Meccano Ltd, Binns Road, Miscellaneous

GentlemenHaving gone through all the threads I could not find one devoted to general or miscellaneous posts dealing with the Meccano factory in general, so here it is.I would like to start the ball rolling with a photograph of the following. It appears to be made of brass, 26mm in diameter, has a hole punched in it with the wording MECCANO LTD. It also carries the numerals 0013. Is it some sort of staff punch-in item, which is hung on a small peg each day and removed at the end of a shift to denote who was in the factory at any given time? The reverse is blank. Looking forward to some answers!Bruce

That is a good idea Bruce. We can accumulate a lot of factory information here. I quickly grasped some from my files: The Aerograph paint spraygun of the type used in the factory: A 1960s map detail of a plan of Liverpool, which I obtained in Liverpool in 2001, and on which the (red marked) contours of the factory are visible: Probably some more to follow in the near future, kind regards, Jan

Bruce, I think that your token is something quite different from what you say. The presence of the staff at work was regulated by cards inserted in a clock that would print the time in and the time out. Today they probably use magnetic cards or just a code. The cards were placed in two racks on each side of the clock one for in and the other out for two reasons. One could see instantly who was in and who was not, also the racks were placed in the direction of personnel flow so that they would take their card, clock in (or out) and place the card in the other rack. Imagine that after eight hours in the factory the staff wanted to move out quickly and no one was allowed to slow down the line of workers. The token is more likely to be used to borrow a tool from a store. The token would be placed where the tool is supposed to be and when missing the store keeper would know who has the tool. Each worker allowed to borrow such tools is allocated a few tokens with a specific number.

Jacques As always - you are spot on, as the token belonged to a gentleman who worked in the Tool Room. As for the clock-on cards, my next post will mention this when a warning was issued, 'It has come to our attention that some well intentioned individuals are clocking other people's cards. This practice has and will lead to misunderstandings over payment of wages and can lead to upset for the recipient. Please take care to clock only your own card.' I guess this was a veiled threat of dismissal if both workers were found out! Bruce

janwerner wrote: 'That is a good idea Bruce. We can accumulate a lot of factory information here. I quickly grasped some from my files: The Aerograph paint spraygun of the type used in the factory: A 1960s map detail of a plan of Liverpool, which I obtained in Liverpool in 2001, and on which the (red marked) contours of the factory are visible: Probably some more to follow in the near future, kind regards, Jan' Jan I have a series of similar photographs showing the use of the Aerograph spray-gun in the Meccano factory. Great to know you have acquired an example. It was nice seeing again how a clamp spray-mask was used on the Double Decker! Kind regards, Bruce

This is Meccano Procedures Manual. It was issued to the Meccano salesmen and contained all the information they needed on a day to day basis. It is a fascinating snapshot in time. Dave

Greetings all, Continuing with my previous post, we now know the little disc used when a tool has been removed and by whom, now we have a single sheet newsletter that was distributed to all staff by the Personnel Department, produced by Mr Steve Critchley who could be contacted by phone on Extension 326. Mr Critchley, are you out there ? If anything, this little newsletter, DINKERY NEWS No. 1 April 1979, shows a good deal of optimism with the future barely seven months before the Company closed its doors. Was it designed to allay any fears of what lay ahead, or was the Personnel Department also kept in the dark? It is interesting reading the refurbishment that was underway at that time when someone was planning the company's closure. I hope you all enjoy reading this piece of Meccano history. Kind regards Bruce PS If you are having trouble reading it, try downloading Google Chrome which provides a large image of the DTCA webpage.

BruceReally fascinating to see and read items like that one. It allows us to somehow get a feel for what it was like back in the day at the Meccano factory, even if these are only glimpses in time. It is amazing what keeps turning up from various sources! Thanks for sharing with us! Terry

Bruce, I did download Google chrome but I can not find the page to create an account. Why is the picture larger on Google than on any other browser ? Jacques.

I don't remember if I already showed in this forum my slide-rule ! So here it is :

Richard That is really a nice relic you have there, with not only Meccano on it, but the address and phone number also. That is not technically a slide rule, which was used for computations, and have a central sliding piece, but a rule or ruler calibrated in inches, and smaller fractions as well. Very nice!! Terry

dinkycollect wrote: 'Bruce, I did download Google chrome but I can not find the page to create an account. Why is the picture larger on Google than on any other browser ? Jacques.' Jacques I must refer you back four years when the same problem existed with the DTCA website, and the following are the thoughts of the late Peter Golden: Re:Members Section and Journal 4 Years, 5 Months ago Karma: 3 I expect you are using Internet Explorer as a browser. The problem is that IE does not support resizing of windows properly. I have a screen 1440 pixels wide and it cuts the display off at the sides. Mozilla Firefox which I also use allows the full width of the screen to be used and this effect is not manifested under Firefox or Apple Safari. I don't know how Google Chrome and Opera work but I suspect that they will display pages properly as well. The problem all web developers have is that all these browsers behave differently. I know the issues with resizing in IE are well known but they have not yet been fixed. We don't have the resources to test and fix the software for each browser and version of browser. In the meantime the solution is to use Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari, available on PC and Apple (or any of the other browsers). I will look at seeing if I can constrain the margins to fit within Internet Explorer's limitations Obviously it is apparent that the problem was never resolved. I found using Internet Explorer the right-hand details of each post including the member's details was not showing, so too the left hand side of each message. I spent hours trying to rectify the matter thinking it was our computer. When I just happened to open the thread in which Peter posted some valid comments and when he made reference to Google Chrome, although he had not tried it, and as I had Google Chrome as a secondary browser, I did not have to have an account, (I use it exclusively for www.flightradar24.com as I have an interest with civilian airline flights and the aircraft assigned to each flight), I then typed in the DTCA address into GC, and it downloaded immediately, and with the full width of each page. I now use GC exclusively for DTCA unless I am already in Internet Explorer and I have no need to view the DTCA Forum in its complete format. It is a problem that should be highlighted constantly as in the case of Peter's comments, they became buried in time, like so many excellent threads where interest wanes and nobody keeps the thread alive. Or the information becomes lost among a whole lot of waffling! :laugh: Bruce