Designs on tin toys of the old days are actually lithographs. Colorful tin toys are more accurately call tin lithograph toys. Tin-litho (as it is frequently known) , however, is actually tin-plated steel. The colorful designs on the toys were applied through a process known as chromolithography. This technique was originally used in the printing industry. A drawing was done on special stones with a grease pencil before the printing ink was applied. When wet, the ink would adhere to the drawing and not the wet stone. The drawing was then printed on paper similar to how a woodcut would be used to print on paper.
In the late 1800s a process of “offset lithography” was used to print designs on tin-plated sheets using a rubber roller. By the 1930s the process was further perfected and machines were used to print designs on fifty tin-plated sheets per minute. This changed the whole toy industry since a wide range of colors was now available to the toy manufacturer. It was the real turning point for tin toy makers. Now they could produce colorful tin toys much more cheaply. With the new process and range of colors, buyers began to see intricate designs printed on the tin creating much more sophisticated toys.
The process moved from Europe to the United States around this time with toys being produced by the likes of Louis Marx and Company, Ohio Art Company, Daisy, Ideal, and American Toy Products. Shortly after this time the Japanese entered the market, supported by the United States, and changed the entire industry.