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Lego () is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct objects such as vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/the_lego_history )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lego.htm&ved=0CDgQFjAJahUKEwiu2PPDsOPHAhXFthoKHf_OBxA&usg=AFQjCNGx38bu4F1dnuEFjSeWcq0LCXXrew )〕 The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed. Supporting movies, games, competitions, and six Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.brickrecycler.com/lego-fun-facts/ )〕 In February 2015, Lego replaced Ferrari as Brand Finance's "world's most powerful brand".〔 ==History== The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from the Danish phrase ''leg godt'', which means "play well". In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys.〔 In 1949 Lego began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now famous Lego interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based in part on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were patented in the United Kingdom in 1939 and released in 1947. Lego modified the design of the Kiddicraft brick after examining a sample that they received from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that Lego purchased. The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate,〔 were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time. The Lego Group's motto is ''det bedste er ikke for godt'' which means roughly "only the best is the best" (more literally "the best is never too good").〔 This motto, which is still used today, was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly.〔 By 1951 plastic toys accounted for half of the Lego Company's output, even though the Danish trade magazine ''Legetøjs-Tidende'' ("Toy-Times"), visiting the Lego factory in Billund in the early 1950s, felt that plastic would never be able to replace traditional wooden toys.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.viptoys.com.au/toys/classic-lego/ )〕 Although a common sentiment, Lego toys seem to have become a significant exception to the dislike of plastic in children's toys, due in part to the high standards set by Ole Kirk.〔Lauwaert, M. (2008). "Playing outside the box – on LEGO toys and the changing world of construction play". ''History & Technology'', 24(3), 221–237.〕 By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not versatile.〔 In 1958, the modern brick design was developed, and it took another five years to find the right material for it, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer.〔 The modern Lego brick was then patented on 28 January 1958. The Lego Group's Duplo product line was introduced in 1969 and is a range of simple blocks which measure twice the width, height and depth of standard Lego blocks and are aimed towards younger children.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.lego.com/en-us/duplo/about/baby-in-bloom )〕 In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.toys2remember.com/2010/11/lego-minifigure-history.html )〕 In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station, where astronauts built models to see how they would react in microgravity, as a part of the Lego Bricks in Space program. The results will be shared with schools as part of an educational project. In May 2013, the largest model ever created was displayed in New York and was made of over 5 million bricks; a 1:1 scale model of an X-wing fighter. Other records include a 112-foot tower〔Lee, Kevin. "(Delaware High School Students Complete World's Tallest LEGO Tower )" ''Inhabitat'', 24 August 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.〕 and a 4 kilometer railway.〔Lofgren, Kristine. "(The World's Longest LEGO Railway Stretches Nearly 2.5 Miles Long )" ''Inhabitat'', 19 May 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.〕〔Lawson, Helen. "(Lego fan builds world's longest toy train circuit )" ''Daily Mail'', 15 July 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.〕〔"(Longest Lego Railway )", 16 July 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.〕 In February 2015, Lego replaced Ferrari as the "world's most powerful brand." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lego」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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