DOCSLIB.ORG

By Justin Pollard

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
By Justin Pollard 96 TIME OUT COLUMNIST An idea that started life as a home-made Christmas gift has earned a place in engineering history. by Justin Pollard TOY TECHNOLOGY Competition Now a model railway needs more than trains and track. As THE INSPIRATION What’s this Meccano man any decent train modeller will up to? The wittiest caption tell you, you need the landscape FOR GENERATIONS emailed to engtechmag@ – the hills, the houses, cars and theiet.org by 17 January shops. So in 1933 that is exactly OF ENGINEERS 2014 wins a pair of what Hornby started making – a books from Haynes. range of die-cast trackside accessories, and another legendary brand was born. about cutting out a series of Dinky toys had the advantage for copper strips, half an inch wide those less agile with a spanner of with holes drilled every half an being ready assembled and inch. These could then be bolted painted. The down side was that together, have wheels and pulleys these early models suffered from attached and be turned into just the scourge of the die-cast about anything. collector, zinc pest – a By the end of the year he had progressive and untreatable put together a kit; all he needed crumbling of the casting due to was a great name. That name, as lead impurities in the zinc alloy. the 1901 patent reads, was Meccano, Hornby trains and ‘Improvements in Toy or Dinky toys made Frank Hornby a Educational Devices for Children wealthy man. His great and Young People’. The real inventions live on, with the most name he came up with was famous iteration of his train set, Mechanics Made Easy and the the ‘Dublo’ system, first hitting seven shillings and sixpence set the shelves in 1938 and becoming even received endorsements a regular feature of every child’s from professor of engineering dream Christmas morning ever and the inventor of the variable since. * pitch propeller, Henry Hele-Shaw. Profits remained small, partly CAPTION PRIZES because Hornby had to get others BAG A BOOK to manufacture his parts and they found it difficult to keep up with demand. Rescue came in the unlikely form of the meat importer for whom he now worked, David Elliot. He gave Hornby some empty office space and the two went into business together. In 1907 Hornby took This month’s competition ONE HUNDRED and fifty years not lack ambition, having been a over production and took out a winner will receive copies ago, one of the most important devoted follower of the great 19th trademark in the name Meccano. of the ‘Dan Dare Space Fleet figures in modern engineering century self-improver Samuel There has probably never been Operations Manual’ and was born – a builder of cars, Smiles and his exhortation: a toy to so influence future the ‘McLaren M23 Owners’ bridges, aeroplanes, trains, “Every human being has a generations of engineers, if we Workshop Manual’, two new houses, factories, tanks, cranes great mission to perform, exclude the humble building titles from the ever-expanding and just about anything else noble faculties to cultivate, a brick, and the toy that could be range of Haynes Manuals that can be built. But you won’t vast destiny to accomplish.” made into anything gained (haynes.co.uk). Winner of find his creations across rivers, Hornby’s destiny wasn’t to lie rapidly in popularity. But our November 2013 issue at airports or in stations, but in bookkeeping, however, but in Hornby wasn’t finished yet. Keen competition is Jim Waterton under the Christmas tree. toys. In 1899 he began making to tell the world about his with: ‘After a winter of piste- It wasn’t an auspicious start small tin-plate toys for his invention, he and his eldest son bashing in the Sierras, a in engineering for Frank Hornby. children. These sheet-metal began to set up a series of offices bit of salt-raking at Salton Brought up in a relatively poor cranes and trains were not an abroad as well as licensing the makes a nice change.’ family in Liverpool, he was unusual feature on Christmas idea to Märklin in Germany. never going to find the funds morning in many households, Since 1891, Märklin had been for university and probably but as the century turned making model trains so Hornby wouldn’t have got in in the Hornby had one, brilliant idea. began importing their clockwork first place as he hated school. What if, rather than making toys, motors for his construction sets. Aged 16 he left to take up the he made a set of parts that could This gave Frank another idea. role of cashier in his father’s be joined together in any form The first Hornby train rolled off GETTY IMAGES provisioning business. Frank did the owner fancied? So he set the production line in 1920. Engineering & Technology January 2014 www.EandTmagazine.com.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hornby Hobbies
