Unique Art Sky Rangers

This is a wonderful toy. Sky Rangers by Unique Art. I think it’s from the late 1940s or early 1950s, but might be a bit earlier. I know the German firm Bing made a similar toy in the early 1930s, and Lionel made an electric version in the mid 1930s.
Here’s another picture:

The operation of this Unique Art toy is pretty simple. The plane goes on one end of the wire, the blimp goes on the other. The blimp is a counter weight. Then the lithographed plane is wound up. The two airships then move around the tower.
Here’s the Sky Ranger’s plane up close:

Here’s a close up of the Sky Ranger blimp:

Here’s a link to see Unique Art Sky Rangers on eBay
I found a video on Youtube of one of these running. Here it is:
583: UNIQUE ART TIN LITHO MECH. SKY RANGERS TOY
| US $10.00 End Date: Saturday Sep-13-2008 19:00:00 PDT Add to watch list |
