save state of unknown class

I have a Parent class and 26 child classes and want to save state of the instance of one of this class.

The parent class:

public class ParentClass {
    protected String name;
    protected String type;

    public ParentClass(String name) {
        this.name = name;
        this.type = "Parent";
    }

    public ParentClass(ParentClass src){
        this.name = src.name;
        this.type = src.type;
    }
}

The first child class, which contain additional fields. public class ChildClassA extends ParentClass { protected String value;

    public ChildClassA(String name, String value) {
        super(name);
        this.value = value;
        this.type = "A";

    }

    public ChildClassA(ChildClassA src) {
        super(src);
        this.value = src.value;
    }
}

The last child class which contain another fields. public class ChildClassZ extends ParentClass { protected int size;

    public ChildClassZ(String name, int size) {
        super(name);
        this.size = size;
        this.type = "Z";
    }

    public ChildClassZ(ChildClassZ src) {
        super(src);
        this.size = src.size;
    }
}

To save state of unknown class I use a constructor in child class with parameter of this class, define class type and initiate by case structure.

Is it possible to avoid using case or if-then-else structure to make code more readable? May be reflection.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    ParentClass a = new ChildClassA("classA", "585");
    ParentClass z = new ChildClassZ("classB", 1024);

    a.name = "changedName";

    ParentClass originalState2 = null;

    System.out.println("Test Test");

    switch (z.type) {
        case "A":
            originalState2 = new ChildClassA((ChildClassA)z);
        case "Z":
            originalState2 = new ChildClassZ((ChildClassZ)z);
    }

    System.out.println("The original name is " + originalState2.name + " and the type is " + originalState2.type +
        ", the value is " + ((ChildClassZ)originalState2).size);
}