I had a Gilbert microscope back in 1957. Kept it together for years while we moved around. Then in 1964 I found part of it taken apart in the back yard. Dad needed a bolt. Soon it was no more.
He did the same with our BB guns. He needed a couple of bolts. Too cheap to go to town to buy some.
My favorite toy as a yute.
Only Mighty Matilda came close to it.
My father drove me to the shut down A.C. Gilbert factory in New Haven. Erector sets were a BIG deal in CT. Before LEGO hit the U.S., there was a U.S. based version called “ELGO”. The bricks were thinner, wider and longer, and mostly had ridged sides. They snapped together very well, though. They came in round cardboard tubes with metal lids like Tinker Toys did. That’s what I grew up on. ELGO.
Wow! I had that one. And Lincoln logs, too.
Man, I wore that set out. And a set of Lincoln Logs.
Man, I remember those, getting one under the Christmas tree in the late 60’s. Glad you mentioned that last part, too. I got two cases of two different Mr. Beer homebrew ales in the garage fridge. I brewed and fermented them then put them in there to condition back around Thanksgiving. I gotta drink them before they get skunky. I bet the ABV is probably in double digits by now (I overcharged them with carbonation drops).
Chemistry sets... I stained everything in the house with phenolphthalein solution IIRC.
My late father had a Gilbert erector set when he was a kid. Even had a n electric motor with a geared transmission. It is still in my mom’s house.
Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs
What I remember most was losing those little nuts in the shag carpet, and Mom howling that I killed her Kirby.... again
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
I was a Tinkertoys kid.
Man, I loved my erector set back in the day. I also had a geology set - still have the little hammer. I stunk up the house for days when someone told me that sulfur would burn.
I gotta admit, though, that K’Nex are really cool. So much easier than the old erector set, and way more shapes and possibilities.