Meccano Ltd, Binns Road, Miscellaneous

Ive found it....

A wonderful find! I'm guessing by the tape on the windows of both Meccano and Etam that this photograph dates from the war years, when tape was applied to many windows as an anti-blast protection.

Yes, that picture of the Meccano showroom is a wonderful find. Here is another the only colour picture I have ever seen of Dinky Toys being painted.

Well at least untill 1935, Meccano had a office and warehouse at Kennington road, wallnut tree walk. The street can be seen at the picture in the letter from Meccano. John.

And the picture at the top left is that of the Paris Meccano factory.

John--The image you posted of the Meccano letter from 1935 was thought provoking, to both me and fellow member Jonathan Angel. We both noticed the lack of a U.S. or New York presence, in the listings shown at the top of the letter. Jonathan then reminded me of my earlier paper written about H. Hudson Dobson, the man, and the fact that I discovered that he was not shown working for Meccano Ltd. in the 1930 U.S. Census records, but for the Fleuron Pottery Company. He is also not listed as a passenger on any ship crossings from 1930 through around 1937. In my paper, I theorized that HHD was not employeed by Meccano, soon after Meccano sold off and abandoned their US manufacturing operations, around 1928, and did not return to their employ until sometime later, likely around the time that Meccano introduced the new Dinky Toys line. Do you or any others have similar copies of older Meccano correspondance, that would show a US operation listed?

Terry. I have this Meccano manual of 1929 Meccano Standard Mechanisms with an image of a depot in Elizabeth New Jersey USA Jan O

JanThanks for posting that. Interesting, as I thought I had read that Meccano Ltd. had already sold their US operation around 1928.....must have been a little later, as that catalog clearly shows the facility in 1929. In any event, the plant was gone by 1930, and Henry Hudson Dobson was apparently out of a job with Meccano, for several years, and in the employ of the Fleuron Pottery Company. Best regards, Terry

Meccano historians have apparently been uncertain as to whether the U.S. plant in New Jersey was sold to A.C. GIlbert in 1928 or 1929, but thanks to Jan's find, we now know it was the latter. The plant had been making Meccano in the U.S. since 1922, and catalogues (on Kendrick Bisset's usmeccano.com website) show that a couple of clockwork Hornby sets were imported, with generic engines and cars that could pass for American. Gilbert moved production to its own plant and continued producing 'American Meccano' until 1938. No one seems to know now why they stopped; it may simply have been rationalization of product lines, combined with war looming, or perhaps Gilbert had acquired only a limited license (ten years?) to the Meccano name. Meantime it must have been a disappointing period for Mr. H.H.D. -- I've been able to determine only that the Fleuron Pottery Company (of Tonawanda, New York) existed only from the late 20s until the early 30s and was never any kind of major player in its field. Then by the mid to late 1930s, we have Dinky Toys being imported into the U.S. by the 'Meccano Company of America,' which changes to 'H. Hudson Dobson Inc.' in 1938. (If GIlbert's 'American Meccano' was still in the shops at that time, the potential for confusion sheds additional light on the name change.) Does anyone have any Meccano Company of America catalogs earlier than 1938?

JonathanInteresting that you found Fleuron did not exist past early 1930s. That would likely explain why I found a newspaper clipping, saying that HHDs Family was moving back to New Jersey, from New York, in 1933. That also makes one wonder just exactly when he went back to work for Meccano, but I would guess it coincided with them opening up Meccano Company of America sometime in the mid-1930s. Best regards, Terry

Jonathan. I found this picture of a USA Meccano catalogue 1929 on Vectis. According to the accompanying description, it is a Meccano 1929 USA Products Catalog 24-page dated coded 9/28 and includes a number of Meccano and Meccano Sets, with the last page devoted to the American Meccano M1, M2 and M3 sets with all prices quoted in US Dollars. An interesting catalog and printed Meccano Co. Incorporated Elizabeth New Jersey.Jan O

Many moons ago I managed to purchase many documents issued by Meccano Ltd for a retailer in Cuffley (Herts). All the documents relate to orders and invoices for a cross section of the products available. The period the documents cover are from the early 50's to late 65. The documents include 'Samples against your standing order' - which I presume would be the first distribution of new models. 'Invoice for repairs' - which shows the repair number and the date. 'Payment recipts' 'Invoices for Meccano Magazines' - a monthly run from March 51 almost to September 53. 'Credit notes' 'Correspondence ' 'Statements' All the documents are interesting confirming reference numbers, prices and dates of availability. Just wondering if other collectors have the same sort of paperwork and perhaps can fill some of the dates. David