    Hornby Hobbies A Management Case Study John L Thompson Roger M Bale Professor of Entrepreneurship Huddersfield University Business School 2002 Copyright John L Thompson, 2002 1 hornby.doc HORNBY HOBBIES Abstract Hornby, the company that systematically gave the world Meccano, Hornby Dublo electric trains, Dinky Toys and Scalextric, remains an independent British company a century after it was started by entrepreneur Frank Hornby in Liverpool. This is something of a rarity in the UK toy industry, which has seen many brands disappear in the face of global competition and many businesses either close or be sold to foreign ownership. During the last forty years Hornby has been continually swimming against the tide. Strategies have changed. Innovation, new products and diversification have been important - so too have divestments. There have been different owners and several changes of strategic leadership. But recently the company’s prospects have been transformed. Production has been moved to China, enabling the company to provide more detail without increasing prices. Pre-tax profits more than doubled between 2001 and 2002 and the latest interim results show a further doubling. Hornby’s survival is testimony to the importance of branding and reputation. This case study was written by John L Thompson with co-operation from Hornby plc in 2002. It is for classroom discussion and should not be taken to reflect either effective or ineffective management. Copyright John L Thompson, 2002. Copyright John L Thompson, 2002 2 hornby.doc HORNBY HOBBIES A new public company was launched in February 2002. Flying Scotsman plc had been formed to use the expensively restored and world-famous green steam engine for special excursions.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Key Toy Manufacturers
    45936 MOC Must Toys Book6 12/1/05 7:53 am Page 41 Some key toy manufacturers Britain Abbatt Toys Paul and Marjorie Abbatt were pioneers of innovative educational toys in the 1930s. They set up in business in 1932 selling toys to friends and by mail order from their flat in Tavistock Square, London. Demand was such that in 1936 they opened a child friendly shop at 94 Wimpole Street, designed by their friend the architect Ernö Goldfinger. The Abbatts were his main clients at the time and he designed toys and nursery equipment for them. They were concerned with the play needs of children in general, introducing a range of toys for children with physical disabilities devised by Milan Morgenstern. In 1951 they were instrumental in setting up the Children’s Play Activities Trust Ltd. to promote excellence in toy design and manufacture. After Paul Abbatt died in 1971 the business was bought by the Educational Supply Association. William Britain Ltd. Britains Ltd. was founded by William Britain in London in 1840. At first Britains made tin and clockwork toys and from the 1890s they made model soldiers. It also opened an office in Paris, France in 1905. The company made munitions for both world wars. In 1954 Herald miniatures, makers of unbreakable plastic toys, became a subsidiary of Britains. In 1966 Britains ceased to manufacture its metal soldiers. It was purchased by Ertl Co. in 1997. The Chad Valley Co. Ltd. The Chad Valley trademark was first registered in 1897 when the original company of Johnson Brothers added games to its stationery range.
    [Show full text]
  • The Maghull Trail.Cdr
    Route Pack Page 1 The Maghull Trail Route Summary Discover the home town of Frank Hornby, of Hornby Trains fame. Grade Moderate Distance 6½km / 4 miles Accessibility Allow 2 hours Start Maghull railway station Map OS Explorer 285 Southport & Chorley Map (See page 2 of PDF for route description) Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright Reproduced under licence no. LA100019582. 2007 www.discoverthemerseyforest.co.uk Route Pack Page 2 The Maghull Trail Route Details Route Directions Look out for Frank Hornby’s marble memorial in 1. Begin in the Maghull station car park. St Andrew’s Church graveyard in Maghull. 2. Turn right along Station Road. Frank Hornby used to live on Station Road by 3. Take the second left, Rutherford Road. Maghull station and later at Quarry Mount, now 4. At the end cross the canal on the footbridge the convent of Mercy in Hall Lane. He was not and turn left on the towpath. only the inventor of Hornby Trains but also of 5. At Melling Stone Bridge join the road and Dinky Toys and Meccano, as well as a Member turn right. of Parliament. Just behind the church is the pre- 6. Bear right where the road forks. Reformation chapel which dates to 1300. 