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