Note that while the outside gives no clue to the set number, the inside label does:
Removing the manual revealed even more; especially my old parts box (the White
Rose tea tin) in the center and those black Marx rubber tracks up front:
[My girls were too young to pick up on that when they used the set (besides,
who reads the manual?).]
Next, in some inexplicable logic, a three-color first page with another sexist greeting
from A. C.:
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
The back of that page (the second page), also in three colors:
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
The succeding pages are not numbered; the booklet appears to have been made of
many individual pages assembled in ascending set sequence, stapled into the cover.
The pages then follow from the No. 1 and 1½ sets, above, through 2½
and 3, 3½, 4½ (with the MX House-cum-tender's shack), 6½ (with
fixed gearbox electric gearmotor), 7½ (with Boiler T and accessories thereto,
and shiftable gearbox electric gearmotor with two NK ratchets), and, finally, the No.
8½ (with MJ Electro Magnet with Cord, NJ Battery Holder, NI 1½-volt Bulb
and NH Lamp Socket Unit).
Lamp Socket Unit? Oh my gosh; I have been using that as my model
RR test lamp for over 50 years (with a 12V bulb, now)!
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
For all that it's been through, it is almost absolutely original; that socket connector for
the red wire is merely a crimp loop held in place by an original Erector N21 brass nut!
My bad - I soldered the black alligator clip to the original black Erector bulb base wire!
Jumping ahead almost to the end, Section 8, 40 (wonder if that means Set 8, 1940?),
here's my favorite of all the off-the-page models, the Stiff Leg Derrick with Lifting
{electro-}Magnet; I had a ball with that one:
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
Besides, most of the really big off-the-page models you could make with the
8½ set were far too rickety, like the Ferris Wheel and, especially, the Walking
Beam Engine, which woggled all over the place!
Next, the how-to pages end and we come to a page "SEC. X", which shows
representative "Models Built with Famous ERECTOR Sets" (from 4½ though
12½):
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
Following that page, we come to a two-page illustrated parts list, "ERECTOR
SEPARATE PARTS", numbered simply "2" and "3":
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
On the back of the second parts page is the price list, ERECTOR SEPARATE PARTS
PRICES:
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
Now that page is an absolute howl! The cheapest single item (not counting
bulk items like screws), like the P79 Car truck (the old wide red angle plate), the EY
Big Channel Girder 6", or the MC Base Plate 1" x 2½". Conversely, the
most expensive single item is the 2-B Transformer with Circuit Breaker at $7.95,
closely followed by the A49 Electric Engine {not Motor!}, gear shift, 10v. A.C. only at
$5.95, the A49 (same motor, but without gear shift) at $4.95, and the P55 7-15 Volt
Erector Motor A.C. or D.C. at $4.50. The A48 Mechanical (spring) Motor was
only $1.75, but you had to shell out a whopping 20¢ extra for the K48 Key.
I should mention here that the original Erector sets had only 1" girders and didn't sell
all that well; it wasn't until ol' A. C. came out with the ½" girders that the
product really took off.
Lastly, facing the price list, we have the inside rear cover, an ad for A. C. Gilbert's
American Flyer Trains":
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
and the rear cover:
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images]
The CHEMISTRY OUTFITS were, in fact, the famed CHEMCRAFT sets (later
made by the Porter Chemical Co.), of which I natiurally had to have the very biggest!
Oh, that reminds me of a great cartoon, from COLLIER'S MAGAZINE ca. 1940,
which my mother kept under the glass on her dresser to the day she died: the
picture is of a great mansion with a circular driveway and four great chimneys, except
that the mansion has just burned to the ground, with only the chimneys still standing
amidst swirling smoke. There are firetrucks on the lawn and on the driveway, at the
foot of which stand a mother, a father, and a little boy in pajamas and bathrobes and
the mother is telling the little boy, "Don't worry, dear; we'll buy you another
chemistry set."! Oh, how nearly that came true time and again! My
dad actually had installed a gas jet for me in the cellar for my Bunsen burner back
when I was all of 11!
Maybe one of these days (oh, yeah!), I'll re-create the half-track (if the tracks are still
supple - as highly-unlikely as that seemed, they actually still are usable); I used the
concept of the Half Track from the 12½ set and the radiator, hood, and
steering gear from the Dump Truck of the 9½ set:
(22 Jan 2004 photos by and © 2004 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[thumbnailed image - click on picture for larger image]
plus a lot of young ingenuity!
* - It appears that, while the cover was copyrighted in 1938, the contents, at
least the page with the Parachute Jump, was newer because the Parachute
Jump first appeared in 1940, as the article on John Cook's
Girders & Gears site indicates (it followed the appearance of the real
thing at the New York World's Fair in 1939). However, there never was
a "10½ Parachute set" - actually, a set numbered 10½ had
appeared in the Erector line for some years prior to 1940. In 1940, two
sets contained the parachute parts: the 9½ Automotive set and the
10½ Electric Train set. In 1949, Gilbert changed the name of the
10½ to the Amusement Park set, which it remained until the end of
traditional Erector production in 1962 (although the set numbering scheme
changed in 1957).
(broken link fixed 09 Nov 05)
[information courtesy of John Cook ("Dr. Prune")]
Erector tuff-tread Pedal-Car Set
On 19 Dec 2004, I heard from a gentleman who aquired a mid-1960s Gilbert "Ride
On" Sized Erector Set which apparently made some sort of trike (three-wheeled
vehicle) since there is a castered single-wheel axle. The wheels are 7¼"
in diameter, blow-molded with "Gilbert tuff-tread" in raised lettering on the
side wall of the tire:
(cropped from image d/4, ff., and lightened by SB,III)
(photos by R. Rogers - all rights reserved)
[thumbnailed images - click on pictures for larger images;
image i/9 cropped slightly]
Now THAT is some Erector set (and I always thought the old New York Central Hudson
4-6-4 steam locomotive was the biggest Erector set of all (how I wish I could afford
one, even now - last I looked, they were running in the thousands). This is the
first I ever knew of any such thing.
The original box shipping label implies that this set was sold in Firestone stores.
Some flat and angle parts are made of aluminum, while the large 13¼" long
angles are made of steel. All 3/16" NC threaded fasteners are HDPE (High
Density Polypropylene) and the steering wheel, pedal shaft, and tie-rods operate.
Can anyone tell us more about this set - its set number and formal name? How
about pictures of the finished product?
-
[Hmmm - I note that the tire reads "Gilbert", NOT ERECTOR;
could it be this is NOT officially (however obviously) an Erector set?]
Speaking of the Hudson set, I'd love to post pix of that one (with tender), also.
{more to follow}
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2005
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times since the counter was installed.
(22 Jan 2004 photos by and © 2004 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
(09 Nov 05)