7. Pass through Wood Hall farmyard. 8. After passing underneath the railway turn The little village of Melling, which can be seen left along the motorway for a short distance. from across the canal, used to be surrounded 9. Cross the footbridge. by the marshland around the River Alt. It was 10. Follow the path across to the other occupied by Anglian settlers in the late 6th carriageway and under the subway.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Notes Introduction 1. Tribune, December 3, 1943, in Paul Anderson ed. Orwell in Tribune (London: Politico’s, 2006), 57. 2. Margaret Tapster, WW2 People’s War, an online archive of wartime memories con- tributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/ 65/a5827665.shtml Accessed May 30, 2013. 3. Paul Addison, No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010); Peter Hennessy, Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties (London: Allen Lane, 2006); David Kynaston Aus- terity Britain, 1945–51 (London, Berlin and New York: Bloomsbury, 2007); David Kynaston, Family Britain, 1951–1957 (London, Berlin, New York: Bloomsbury, 2009); Mark Donnelly, Sixties Britain: Culture, Society and Politics (Harlow: Pearson, 2005); Alwyn W. Turner, Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s (London: Aurum Press, 2008); Andy Beckett, When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies (London: Faber and Faber, 2009); Dominic Sandbrook, Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974–1979 (London: Allen Lane, 2012); Alwyn W. Turner, Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s (London: Aurum, 2010) and Andy McSmith, No Such Thing as Society: A History of Britain in the 1980s (London: Constable, 2011). 4. British and European resistance to American culture is expounded by Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London and New York: Routledge, 1979); Rob Kroes et al. Cultural Transmissions and Receptions: American Mass Culture in Europe (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1993) and Rob Kroes, If You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen the Mall: Europeans and American Mass Culture (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1996).
    [Show full text]
  • Pop Culture Universe
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Nottingham Trent Institutional Repository (IRep) Pop Culture Universe from The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture: Europe (2007) by Gary Hoppenstand, Gerd Bayer Popular Culture in Europe: Games, Toys and Pastimes MAJA MIKULA Games, hobbies, and toys encompass a diverse range of practices and objects of material culture that often have very little in common, other than their association with recreation, leisure, and play. Play is a vital aspect of human culture, and games, hobbies, and toys make it happen. It is no wonder then that this area of human activity can reveal a great deal about the social and cultural context in which it occurs. It always involves rituals that can be read at a “deep” level to throw light on the values and myths prevalent in the society in which it unfolds. Games can be categorized in many different ways. French anthropologist Roger Caillois divided them into four main categories: competition, chance, simulation, and disorientation. Competitive games involve training, skill, and discipline; games of chance largely depend on probability; simulation games require that the players escape from reality and become fantasy characters; and, finally, games of disorientation are based on a physical feeling of dizziness. If there is money or material gain involved, we are talking about gambling, which can contain traces of all four of these categories. [1] Hobbies, like games, are voluntary, uncertain, isolated in space and time, and bound by rules. Unlike games, however, hobbies such as handicrafts and collecting can be—and usually are—materially productive.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 No 197 Jan 2014
