History of meccano book

Meccano magazine was an english monthly hobby magazine published by meccano ltd between 1916 and 1963, and by other publishers between 1963 and 1981. The first meccano setin 1901 frank hornby, a clerk from liverpool, england, invented and patented a new toy called mechanics made easy that was based on the principles of mechanical engineering. Hornbys vision of an educational toy became the basis of perhaps the most successful british toy business of the twentieth century. Erector by meccano gives todays young thinkers the tools they need to become tomorrows inventors. As a child of the 1950s meccano was at the heart of my upbringing. Also on the first page is a label added by the publishers where they apologise for a faulty reproduction of figure 15 on page 19. The sale of model railways for use by children was a larger market, and here price was allimportant. Dinky toys was the brand name for a range of diecast zamac zinc alloy miniature vehicles produced by meccano ltd.

During the 1920s and 1930s it became the biggest toy manufacturer in the united kingdom and produced three of the most popular lines of toys in the twentieth century. Roger marriott here explores the long history of meccano, charting the development of the various sets and components, which for decades have been interchangeable, and explains the endless fascination of this iconic construction toy. The book has a dust cover and comes with a meccano book mark. Frank hornbys toy empire, in binns road, liverpool was also the cradle of two other. Parts are arranged in part number order, and each part number has a page of description and dms references, and a page of drawings. It was first produced about 1900 in england by frank hornby. The meccano book of engineering the brighton toy and. This story is somewhat condensed but the full story is contained in the above book. Page 1 page 2 how to build with meccano page 3 product view page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page page 14 page 15 page 16 page 17 build bigger and better models page 18 motors and accessories page 19 contents page 20 20. This meccano instruction book is for the meccano outfit c. It traces the rise and fall of this important british company.

The book is affordable and is packed with excellent color pictures of meccano sets and literature, some of which are now spectacularly rare and expensive. Included are pictures of the first sets from the 1901 to 1907 era, mechanics made easy, before the brand name meccano was coined, as well as examples all the way to 1979, when production in liverpool stopped. He was a visionary in toy development and manufacture, and although he had no formal engineering training, he was responsible for the invention and production of three of the most popular lines of toys based on engineering principles in the 20th century. This book chronicles the meccano business and charts its fall from being one of the worlds best selling educational toys. Here are meccano book in fab condition with no signs of marks etc.

Welcome to erector by meccano the original inventor brand. A history of dinky toys diecast childrens models with pictures. In 1964, hornby and meccano were bought by their competitor, triang, and sold when triang went into receivership. During this period, clockwork trains gradually gave way to electric trains as an increasing number of. The book dates from 1982 and has coloured photographs of parts and models as well as text in several languages. This is an expansion and rearrangement of dms, and includes drawings of most parts. Its roots date back to 1901, when founder frank hornby received a patent for his meccano construction toy. Its format is basically the same as that of the first hornby book of trains part articles and editorial, and part catalogue of items that the reader might have liked to buy from meccano ltd. From frank hornbys invention of his original meccano set, right through to the sad closure of the factory in 1979, kenneth brown relates the story of this fairly typical british familyowned enterprise. The meccano engineers bookshop contains a selection of books of interest to meccano modellers. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices.

Meccano 00 instructions for use manual pdf download. Dinky toys were among the most popular diecast vehicles ever made predating other popular diecast marques, including corgi, matchbox and mattels hot wheels ralston 2009, 7. Isbn 0904568369 the above book is an all encompassing history of meccano from 1901 to 1980. It is a tale of vision, ingenuity, inept management and a changing world in which meccano loses its foothold. The meccano system was invented 118 years ago by frank hornby, born may 15 1863 in liverpool, england. Meccano also continued the production of the e15r and two clockwork motors the linage dated back to the nineteen thirties. Meccano the metal construction kit has been around for over 100 years, we trace the history from the original idea by frank hornby to the close of binns road, other products include hoenby trains and dinky cars. In 1965 a new meccano motor the powerdrive was introduced, the motor had a six speed gear box and was originally sold and advertised in the mm as the monoperm richard i these motors were made in germany.

Produced by meccano from the binns road factory in the 1920s and produced until the mid 1970s. Frank hornby 15 may 1863 21 september 1936 was an english inventor, businessman and politician. This book provides the comprehensive history of the company behind these famous names. It was called mechanics made easy at first and the name was later changed to meccano. Unfollow meccano books to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. All three products, meccano, hornby and dinky, became eponymous terms among the population as a whole, an achievement which probably no other toy company anywhere in the world has ever matched. The complete history of meccano has been written by two englishmen, jim gamble and bert love in a 432 page book called the meccano system published by cavendish books. The history of meccano is the history, in miniature, of the decline of british engineering and manufacturing. They were made in england from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in binns road in liverpool. The cover features a coloured photograph of a boys pair of hands holding a screw driver and several pieces of meccano. The meccano book of engineering is generally reckoned to have appeared in 1931. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, and plastic parts that are connected using nuts and bolts. Meccano ltd was a british toy company established in 1908 by frank hornby in england to manufacture and distribute meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company. It has now been over a century since frank hornby invented a toy to amuse his sons and called it meccano, coining a word which has entered the dictionary as a term in common usage and is now known all over the world.

This meccano book is chronologically organised tracing the development of meccano by frank hornby in the early 20th century right up until the 1970s80s when it stopped being made at binns road and lost its foothold in the market. The magazine was initially created for meccano builders, but it soon became a general hobby magazine aimed at boys of all ages. Many thanks to spanner for the help in making this page. It consisted of and still consists of metal strips of various lengths with equally spaced holes in them so they can be connected by nuts and bolts. Meccano limited tried to recapture this market with the readyto run starter sets that even included a transformercontroller, advertised in the april 1963 meccano magazine price 896 but by then it. Meccano was the first metal toy construction set of any note sold in the western hemisphere. Meccano is a model construction system created in 1898 by frank hornby in liverpool, united kingdom. New cavendish books 19781992, by peter gurd initiated in 1978 and published volume by volume through to 1992, the series forms a complete history of all products of the famous binns road factory of meccano limited finally closed in 1980. Meccano the toy that grows with the boy by meccano and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. New reproduction and preowned original meccano plans. The book has four chapters, the first chapter covers the period 1901 to 1937, the 1901 date referring to the year that frank hornby secured a patent for what became meccano. Meccano construction book 1950s printed in the book gives instructions on eight models. This book is both a celebration and a history of hornby trains, telling the story of the company from its beginnings in the imagination of a liverpool shipping clerk, fred hornby who also invented meccano through its heyday as industry front runner to its takeover by triang and, ultimately, the restoration of the hornby name as a 21st.