On 2012-12-01, David Billington wrote:
Pete S wrote:
Seems that fewer and fewer kids are learning about building things
with toys that use real nuts and bolts these days. I think that's too
bad.
I just gathered up my own small collection of Gilbert Erector set
stuff and put up a webpage about it.

It's at:

http://www.spaco.org/MachineShop/Ere...ErectorSet.htm

The period I'm interested in is the 1940's and 1950's. Shortly after
that era they started taking all the fun out of it with plastic parts
and low power battery motors.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------
What was the earlier Erector like in terms of quality? I had Mecanno
from the UK as a child, I'm British, and remember the Erector from the
1970s as being a poor copy with very thin plates with slightly folded
edges for extra strength which were buggered if they got bent.

Well ... I had a kit as a kid, and built a lot of things using
it.

The parts were pretty good in general (view in memory), though
the girders had to be build up of four pieces which looked like this
(end on).
__
/ \ -- screw head
^-------^
||
| || |
||
v-------v
+----+
+----+ -- nut


With screws going though the top and bottom pieces to close them down on
the edges of the left and right pieces. Once assembled, that was pretty
strong. (The two side pieces are just like the top and bottom pieces,
but ASCII graphics limit my ability to show this.

The flat surfaces between the 'V' groove edges were punched full
of triangular holes to look like I-beams stitched together with riveted
angle bars -- somewhat like some construction I saw last time through
New York City.

How comprehensive was the Erector? A mate that is very knowledgeable
about Mecanno has mentioned that there is a lot of subtle design and
choice of gear teeth numbers as would suit horological applications.
Maybe Hornby or one of the designers liked clocks.

Most of the gears were stamped flat metal -- not good for long
term wear. Some of the smaller ones were brass pinions and bevel gears.
I don't remember intersting ratios -- but I did not know enough at that
age to recognize them. And they were lost a *long* time ago. My kit
was probably around 1946 or so. I kept making big things to take to
kindergarten, and the screws would vibrate loose in transit. (The tools
were rather minimal, too. A stamped open-end wrench and a screwdriver
made of round stock bent into a loop as a handle -- soft enough to the
blade would not keep a sharp shape if seriously used. :-)

I also got plastic model planes, but no glue to assemble them.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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