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Meccano history
Surprisingly enough, although founder Frank Hornby was responsible for the invention and production of the worlds most famous toy based on engineering principles, he had no formal engineering training what-so-ever. He was in fact in the wholesale provision trade in Liverpool. Born on the 15th of May 1863, Frank Hornby was the son of John Hornby, a provision merchant.He married the daughter of a customs officer on the 15th of January 1887 when they were both 24 years of age. His father died in the same year. With the closure of his father's business Frank Hornby became a bookkeeper with David Hugh Elliot who ran a meat importing business in Liverpool.
Hornby's first child, Roland Godefroy Hornby, was born on 12th June 1889 and his second, Douglas Egerton Hornby, was born on the 31st of December 1890. Both were to become Directors of "Meccano Ltd" in due course.
The models Frank built for his sons from metal strips were complete models of bridges, trucks, cranes with no really interchangeable parts. Frank gave this a great deal of thought and finally decided to make separate parts that could be bolted together to make various models. This was the breakthrough and the idea that eventually made him a millionaire.
He decided on strips half an inch wide with holes spaced at half inch intervals and these cut by hand from copper sheet. Originally he made his own screws but later found a source of supply. These same half inch measurements are still in use today.
By the end of 1900 Frank Hornby had developed a set of parts and was now considering marketing them. Frank Hornby took advice and patented his invention but to enable him to do this he had to borrow five pounds from his employer, David Hugh Elliot. The patent was for "Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People" and this was lodged with the patents office on 9th January 1901.
During 1901 Frank Hornby started looking for companies to manufacture his product. His troubles were just about start as he still had a family to support on a small wage and a full time job to do. He had to find time to hawk his product to shops and wholesalers and received more disappointments than orders.
His system looked very crude and was poorly finished. A man with less determination would have given up at this point. At this time his employer started to get interested in what Frank Hornby was doing and offered him some empty premises next to the office where he worked. At this point Elliot and Hornby became partners.
On the 14th September 1907 Hornby registered his famous trade mark "MECCANO".
