I grew up with Meccano. It was, without a doubt, the best toy ever invented. I should not even use the word toy, because Meccano truly was real engineering in miniature. You could create fantastic working modesl of cranes, trucks, bridges, buildings, anything your mind could conceive. You could make all the incredible mechanisms ever used, such as differentials, epicylic linkages, pulley systems, continously variable transmissions, you name it. Did you know that the first artificial heart was conceived using Meccano? It was invented and manufactured in the UK and its hey day was the period of the 1930's thru 60's. America had the Erector system, which was closely related, but Meccano was bigger and better and more colorful.
Today, Meccano is a shadow of it's former self. It's name is used for cheap plastic and flimsy metal systems manufactured in China. It's not that bad, you can still make some fairly decent models with it, but it lacks the robustness and grandeur of the classic system.
Lego has the corner on construction systems. With a great product and massive marketing it has left Meccano in the dust. Lego Technic systems are great for learning about mechanical engineering, and they have some truly impressive models. But Lego lacks the flexibilty of Meccano, and the Lego sets are primarily stand alone systems. Lego of course is a plastic brick system, whereas Meccano is essentially a metal strip and plate system. Meccano models are less real looking than Lego, but somehow they seem more impressive.
Meccano is a system just waiting to be re-discovered and remanufactured as the classic system of sets.
If you want to see what Meccano can do just take a peek at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPC4RPjiehY
Today, Meccano is a shadow of it's former self. It's name is used for cheap plastic and flimsy metal systems manufactured in China. It's not that bad, you can still make some fairly decent models with it, but it lacks the robustness and grandeur of the classic system.
Lego has the corner on construction systems. With a great product and massive marketing it has left Meccano in the dust. Lego Technic systems are great for learning about mechanical engineering, and they have some truly impressive models. But Lego lacks the flexibilty of Meccano, and the Lego sets are primarily stand alone systems. Lego of course is a plastic brick system, whereas Meccano is essentially a metal strip and plate system. Meccano models are less real looking than Lego, but somehow they seem more impressive.
Meccano is a system just waiting to be re-discovered and remanufactured as the classic system of sets.
If you want to see what Meccano can do just take a peek at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPC4RPjiehY
Comment