История британской игрушки Meccano: от гаража изобретателя до Formula-1

125 years of Meccano, iconic British toy that built generations of great minds From a Nobel Prize winner to a Prime Minister with a smattering of inventors thrown in, during its 125 year history Meccano has had some very important fans. The metal model making toy, which can be used to build everything from cranes to ferris wheels and fighter jets, has sold more than a billion sets worldwide since its creation by Liverpool toymaker Frank Hornby in 1901. Devised for his children at his kitchen table, its reusable metal parts, fastened with nuts and bolts, revolutionised hands-on, educational play - fostering spatial awareness and combining fun with a practical engineering lesson. Originally launched as Mechanics Made Easy, the Meccano name - adopted in 1907 - is believed to derive from the term “make and know.” The world’s first construction toy - joined by LEGO, created by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932 - it even helped the war effort. • How two refugees created Britain's iconic Corgi cars 70 years ago In 1914 Meccano’s Binns Road factory opened in Liverpool - and a vibrant international community was created through the launch of Meccano Magazine in 1916. The Meccano Guild was established in 1919, to connect local enthusiast clubs. And, in the 1920s, Hornby expanded into model railways, Dinky Toys die-cast miniatures, Kemex chemistry sets and Elektron electrical kits. Sharon Brown, Curator of Land Transport, Work and Industry at the Museum of Liverpool, says: “Facing early marketing struggles with Meccano, Hornby got a vital break when Professor Hele-Shaw of Liverpool University certified it as ‘based on sound engineering principles.’ The endorsement skyrocketed sales, turning Meccano into a popular prototyping tool for inventors and a foundational educational kit that sparked countless technical careers.” Before World War Two, mathematicians at Manchester University constructed early analogue computers from Meccano, to solve complex equations. And when the government banned the manufacture of metal toys in February 1942, Meccano’s factory was redirected to wartime manufacturing production - the details of which have never been fully disclosed. The firm also produced a popular die-cast Spitfire, donating the proceeds to the war effort. Meccano has been involved in other innovations, including computing, robotics, engineering, entertainment, automotive design and technological invention. Sharon says: “Nobel prize winner Sir Harry Kroto linked his 1996 Chemistry Prize directly to playing with Meccano as a child, calling the loss of its popularity to LEGO a ‘disaster of modern life’.” Kroto said: "Meccano gave one an idea that there was an engineering explanation that could make the molecule so strong. You imagine building molecules as if they were bits of Meccano." Elsewhere, Trevor Bayliss, inventor of the Freeplay radio in the early 1990s, took inspiration from his childhood Meccano sets. Sharon says: “He designed a wind-up mechanism that would operate the radio for 14-minutes on a single wind without the need for electricity or expensive batteries. The radio relied on a simple mechanism that Bayliss initially developed using Meccano. “And Roland Moreno used Meccano to build and test the original card-handling mechanism that helped him to secure his patent for the smart card, or memory chip card, in 1974.” Meccano collector Richard Payn, 62, a retired finance director from Hayes, Middlesex, says: “Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister from the 1970s, mentioned he had a Meccano set. Sir Alec Issigonis, who designed the Mini, modeled the front-wheel-drive system and gearbox with Meccano. "And British engineer Denys Fisher, who created Spirograph, was inspired by the Meccanograph, first invented around 1916. In the 50s and 60s, every boy in the country would have a Meccano set under the Christmas tree.” Richard got his first set in 1975 and now has 1,000 kilos or a tonne of Meccano. He says: “I subscribed to the Meccano Magazine and my first issue was January 1977. “Seeing the models that adults were building just blew my mind. “In the rear of the magazine were reports of Meccano Club meetings that were happening around the UK. One wasn’t far away in Kent, so I wrote to the secretary and then attended my first meeting in April 1977. It will be my 50th anniversary of joining the Holy Trinity Meccano Club next April and we still meet in the same hall. “Being such a sustainable toy, old Meccano parts are still perfectly usable. The very first parts from 1901 could be used with the latest issued parts.” Meccano stopped being manufactured in the UK in 1981 and is currently made by a network of production partners in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, under the ownership of the Canadian toy company Spin Master. Rare sets make prized auction lots - with Meccano Outfit No 10 fetching up to £1,500. The Windmill set, from about 1913, is considered the rarest, with only one known example. Richard says: “LEGO’s rise in the 1960s definitely affected Meccano’s popularity. But today we are seeing a resurgence thanks to STEM learning. Enter Meccano. Meccano is real-world engineering. “Imagine you had a LEGO set. You open up the box, all the parts are in packets that relate to the instruction books, they're all sorted for you almost already. And it's perfect. “But say you go to IKEA and you buy a flat pack and you're trying to put it together. Then something doesn't quite work. With LEGO, you haven't developed any skills to address that problem. With Meccano, there are tolerances, the holes can move a bit. It teaches you those good skills, which then help you in real life. I know people who've used bits of Meccano to mend cars.” Over the years, Meccano sets have been sold to make models that are spring powered, electric powered, steam powered and even water powered. Since 1901, more than 1,500 different iterations of Meccano sets have been produced, and over 2,000 unique part designs. This September, The Entertainer - the UK’s exclusive stockist - and its own brand Addo, are having a major relaunch of the brand, aiming to capture the imagination of a whole new generation of fans. With new designs and packaging, Meccano will offer four ranges for different age groups (Makers, Builders, Masters and Pro) from beginner-friendly builds to advanced metal engineering sets for enthusiasts and experienced builders of all ages. The Entertainer’s CEO, Andrew Murphy OBE, says: “We have a new tie up with Ducati and Aston Martin, with new construction sets like the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ set based on their F1 car. “Meccano Strips are instantly recognisable and, along with nuts and bolts, have been virtually unchanged in 125 years - with holes set at 1/2” spacing. The very first parts that were made would work with today's nuts and bolts in that Aston Martin car.” Number one mechanic in the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, Michael Brown, says: “When I was a kid, I’d spend hours building little cars out of Meccano. Now I’m here in the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team garage, turning real machines into something even more incredible. If you’d have told me I would be doing this for a living when I was a kid playing with Meccano, I wouldn’t have believed it. “Meccano helped to teach me how structures worked together and how mechanisms came together. Those simple lessons in engineering stuck with me. Now I use the same principles every day as a number one mechanic for the team.” Meanwhile, Andrew is already looking ahead to Meccano’s next major milestone. He says: “Meccano still sells £5-6million worth of products a year, but we think the potential is 10 times that. Our aim is to have people talking about the brand's 250th anniversary, in 125 years time.” • How suspicious public fell in love with horse-drawn monster that became nation's favourite gadget