Back to Dick's Gadget Warehouse! What (Boys) Toy is 100 years old and still being sold?

Did you guess Erector? (With help from Wikipedia.) Erector was first introduced and sold to the public in 1913 at the Toy Fair held at the Broadway Central Hotel in New York City. Notice it’s called Erector, not Erector Set. Erector was conceived by Alfred Carlton Gilbert (A.C. Gilbert) in 1911. The first Erector, made in 1913, was called "The Erector / Structural Steel and Electro- Mechanical Builder". It claimed to be "Educational, Instructive and Amusing". In 1914, the name was changed to "The Mysto Erector", "The Toy That Resembles Structural Steel". In 1916, the company was reorganized and became the A.C. Gilbert Company. "Erector" was renamed "Gilbert Erector", "The Toy Like Structural Steel". In 1924, more changes occurred, as the entire Erector system was completely overhauled to include over 70 parts.[3] "Erector" was now called "The New Erector", The Worlds Greatest Toy". Through 1932, "Erector" was sold in wood boxes. From 1933 through 1962 the sets would be sold in colorful boxes made of steel. Early boxes were painted red, green or blue but by the 1950s all set boxes were painted red. Later, as the company grew, the area around the Gilbert factory became known as "ERECTOR SQUARE". Today, this area has become a rather run down section of New Haven, Connecticut and the old factory building consists of many small shops. A.C. Gilbert died in 1961 and the company went into decline. The system was redesigned, adding many plastic parts, but the "clunky" looking models failed to compete with the new, realistic, scale, plastic models coming onto the market. The A.C. Gilbert Company filed bankruptcy in 1967. The Gabriel company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania bought the "Erector" name and continued to market the recently redesigned system. Sales were slow and by the 1980s the trademark "Erector" was acquired by Ideal Toys and then Tyco Toys. "Meccano" (France) has owned the "Erector" brand since the year 2000. "Erector" sold millions of sets over the years. The largest (and most sought after by collectors) is the 1931 No. 10 Set. Touted in advertising of the day as "The Climax of Erector Glory", the set weighed in at 150 pounds. Today’s there’s an Erector 100th Anniversary RC Remote Control Set that comes with a 6V battery-operated motor,  643 parts and instructions for 25 fully detailed models. The cover shows the crane Jeff built. It's under $105 on Amazon.

Erector Super Construction Set - 25 Models - 640+ Parts

(This is a Giz Wiz link. You pay the same, but the Giz Wiz gets credit to buy more gadgets to show on TWiT)

http://amazon.com/dp/B005R2375Q/?tag=twnene-20

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