Meccano Ltd
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Meccano Ltd was a British toy manufacturing company, established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England, to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company. During the 1920s and 1930s it became the biggest toy manufacturer in the United Kingdom and produced three of the most popular lines of toys in the twentieth century: Meccano, Hornby Trains and Dinky Toys.[1]
Financial problems beset the company in the early 1960s and Meccano Ltd was taken over by
History
Beginning and development
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Frank_Hornby_2.jpg/150px-Frank_Hornby_2.jpg)
In 1901 Frank Hornby, a clerk from Liverpool, England, invented a new construction toy called "Mechanics Made Easy", which soon became known as Meccano.[2][3][4] To manufacture and distribute Meccano, Hornby needed to raise capital to invest in factory and plant, and this resulted in the establishment of Meccano Ltd in 1908, with Hornby as the sole proprietor. A factory was acquired in West Derby Road in Liverpool and the company began producing Meccano sets for sale across the UK.[2]
In 1909 Meccano Ltd added to its range by launching the "Hornby System of Mechanical Demonstration". This was an educational set Hornby had created for use in schools which included a 44-page manual, showing all dimensions in centimetres. However, it was not a commercial success and it was discontinued after five years. This was the first use of the
By 1910 Meccano was exported worldwide, and its success prompted Meccano Ltd to expand its operations. In 1912, Hornby and his son, Roland, formed Meccano (France) Ltd in Paris to manufacture Meccano, and an office was opened in Berlin, Germany where Märklin began to manufacture Meccano under licence. Meccano factories were also established in Spain and Argentina. In 1912 Hornby started importing clockwork motors from Märklin, but when the supply from Germany stopped after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he began manufacturing his own clockwork motors in Liverpool.[6]
Up to this point Meccano was being manufactured in England at the small factory in West Derby Road, Liverpool, but it soon became apparent that it could not meet the growing demand for Meccano, and in 1914 a new factory was built in Binns Road, Liverpool. The Binns Road factory became the company headquarters for over 60 years.[2]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Antique_toy_model_train_Colas_rail_car_%2829536314355%29.jpg/220px-Antique_toy_model_train_Colas_rail_car_%2829536314355%29.jpg)
In 1920 the company started to produce
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Speed_of_the_Wind_Dinky_toy_23E.jpg/220px-Speed_of_the_Wind_Dinky_toy_23E.jpg)
In 1931 Meccano Ltd introduced
In 1938 Meccano Ltd launched the
In 1942 the production of all toys ceased due to wartime legislation and the company switched to manufacturing for the war effort. Despite the heavy bombing of Liverpool during the war, the Binns Road factory was not damaged. The production of Meccano, Dinky Toys and Hornby Dublo slowly resumed after the war in 1945, but was interrupted again in 1950 by the Korean War due to a shortage of metal.[2][4]
In 1960 Meccano Ltd purchased
Takeovers
By the early 1960s Meccano Ltd began experiencing financial problems, in spite of exports worth over
In 1971 the Lines Brothers Tri-ang group went into voluntary liquidation and 'Meccano-Tri-ang' was eventually sold to Airfix industries in 1972, the company name reverting to "Meccano Ltd". At the same time, General Mills, a United States toy manufacturer, purchased the majority of shares of Meccano France S.A., renaming the French company "Miro-Meccano".[2]
The new Meccano
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Meccano%2C_Paris_Motor_Show_2018%2C_IMG_0270.jpg/220px-Meccano%2C_Paris_Motor_Show_2018%2C_IMG_0270.jpg)
With competition from other manufacturers from around the world and the increasing popularity of
In August 1985 French accountant Marc Rebibo bought Miro-Meccano from General Mills, reverted the French company name to "Meccano S.A." and reintroduced some of the discontinued Meccano sets. In 1989 Rebibo was bought out by Finamec (Financière de Serbie), who continued the manufacture of Meccano in France. In 1990 Meccano France purchased the "Erector" trademark in the U.S.A. and started selling Meccano sets marked "Erector Meccano" in the U.S.A.[2][3]
By 2000 Meccano France was faltering and was bought out in May 2000 by the Japanese toy company Nikko, who continue to manufacture Meccano sets in France and China, although very different from the Meccano originally manufactured by the Binns Road factory.[2]
In 2013 Meccano was acquired by Spin Master.[8]
References
- ^ "Frank Hornby (1863-1936): Inventor of the world's most famous toy". Museum of Liverpool. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Dalefield, Wes. "History of Meccano". Meccano Erector Page. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ a b c Matthews, Peter. "A Chronological History of Meccano". Meccanoman. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Esplen, Alan. "Alan's Meccano Pages". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ "Meccano: The Early Years". Transvaal Meccano Guild. Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ Jost, Graham. "A Brief History of English Meccano 1901-1981". International Meccanomen. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ Wright, Melvyn. "Bayko Building Site". Retrieved 28 August 2008.
- ^ Strauss, Marina (13 August 2013). "Spin Master acquires iconic Meccano in bid to take on Lego". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 10 March 2014.