Erector Set

 By Bruce Shawkey

When I was a youngster, my dad worked as a bartender at the Hoffman House in Madison. Often, tips would come in the form of merchandise from the various salesmen that would arrive in Madison via the railroad station, which was just down the street from the Hoffman House. One time, Dad scored a deluxe Erector set, complete with electric motor. I recall my brother and Dad put together a parachute drop, which was about five feet high. The toy would alternately raise and lower about six parachutes with the
aid of the electric motor. The image at left is about as close as I can come to remembering it.

Here's an Erector Set manual from 1938. It's quite a long manual, so I'm supplying a link if you want to check out the whole thing:

Erector How To Make Em Book 1938 (1).pdf

Here are just a few pages:






In 1911, Gilbert invented the Erector construction toy concept, inspired by railroad girders used by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Gilbert and his wife Mary developed cardboard prototypes to get the right sizes, openings, and angles to create a robust buildable girder pattern. The Erector set was introduced in 1911, as the Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder, at the New York City Toy Fair.

In 1916, the name of the company was changed from the Mysto Manufacturing Company to the A. C. Gilbert Company.

Further information can be found here:

A.C.Gilbert

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