Why do torso neck pins have a printed rectangle?

[TheBear]

Does anyone know why minifigure torso neck pins have a black or white rectangle printed on them?

It is on many, but not all of the torsos from the earliest to the present day and I have always wondered why.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I've seen it less often now. I always supposed it was used to prevent the head from slipping from the torso. The interesting bit is that heads don't come attached to torsos anymore, and we haven't seen these rectangles on them as much anymore.

[L@go]

As far as I know it was in order to make the machines that assembled the minifigures know what was the front and what was the back of the torso, so that the arms wouldn't be connected the wrong way. I believe I heard this from an insider, and it certainly seems a plausible explanation.

[xboxtravis7992]

As far as I know it was in order to make the machines that assembled the minifigures know what was the front and what was the back of the torso, so that the arms wouldn't be connected the wrong way. I believe I heard this from an insider, and it certainly seems a plausible explanation.

That is what I heard to. And it is true, I haven't seen them in a long time to, see that method might no longer be in use.

[Alfadas]

I know the Chinese figs don't have them, but the non-Chinese should still have them. I thought I read somewhere that the rectangle is there so the printing machine knows what way to print, could be wrong though.

[human panda]

the reason for the black triangle was for 2 purposes

1. In the past it was to used to give the head extra friction and stay on.

I assume that given it's not needed for item 2. now days they have changed the molds tolerances to have a tighter clearance on the torso stud and head bore

2. Also in the past it was to help with production to assist with aligning the heads face to the front torso for packaging.

Not needed now days as cameras can be used to tell the difference between the back and front of the torso see datalogic see sick sensors

[paul_delahaye]

A clue could come from this How it Works TV program about Lego, I'd assumed it allows a sensor in the machine to correctly install the arms in the right direction on the torso mold, and then in the old days, the minifig head came assembled on the torso, and again I'd assumed this mark on the neck allowed for correct alignment of the head on the body. There is a "how it works" video here. Around 4 minutes in. It could be linked to this mark?

Edited September 17, 2016 by paul_delahaye

[davee123]

Quote

1. In the past it was to used to give the head extra friction and stay on.

I assume that given it's not needed for item 2. now days they have changed the molds tolerances to have a tighter clearance on the torso stud and head bore

Pretty sure that's not true.

You can show that it's not the case by looking at the un-printed torsos from years past. Older torsos came in various types, so you can show which torsos were made before roughly 1997 (ish) when they switched to the new "X" bottom torso design. Take a look at any of the old torso designs that are unprinted, and you'll notice that they don't have rectangles on the necks. And obviously, that's because they weren't printed, so there was no need to tell which side was forwards and backwards. If the printing was required to make the heads have additional friction, they would've printed those blank torsos as well.

That being said, if you have an official source that says otherwise, please share.

DaveE

Edited September 22, 2016 by davee123

[paul_delahaye]

I still reckon it's to do with automated assemble lines, back in the early days I would expect the minifig heads were likely assembled by hand, as automated assembly line technology has moved on, I'm sure it's linked to that, and as davee123 said, I'm not sure it has anything to do with friction.

[TheBear]

Thanks for all the replies, now I know! The video above at around 4:50 shows the way it is used with a camera to eject torsos that have gone into the machine the wrong way around.

[AmperZand]

It is on many, but not all of the torsos from the earliest...

Are you sure? I could be misremembering - it was a long time ago after all - but I don't think the earliest minifigures had their necks marked when they were released in the late '70s. I had some of the Classic Space minifigures back then and recall being intrigued by the neck markings when that started appearing some time later.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Are you sure? I could be misremembering - it was a long time ago after all - but I don't think the earliest minifigures had their necks marked when they were released in the late '70s. I had some of the Classic Space minifigures back then and recall being intrigued by the neck markings when that started appearing some time later.

It seems to me that you might be right.

[davee123]

Quote

Are you sure? I could be misremembering - it was a long time ago after all - but I don't think the earliest minifigures had their necks marked when they were released in the late '70s. I had some of the Classic Space minifigures back then and recall being intrigued by the neck markings when that started appearing some time later.

The earliest versions had stickers instead of printed torsos, so it didn't actually matter-- the torsos were just blank, so they didn't need the neck printing.

As for whether there was some interim period where they didn't have marks, but WERE printed, that's a good question. I assume they've always had the neck-marks if they had printing (except for the newest stuff)-- but I could be wrong. I wouldn't be totally surprised if there was a manual process involved in the early torso printings, considering they did manual work for other things like filling the plastic flip-up trays (and supposedly adding on the heads?).

DaveE

Edited September 22, 2016 by davee123

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

The earliest versions had stickers instead of printed torsos, so it didn't actually matter-- the torsos were just blank, so they didn't need the neck printing.

As for whether there was some interim period where they didn't have marks, but WERE printed, that's a good question. I assume they've always had the neck-marks if they had printing (except for the newest stuff)-- but I could be wrong. I wouldn't be totally surprised if there was a manual process involved in the early torso printings, considering they did manual work for other things like filling the plastic flip-up trays (and supposedly adding on the heads?).

DaveE

Oh, that's true, and I haven't been able to find a counterexample yet.

[human panda]

OMG whats the deal with torso neck pins having a print rectangle

maybe someone with a contact in Production can ask why it's there

[BrickJagger]

Not really sure why, but it does serve as a handy indicator as to where it was made.

Side note: Lego really needs to fix their Chinese factories. The quality is beyond awful.