Proll Toys, Inc.

Gustave Proll (1893-1983) founded the Proll Toy Company, in New Jersey (Newark and/or Bloomfield) sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. He applied for a patent in 1944 to improve a string instrument tensioner. According to various sources online, regrettably without citations, Proll began making all-plastic harmonicas and other free reeds in 1952. The company was also known as Proll Toys, Inc., and Proll Molding Company, Inc. In the mid-1960s, his son, Peter S. Proll, applied for several patents related to the plastic free reed instruments they sold. It has been suggested that certain elements of Proll’s manufacturing moved to Mexico in the mid-1980s, particularly the plastic harmonica and other free reeds.