TWO-STAGE EARTH SATELLITE - LINEMAR - JAPAN

With Launching Station. An early, complex toy from Linemar, the Japanese arm of Marx. This must be one of the first representations in toy form of the multi-stage rocket. This is a red tinplate rocket divided into two sections: the front has three wheels and two side wings, the rear has just two wheels plus the tailplane and fin.

The toy sits on a tinplate base and the rocket's motor is wound up to speed with a crank handle. A button is pressed to release the rocket and it speeds across the floor for a few feet before it splits in two. The tail section simply topples over as the nose section pulls away.

Newspaper ad dated Nov 1958.