1945-1949

Toidey Seat

Parents in the first half of the twentieth century faced a puzzling challenge-how their children could use the toilet without falling into the bowl. Gertrude Muller's invention solved this problem. The Toidey Seat was a child-sized collapsible toilet seat that could be attached over a standard toilet bowl or used with its own basin and frame. She presented the idea to the Van Arnam Company where she was an assistant manager and was told it was not feasible. Muller was convinced it was a great idea and started the Juvenile Wood Products Company in 1924. Marketed to department stores and baby specialty shops, the Toidey Seat soon became a fast-selling item. Muller was a dynamic and successful business woman and her company developed other baby products, the most notable was a child's automobile safety seat. By the late 1940s and early 1950s the Toidey Company (renamed after 1945) and its founder were recognized by the National Safety Council and the American Medical Association as a pioneer of chil-dren's safety products. After Muller died (1887-1954) the Toidey Company was bought by a group of investors. It continued to manufacture "baby furniture" until the late 1970s.

The toilet seat was made in Fort Wayne in the late 1940s by the Toidey Company and used by the donor's children. Made of plastic with a metal frame, the toilet seat folds up for easy transport and in-cludes arm and foot rests.