    No 197 Jan 2014 1 www.sihg.org.uk Frank Paine extolling the virtues of Meccano. See page 6. Stationary Engine and Tracton Engine - a small part of the display set up to accompany the Meccano talk. Photos by Pat & Neil Cryer. Newsletter 197 January 2014 2 Contents 2 Notices 4 Venues, Times & Contacts 5 Diary 20 January 2014 - 31 March 2014 6 Meccano - ‘Engineering in miniature’ by Frank Paine report by Celia Gregory 6 The Roman Wooden Water Pump - An ingenious Machine by Dr Richard Stein report by Jan Spencer 8 Guildford Railway Station by Roger Nicholas report by Allan Wheeler 9 Dash up the Channel by Roy Johnson 10 Industrial Archaeology News No. 167 Winter 2013 review by Gordon Knowles Reports & Notices Details of meetings are reported in good faith, but information may become out of date. Please check before attending. SIHG Visits, Details & Updates at www.sihg.org.uk SERIAC 2014 South East Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference " Bricks, Bugs & Computers" Saturday 12 April 2014, hosted by Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society with the help of Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society and Subterranea Britannica at Royal Russell School, Croydon Programme & application form enclosed and can also be downloaded from www.sihg.org.uk Surrey Industrial History Group Officers Chairman & Lectures Organiser: Robert Bryson [email protected] Secretary: Hugh Anscombe [email protected] Treasurer & Sales: Anne Lea [email protected] Membership Secretary: Pam Taylor [email protected] Newsletter Editor: Jan Spencer [email protected]
    [Show full text]
  • N Ew Sletter
    r e t t e l s w e N No. H I S T O R Y S O C I E T Y 28 AUTUMN 2010 Temporary archive service hit by delays Another temporary service is already operating from the 2nd Floor, World Museum, William Brown Street between 10am and Access to the vital local archive service, housed in the Central 5pm daily. Amongst other services, it offers family history and Library which closed for redevelopment in July, and which was local studies sources on microfilm and microfiche including due to be temporarily rehoused on a business park at Sandhills, census returns, local newspapers, street directories, cemetery has suffered a setback. Rumour has it that it could now be the registers, parish and electoral registers, national birth, marriage New Year before it comes into operation. and death indexes and national probate index volumes. Officially known as ‘the temporary city satellite service’, it will be based two miles north of the city centre in Unit 33, Wellington Employment Park South, Dunes Way (off Sandhills Lane - near Sandhills station). Access will be by appointment only between 9am and 5pm Tuesday to Saturday. A minimum of 24 hours notice is required; some archives may need longer notice. Contact details for the Liverpool Record Office are: Tel: 0151 233 5817 / email: [email protected] Bookshelf Our friends at the Liverpool University Press have Transatlantic Slavery: An Introduction Published jointly by National been busy of late and have published these four Museums Liverpool and Liverpool University Press. 96pp paperback. titles to add to their growing catalogue of local interest books: £9.99.
    [Show full text]
  • Founded by Frank Hornby, Who Made His First Train Set for the British Toy
    SUPERBRANDS ANNUAL 2012 Superbrands.uk.com Founded by Frank Hornby, who made his fi rst train set for the British toy market in 1920, Hornby has a vision to be the most successful model, hobby and collectable toy company in the world. Hornby products, originally intended for children, have fostered lifelong enthusiasm, creating a unique brand that transcends all ages and delivers to an exceptionally passionate audience. Brand History X 1972: The Hornby Railways company is established. X 2001: Hogwarts Express, the Harry Potter licensed locomotive, launches to great sales success. Market cherishing the products that offer hours of From its headquarters in Margate, Kent, Hornby engagement and no limitations on how much X 2003: Hornby launches Live Steam – and its associated brands are market leaders they can build. a working miniature steam locomotive. in model railways (Hornby), slot car racing sets (Scalextric), plastic model kits (Airfi x), modelling Product X 2004: Hornby acquires Lima and materials (Humbrol), and die-cast collectable From steam and diesel engines to aircraft and Electrotren, which leads to the formation vehicles (Corgi). Its products are sold in 60 vehicles, Hornby products are engineered to of Hornby Italia and Spain. countries across the globe. replicate real life vehicles on a miniature scale. X 2006: Hornby acquires Airfi x The brand’s 00 scale – which represents a size and Humbrol. A rapid acquisition programme over the past ratio of 1:76 – enables intricate details to be decade has bolstered sales, with Hornby now reproduced precisely, adding to the desirability X 2008: Hornby acquires Corgi Classics. owning the leading European model railways of the products.
