As the story goes, Alfred C. Gilbert
invented
the Erector sets by observing the steel
work
along the New York, New Haven Railroad,
in
1913. Although there were other metal
construction
toys available, the most prominent
of which
was Meccas made by Hornby in England.
Gilbert
along with John Petrie had started
the Mysto
Magic Co. in 1909. Gilbert, a graduate
of
Yale Medical School, had won a gold
medal
for pole vaulting in the 1908 Olympics
in
England.
Most of the available metal construction
sets were simply pulleys, gears, and
varying
lengths of metal strips with holes
evenly
spaced on them. Metal construction
sets were
very popular, especially with boys.
Gilbert
had what he saw as a better idea. He
wanted
something more sturdy, and what he
came up
with was a way of making a ridged square
girder. And so the Erector set was
born.
Gilbert's Erector sets also included
the
pulleys, gears and wheels,but it also
had
wider strips, triangles and other shapes.
The main girder was formed by 4 strips
held
together by only 2 screws to form a
very
sturdy square girder. The first sets
were
numbered 1 to 8, the higher the number,
the
more parts to make more things. The
smaller
less expensive sets came in cardboard
boxes,
more expensive sets were in sturdy
wooden
boxes. Also included in the large sets
was
an electric motor. More....
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