Exactly 120 years ago today, the entrepreneur and politician Frank Hornby obtained the British patent 587/1901. This patent is a construction kit with stamped and perforated panels, which makes the use of nuts and screws for stable construction a possible. The architectural suit distributed in the name of Meccano becomes the ultimate Christmas gift, and boys from wealthy middle-class families can use it to realize their dreams of being engineers and inventors.
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The most famous examples in Germany are Wernher von Braun and Konrad Zuse. Both have a large number of Meccano / Märklin or Stabil kits. One used them to build his first rocket, and the other used a computer to build what would become the mechanical computer Z1. Today, robot research and factory 4.0 automation still require model kits.
Frank Hornby, inventor of the British metal structure kit * May 15, 1863 in Liverpool, England; † September 21, 1936 as above
When Frank Hornby came up with his model kit, he designed it as a toy that can be used to build tunnels, bridges or buildings around toy trains. In fact, it is impossible for him to obtain a patent for this, because the German inventor Johannes Weiss (Johannes Weiss) has obtained his "Bridge Construction Kit" patent on July 20, 1892, the patent specification is 67599 Empire The Patent Office, the patent was used as "Richter's Bridge Construction Toolkit" in 1895.
With it, people can rebuild bridges that are so important to industrialization. Hornby extended the idea of axles and (toothed) wheels to a mobile construction kit called "Mechanics Made Easy", soon abbreviated as Meccano.
The patent specification "Improvement of Toys or Educational Equipment for Children and Young People" shows a crane traveling on rails for loading and unloading toy trains. Hornby wrote in a patent memo that the hilarious games related to cargo handling should inspire young engineers to engage in commercial and technical work and prevent them from indulging in "useless daydreams." Later conservative politicians founded Meccano Magazine, which has been the most influential technology magazine in the UK for many years, and launched a "Meccano Guild" composed of boys as a counterpart to the Boy Scouts.
Most importantly, Hornby actually "standardized" metal slats with a width of 20 mm and a hole pattern of half an inch (12.7 mm): Meccano kits are sold in Germany by Märklin, which will soon also be produced as a component supplier The spring winding motor. When all the patents of the "enemy country" were confiscated during World War I, Märklin purchased the rights to Meccano from the Imperial Patent Office and continued to produce his own components with Meccano hole patterns, which were 100% compatible with it. Märklin's further development mainly included electric motors and transmission belts, which were also used with popular products after the war, Meccano building kits worked and vigorously promoted the business.