    [Show full text]
  • Meccano Analogue Computer
    Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Ritchie, Thomas (2019) Object Identity: Deconstructing the 'Hartree Differential Analyser' and Reconstructing a Meccano Analogue Computer. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/80652/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Object Identity: Deconstructing the ‘Hartree Differential Analyser’ and Reconstructing a Meccano Analogue Computer Presented to the School of History at the University of Kent, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thomas Alexander William Ritchie [email protected] Word count: 85,358 i It wasn’t
    [Show full text]
  • FRANK HORNBY 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION At
    52 - 55 TRAFALGAR STREET BRIGHTON, BN1 4EB 01273 749494 [email protected] www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1001560 NEWSLETTER 2013 VOLUME 4 Museum Trust: – Chairman: A. Pett. Director: C. Littledale. Trustees: M. Gilkes, A. Capo-Bianco, C. Kendall, H. Marsh, K. Mathews, M. Simek. Collections trust: - Chairman: A. Capo-Bianco. Trustees: M. Foster, E. A. Manthos, V. Michel, B. Potter, M. Simek, C. Littledale, Secretary: C. Littledale Life Patrons: A. Capo-Bianco, C. Littledale, R. Boorman, J. Morgan, P. Hammond, R. George, J.M. Dunlop, M. Foster, G. Andrews, A. Campbell, D. O Brian FRANK HORNBY 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION at the Museum Museum Trust: – Chairman: A. Pett. Director: C. Littledale. Trustees: M. Gilkes, A. Capo-Bianco, C. Kendall, H. Marsh, K. Mathews, M. Simek. 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of Frank Hornby’s birth and a Heritage Lottery Grant was secured thanks Collections trust: - Chairman: A. Capo-Bianco. Trustees: M. Foster, E. A. Manthos, V. Michel, B. Potter, M. to Eric Baird, in order to celebrate the occation and to Simek, C. Littledale, Secretary: C. Littledale raise the awareness of the Man’s achievements from Life Patrons: A. Capo-Bianco, C. Littledale, R. Boorman,Meccano J. Morgan, onwards P. (seeHammond, p. 9). R. George, J.M. Dunlop, M. Foster, G. Andrews, A. Campbell, D. O Brian INSIDE THIS ISSUE Manager’s Report…………….2 2013 marked the 150th anniversary of Frak Hornby’s birth and a HeritageA few LotteryWords Grant from was the secured……….2 thanks to Eric Baird, in order to celebrate the occation, and to DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR Changing Faces………………4 raise the awareness of the Man’s achievements from Meccano onwards Museum (see p.
    [Show full text]
  • Working Paper Manchester / Liverpool
    Shr ink ing Cit ies -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MANCHESTER / LIVERPOOL II LIVERPOOL / MANCHESTER ARBEITSMATERIALIEN WORK ING PAPERS PABOCIE MATEPIALY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MANCHESTER / LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER / LIVERPOOL II --------------------------------------------- March 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shrinking Cities A project initiated by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Federal Cultural Foundation, Germany) in cooperation with the Gallery for Contemporary Art Leipzig, Bauhaus Foundation Dessau and the journal Archplus. Office Philipp Oswalt, Eisenacher Str. 74, D-10823 Berlin, P: +49 (0)30 81 82 19-11, F: +49 (0)30 81 82 19-12, II [email protected], www.shrinkingcities.com TABLE OF CONTENTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3INTRODUCTION Philipp Misselwitz 5MAP OF THE M62 REGION 6STATISTICAL DATA: MANCHESTER / LIVERPOOL Ed Ferrari, Anke Hagemann, Peter Lee, Nora Müller and Jonathan Roberts M62 REGION 11 ABANDONMENT AS OPPORTUNITY Katherine Mumford and Anne Power 17 CHANGING HOUSING MARKETS AND URBAN REGENERATION: THE CASE OF THE M62 CORRIDOR Brendan Nevin, Peter Lee, Lisa Goodson, Alan Murie, Jenny Phillimore and Jonathan Roberts 22 CHANGING EMPLOYMENT GEOGRAPHY IN ENGLAND’S NORTH WEST Cecilia Wong, Mark Baker and Nick Gallent MANCHESTER 32 MANCHESTER CITY
    [Show full text]
  • Meccano Magazine: Boys' Toys and the Popularization of Science In
    BJHS: Themes 3: 129–146, 2018. © British Society for the History of Science 2018. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/bjt.2018.5 First published online 12 April 2018 Meccano Magazine: boys’ toys and the popularization of science in early twentieth- century Britain PETER J. BOWLER* Abstract. Meccano Magazine began publishing in 1916 to advertise the popular children’s con- struction set. By the 1920s it had expanded into a substantial, well-illustrated monthly that eventually achieved a circulation of seventy thousand. Under the editorship of the popular- science writer Ellison Hawks it now devoted approximately half of its pages to real-life technol- ogy and some natural science. In effect, it became a popular-science magazine aimed at teenage and pre-teen boys. This article explores Hawks’s strategy of exploiting interest in model build- ing to encourage interest in science and technology. It surveys the contents of the magazine and shows how it developed over time. It is argued that the material devoted to real-life science and technology was little different to that found in adult popular-science magazines of the period, raising the possibility that Meccano Magazine’s large circulation may explain the comparative lack of success of the adult publications. ‘Meccano’ was the name given to a construction set invented by Frank Hornby at the beginning of the twentieth century.
    [Show full text]