| Who hasn't heard the old saying....back
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| | In 1911, on one of his many train trips
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| when I was young? Times have changed and
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| | from New Haven (his home) to New York
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| so have the toys our children play with.
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| | City, he watched out the window as
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| Video games now dot the landscape with
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| | workers positioned and riveted the steel
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| violence and virtual worlds for our
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| | beams of an electrical power line tower.
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| children to "enjoy".
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| | He decided to create a children's
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| But something else has changed with this
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| | construction kit, with evenly spaced
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| new age, the availability of classic
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| | holes for bolts to pass through and he
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| toys. With the Internet, it is now
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| | included nuts, pulleys, gears and
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| possible to find the toys your
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| | eventually engines. Although a British
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| grandfather or your father grew up
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| | company called Meccano was selling a
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| playing with. These toys never go out of
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| | similar toy, Gilbert thought his "erector
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| style. Let's take a look at the history
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| | set" would be more realistic. His set had
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| of one of these toys: The Erector Set
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| | more technical advantages, especially
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| A. C. Gilbert was a brilliant man. At the
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| | steel beams that were not flat, but were
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| time of his death in 1962, he was
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| | bent lengthwise to produce a ninety
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| credited with 150 patents for the
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| | degree angle, thus, four of them joined
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| inventions that went into his products.
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| | together side-to-side, formed a sturdy,
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| In fact, as a boy he was a talented
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| | square support beam.
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| magician and it was that talent that
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| | Backed by the first major American
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| helped him pay his tuition to Yale
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| | advertising campaign for a toy, Gilbert
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| Medical School. While going to school and
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| | started selling the "Mysto Erector
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| performing as a magician, he formed Mysto
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| | Structural Steel Builder" in 1913, (later
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| Manufacturing, a company that sold magic
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| | to be called, simply the "erector set")
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| kits to children.
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| | and the toy became one of the most
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| Gilbert ultimately finished Yale Medical
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| | popular construction toys of all time. It
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| School, but decided to enter the toy
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| | was not unusual for living rooms across
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| business rather than practice medicine.
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| | the country to be crowded with small
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| He was a gifted inventor and chose to
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| | skyscrapers and buildings that young
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| entertain and educate children. His most
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| | minds had carefully crafted. It is
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| popular invention? The vintage
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| | estimated that the A. C. Gilbert Company
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| construction toy-the erector set.
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| | has sold more than 30 million sets.
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