This friction-drive battery operated lighted-headlight Sand and Gravel dump truck certainly takes it styling cues from the heavy duty truck producers of the day.  From the flared front fenders designs to the hints of a “cab-over” stub nose hood, this truck certainly represents what an old dump truck should look like.

From a toy design and manufacturing history view, this truck is unique with its heavy gauge steel frame/cab found in most toys of the day, but also used the newer (and cheaper) manufacturing finishes technique of lithography applied to the much thinner tin sheet for the dump bed. Finally, battery-powered headlights were added to stand out from the crowd since battery powered toys were becoming increasingly popular at this time. 

Soon after this toy hit the markets, the battery-operated segment of the toy industry shifted to simplified stamped frames, tin bodies, and lithographed “everything” to reduce manufacturing cost but still keeping quality high, leaving Tonka, Structo, and others to keep the heavy duty “outside toys” battery-free.  As such, this “in-between” truck is one of a dwindling number toys produced just prior to the launch of the tin-toy golden age. A fine example of bridging multiple designs and manufacturing techniques together in the years after WW2 and just prior to the tin toy production explosion about to occur in Japan and indeed the world.

This particular dump truck features a Friction drive (front wheels), a Dumping action (controlled by lever on side) and of course working headlights.  

Special Note:  The addition of the battery-operated headlights appears to be a factory modification of an existing friction drive dump truck standard metal/chrome headlights. The placement of the battery by putting a hole in the frame and the “battery door” cleverly uses the frame without modification by sliding within the rails. Not the easiest to load/unload batteries, but we find all these types of modifications to add headlights as “creative attempts” but somewhat clunky in execution.