Citations › Citation ID: 51

C51. BOOK: Jens Andersen, The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination (Mariner, 2022), p. 123-125.

Ever since the very first Automatic Binding Bricks in 1949, LEGO’s small bricks had been hollow, and in January 1958, when Axel Thomsen headed north to Billund to report on the fantastic Christmas sales figures in Germany, they still were. ... The complaints from German customers in January 1958 were a wake-up call. Godtfred reacted instantly, and after a conversation with Axel Thomsen, at which Karl Georg, as head of the Plastics Division, was also present, he sat down that same day and sketched out the various possible options for adding couplings inside the eight-stud brick, several of which had previously been discussed.

Complaints from German customers was the catalyst to find a way to improve clutch power.