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AC GILBERT ERECTOR SETS 1960 (and other useful toys)
Out on the YouTube ^

Posted on 04/19/2021 6:48:11 PM PDT by SamAdams76

Back in the 1960s, when you were Christmas shopping for your children, both boys and girls, you looked for toys that would help teach them useful skills for adulthood.

Before there were Legos, there were Erector Sets. In which you were given a wrench to screw together various steel pieces that were then hooked up to motors to make them do things.

But that's not all. Children were provided with microscopes, telescopes, chemistry sets, electronics kits and even home brewing kits.

Okay, I'm just kidding about the last part. But check out this video.


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: chemistrysets; erectorsets
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To: kaktuskid

I had set that you poured latex into and cooked it to form rubber insects.


21 posted on 04/19/2021 7:07:22 PM PDT by Fai Mao (It is time, past time and almost too late.)
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To: SamAdams76

What I remember most was losing those little nuts in the shag carpet, and Mom howling that I killed her Kirby.... again


22 posted on 04/19/2021 7:08:18 PM PDT by Hodar (A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
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To: SamAdams76

I had one of these. I got it for Christmas.
My mom took it away about 2 days later calling it a box of razor blades. They never took the sharp edges off the stamped sheet metal parts. It was like a box of razor blades.


23 posted on 04/19/2021 7:09:14 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (Neither safety nor security exists in nature. Everything is dangerous and has risk.)
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To: Noumenon

We had a couple of bottle rocket wars too. lucky nobody was injured.


24 posted on 04/19/2021 7:09:21 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: SamAdams76
This is epic.


25 posted on 04/19/2021 7:10:59 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: SamAdams76

I had an erector set when I was about 7. I saw one a year or so ago in a thrift store but parts were gone. After that I got BB guns, .22 rifle, and a shotgun. I got to start making wine in my bedroom at the ripe old age of about 15 LOL. Two gallon jugs one filled with grape juice, sugar, and yeast and the other jug filled with water. The jug with the juice had a cork and copper tube ran through the cork and into the jug filled with water. At night for the first month or two I’d hear it steadily bubbling LOL.As a kid born in the late 50’s growing up in the 60’s 70’s. I had it made.


26 posted on 04/19/2021 7:13:30 PM PDT by cva66snipe
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To: DannyTN

Bottle rocket war almost burned down a hay barn at least I was defending it


27 posted on 04/19/2021 7:14:16 PM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: Fai Mao
Ah, the good old Erector Set. And I used to get to pick out two or three things from the Edmund Scientific catalog (remember those?) and see which one landed under the tree Christmas morning. The best one was the old Digi-Comp I - an analog, manually programmed 'computer':


28 posted on 04/19/2021 7:15:46 PM PDT by Viking2002 (When's the appeasement party start? I brought enough white guilt for everyone! [/sarc])
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
In the 60's i got a Thing Maker and a Wood Burning set.

Then a RONCO Glass Cutter for making drinking glasses out of bottles.

29 posted on 04/19/2021 7:20:03 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: SamAdams76

I loved my chemistry and microscope sets growing up. As well as Lego. My siblings were a bit older and loved the train and erector sets as well as Lincoln Logs.


30 posted on 04/19/2021 7:20:29 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (RIP my "teddy bear". )
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To: SamAdams76

Along with the Erector set, tinker toys and Lincoln logs I remember having a small power tool kit that would cut balsa wood as well.


31 posted on 04/19/2021 7:21:46 PM PDT by grcuster
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To: kaktuskid

vac-u-form

Had it, too. Good memory.


32 posted on 04/19/2021 7:23:45 PM PDT by Ken Regis
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To: Deaf Smith
You had all of the cool toys/sets my older cousins had.

Do you suppose Mattel would sell this Thing Maker mold, anymore?

It has to be swell.....it's Mattel!

33 posted on 04/19/2021 7:26:21 PM PDT by Jane Long (America, Bless God....blessed be the Nation πŸ™πŸ»πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ)
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To: Viking2002

Edmunds is still around but much more serious and high tech like Thorlabs. But back in the day they sold weird novelties like the drinking bird and even vibrators.


34 posted on 04/19/2021 7:29:53 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: kaktuskid
-- We also had wood burning sets and Mattel vac-u-form sets,/i> --

Any Creepy Crawlers?

Girders and panels, but they weren't as "creative" as Erector and Tinkertoy.

35 posted on 04/19/2021 7:30:05 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: SamAdams76

I remember the stuff that Gilbert used to make. I had an Erector set and several other things that they made. One Christmas, my grandparents gave me a crystal radio kit that I built. I also had a kit that you could build an electric motor. They also gave you basic information on the physics of how they worked.


36 posted on 04/19/2021 7:31:50 PM PDT by wjcsux (RIP Rush Limbaugh 12 Jan 1951- 17 Feb 2021. We really miss you. 😒)
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To: SamAdams76
I got one of these for Christmas when I was about 10. My parents soon realized it was a big mistake. It wasn't long before my sibs and I were zapping each other => "OWW! Mom!" As I recall, it got taken away in a couple of weeks.


37 posted on 04/19/2021 7:32:45 PM PDT by Ken H (Trump won.)
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To: Noumenon

LOLOL!!


38 posted on 04/19/2021 7:33:16 PM PDT by Jane Long (America, Bless God....blessed be the Nation πŸ™πŸ»πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ)
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To: SamAdams76

An excellent toy made much better by combining with the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_Laboratory


39 posted on 04/19/2021 7:33:23 PM PDT by Retrofitted
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To: SamAdams76

I was a Tinkertoys kid.


40 posted on 04/19/2021 7:33:50 PM PDT by Rio
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