Posted on 12/25/2011 2:56:00 AM PST by AnAmericanAbroad
Before video games and robotics competitions, toys were much simpler: girls got dolls; boys got model trains and bicycles. Toys that promoted learning and experimentation were rare until one inventor, Alfred Carlton (“A. C.”) Gilbert, started making toys that taught children about science and engineering. His most famous, the Erector set, became one of the best -selling toys of its day and inspired children across the country to build everything from bridges to robots.
Gilbert was a man of many talents. He financed his medical degree from Yale University by working as a magician, invented the pole-vaulting box and won a gold medal in the sport in 1908, and broke the world record for consecutive chin-ups—39 in a row. In 1918 he became "the man who saved Christmas" by convincing Congress not to ban toy production during the war.
But he is most famous for his toys. Gilbert founded the A. C. Gilbert Company and went on to invent and sell all kinds of classic science toys from chemistry sets to robots to microscopes. Gilbert's real innovation was to provide kids with a way to experiment with real-life tools and parts, says William Brown, director of the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Conn., where a large collection of Gilbert toys is on display. "They had that feel of being not symbolic but part of the real world," he says. "You were working with a motor for your Erector set that could actually move heavy things."
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
AC Gilbert lived not too far from where I live. The Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden CT has a wonderful collection of AC Gilbert toys if you’re ever in the area.
My father actual met AC when he did some work on his property. Said he was a very nice guy.
Wish I had an Atomic Energy Set for my husband. That would make his Christmas!!
Was that book “Our Friend the Atom” (Disney, maybe??). I had a copy I donated to the local library.
Considering the way this country has devolved, it’s a wonder that the company is still able to make and sell those cannons. How have the ambulance chasing lawyers missed this opportunity?
When I was a young’un, living in rural Washington state, we could bring our rifles to school during hunting season. Mind you, we had to leave the ammo in the office, until our dads would come and pick us up after school to go hunting. And yes, missing school on the opening day of hunting season was considered ok.
How times have changed (and this was in the 1980s). It never would’ve occurred to any of us to start blowing away our classmates.
Pretty cool stuff. Might have to get myself that Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise pizza cutter. Thanks for the link, and Merry Christmas.
Wow. Very cool that your dad met him.
Never been out Connecticut way, but I lived in the Pacific Northwest, where we have the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon and of course OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland, Oregon.
That Atomic Energy Set seems like that had to be the coolest ever educational toy of all time; I can’t even imagine that nowadays! You’d have every ambulance-chaser, the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the DHS after you if you bought it!
The T33, improvised during WW2 by USMC Corporal Tony Stein. Here's a quick spec per wikipedia: Called the T33 it was fitted with a buttstock and bipod to allow for use without a tripod or other mount. The T33 consists of an AN/M2, a butt stock from a M1919A6 and a rear sight and bipod from a BAR 1918. These conversions were based on field conversions carried out by soldiers in the Pacific Theater during World War II. A personally modified weapon of this type, using the butt stock from an M1 rifle, was used by Marine Corporal Tony Stein during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Stein would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. It had a rate of fire in excess of 1,200 rpm and was nicknamed the "Stinger." Oh well......maybe next Christmas.
I had one of those.I survived it in spite of a few burns
I had one of those.I survived it in spite of a few burns
There still are imagination toys. Last night we went to a family Christmas party. One fortunate 10 year old boy received a very large Lego set. His Mother was telling how much he loved the Legos and everytime he built something with them it was different.
And drank water from a hose, played mumbly peg with my pocket knife, baked potatoes under an open fire in the field, rode my bike without a helmet and snuck a smoke or three behind a billboard. Not to mention successfully burning designs with my wood burning kit and playing sports without adult supervision. I'm still here in my 80th decade. So there!
8th decade that is.
I used to pump gas in the early 70’s when the gas fumes were think and contained lead. Nothing like pulling a cap in July and getting blasted with fumes from an unvented fuel tank containing lead.
I was more than a bit steamed that the country that sent men to the moon, I can't even buy a cheapo one for a kid if I wanted to. At least not very easily.
A reflection on how we have falen from being the worlds leading industrial manufacturing nation, when we produced most of the world's engineers and chemists, to our present sorry condition when we are the worlds leading producer of litigious lawyers, college graduates with various worthless "Feel-Good" college degrees, and filthy, corrupt politicians.
I bought one of those exact same Gilbert Chemistry sets at a Flea Market last year for my grandson. The set was perfect and complete - even after all this time. It looked as if someone opened it up closed it and stuck it in an attic for 50 years.
For anyone interested in this subject I reccommend this book:
The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made: The Life and Times of A. C. Gilbert, the Man Who Saved Christmas
Authored by Bruce Watson, ISBN: 0142003530
And don't forget Gilbert's America Flyer S-gauge model trains.
(even the name "American Flyer" harkens back to a better time!)
Yep. The first ThingMakers was basically an open hot plate. And you had those little tong things that you had to stick into the mold to lift it out - got burned nearly every time.
We also liked playing with the lead chunks that my dad used to melt down to make soldiers.
I did the same back in the early ‘70s.
We usually had a cigarette hanging out of our mouths, too.
Bloody Bill Anderson: "Redlegs.? You'll find 'em up in Kansas. And we're goin' up there and set things aright" Wales: "I'll be comin' with ya"
Thanks so much for posting this. Wonderful memories for me as I sit here on Christmas morning with my grandchildren watching them play with the toys of their generations.
I spent many an hour building stuff with my erector sets.
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