22 Facts About Meccano

Meccano is a brand of model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

In 2000, Meccano bought the Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents.

In 2013, the Meccano brand was acquired by the Canadian toy company Spin Master.

The word "Meccano" was thought to have been derived from the phrase "Make and Know".

In 1922 the No 7 Meccano Outfit was introduced, which was the largest set of its day, and the most sought after because of its model building capabilities and prestige.

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In 1934, the Meccano pieces changed colour again: the strips and girders became gold while the plates were changed to blue with gold criss-cross lines on them, but only on one side, the reverse remaining plain blue.

In 1934, the nine basic Meccano outfits were replaced by eleven outfits, labelled 0, A to H, K and L, the old No 7 Outfit becoming the L Outfit.

The Korean War in 1950 disrupted production due to a metal shortage and it was not until the mid-1950s that Meccano production returned to normal with new parts being added to all the sets.

In 1978, the range of Meccano sets was further reduced and changed with the replacement of the No 2 to 8 sets by six completely new sets, labelled A and 1 to 5.

Meccano still continued to be manufactured in France, as the British and French businesses had different owners.

All the existing Meccano sets were scrapped and a totally new range of sets were designed for production in Calais, France called "Meccano Junior", a new product range consisting of plastic construction kits with tools included, although these new sets would only allow the young builder to make small models.

In 2000, Nikko, a Japanese toy manufacturer, purchased 49 per cent of Meccano and took on its marketing internationally through its established channels for radio-controlled toys.

Meccano today is very different from its heyday in the 1930s to 1950s.

Meccano Evolution has narrower strips, with holes spaced at twice the density of the original system.

Meccano has always had several compatible products on the market.

In 1934, Meccano began to be used in the construction of differential analysers, a type of analogue computer used to solve differential equations using methods which have since been superseded by the digital computer.

However, a "proof of concept" model of a differential analyser which made extensive use of Meccano parts was built at Manchester University, UK, in 1934, by Douglas Hartree and Arthur Porter: use of Meccano meant that the machine was cheap to build, and it proved "accurate enough for the solution of many scientific problems".

At this mass and size, some deviation from Meccano-only parts was a necessity, to prevent it collapsing.

The Meccano Magazine was used as a means to keep Guild clubs informed of each other's activities.

Publications devoted fully or in part to Meccano included Meccano Magazine from 1916 to 1981, and numerous Special Model Leaflets aimed at serious enthusiasts, on how to construct very large, complex models and machines.

Meccano is mentioned in the first chapter of Graham Greene's novel The Power and the Glory.

Meccano is the centerpiece of the "Mentoring Using Meccano" program of School Volunteer Program ACT.