has been some what mysterious.. I also have this mesh bag, which has examples that are unique. And several other "alox" which are more like, Champion marbles, Vito glass, Master made and later Master glass, and Alley agate marbles found in Alox Tic-tac-toe, and later plastic bags

Re: Alox Manufacturing.

[jeff_duntemann]

Nancy Frier is an amazing woman. She has been working behind the scenes trying to get the Alox marble-making machine back from the Dollywood junkyard to the City Museum of St. Louis, where there are people who think they can restore it to presentable condition, or even make it work again. I have to check in with her to see how she's doing on that. I hope to write a short book with her on Alox as time allows, though it's been a difficult couple of months for me.