A great name for this early robot: Zoomer the Robot. The styling is pure 1950s. It's a simple looking robot: plain bodywork, gaping eyes and mouth, the coiled antenna from the B-Movies, the arms pointing forward in sleepwalking style, a non-agressive appearance and that wrench he's clutching. Actually it's a spanner, but Uncle Sam says it's a wrench. All these details are typical of early robots.The face plate, added to simplify the head and body pressing, looks like a mask, giving all of these robots a vacant, impersonal look that is quite distinctive.

Zoomer was quite a success story, and is available in a number of colour variations: red & black, blue & black, blue & grey, maroon etc.

Structurally, Zoomer has a unique feature: the battery (a single C cell) fits into the side of his body and lies across his stomach. The compartment has a delicate round lid and there's a little on-off knob on the opposite side. You'd have to say that the power supply is just about adequate, given that there's only simple movement and a bit of light in the eyes.

Zoomer found its way into other boxes, and was sold with different names. A version with much more prominent lighted eyes is the Radar Robot. I've seen this as a black bodied robot with red legs and face. The box depicts the reverse colours: a red body with black extremities. This robot roams an icy looking landscape with jagged peaks behind him. I've also seen a metallic blue lighted eye Zoomer in this box, so no hard and fast rule.

Then there's the Battery Operated Robot version. Yes, that's memorable. The box is distinctive enough, though: the robot is pictured with a huge circle behind him, as though he has a full moon at his back.

Finally there's the the wind up version of Zoomer, Ratchet Robot. The battery housing has gone, to be replaced with a wind-up motor. There's a hole in the chest for sparks to fly out. This is usually found in the blue grey colouring, but I'm informed that other colours exist. On the wonderful box art, Zoomer is at his most aggressive, wandering around with a machine gun, though the actual robot still carries a spanner.

The box is a lively one: it has a paper label showing the robot set against the Empire State Building. This robot features in the Sears' Catalog for 1957. Here's the sales pitch:

                "Help, help - we've been invaded by a race of robots! This thrilling 
                toy works just like the movie robots. Wind him up, let him go, and he 
                shuffles along in true robot fashion with sparks flying (safely) from his 
                armored suit. Robot is heavy metal with powerful wind-up motor, is finely 
                detailed and is 3"x4"x71/2". Price $1.95