A construction kit with one number that never moved

By Porter Lang

Start with the gauge. The holes in a Meccano strip are half an inch apart, 12.7 millimetres, and Wikipedia’s article on the toy says that spacing has not changed. Every other fact about the kit is easier to follow once you hold on to that one.

The system

According to Wikipedia, the toy was invented in 1901 by Frank Hornby, a clerk from Liverpool, who patented it. It was first called “Mechanics Made Easy”. The article says nuts, bolts and other threaded parts used a 5/32 inch British Standard Whitworth thread, and that this remains the standard. Original axles were 8-gauge. Assembly needed only a screwdriver and spanners.

That is the practical heart of it. A fixed spacing and a fixed thread mean a part made in one decade can meet a part made in another. We make that point as our reading, since the article records the numbers and does not draw the conclusion.

One detail did change. The article says the original bolts had slotted heads and were brass-plated, and that in 1989 Allen-head, zinc-plated steel bolts replaced them. So a bolt tells you roughly when a set was made, though we would not date a set from a bolt alone.

Two dates, then a name

The Brighton Toy and Model Index, a collaborative wiki run by the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, says Hornby received his patent in 1901 with financial help from David Elliott. It says the system appeared in the Gamages and Army and Navy catalogues in 1907, the year Hornby leased a workshop at 10 Duke Street in Liverpool and registered the Meccano trademark. Wikipedia gives September 1907 for the trademark. In 1908, the Index says, Elliott’s shares were bought out and Meccano Limited was founded. Wikipedia says May 1908 for the company.

The two sources agree here. The only difference is detail: one gives a month and the other a street. Wikipedia adds that Hornby first had parts made by outside manufacturers and then set up his own factory on Duke Street, and that he later set up factories in France, Spain and Argentina.

The factory on Binns Road

A new factory opened on Binns Road, Liverpool, in 1914, according to Wikipedia’s article on the toy, and it was the company’s headquarters for the next 60 years. The Index dates the move to 1913 to 1914 and ties it to improved cash flow. A separate Wikipedia article on the company says the site was built after the earlier West Derby Road factory could not meet demand, and that it was not damaged in the wartime bombing of Liverpool.

The Index says production at the factory stopped between 1939 and 1945 as the works switched to war work. The company article is more specific: all toy production ceased in 1942 under wartime legislation, slowly resumed in 1945, and was interrupted again in 1950 by a metal shortage during the Korean War. We show both accounts. They may be describing the same war work from different ends.

Beyond the kit

The company article says a 44-page manual and a set called the Hornby System appeared in 1909, using centimetre dimensions, and that it was discontinued after five years. It calls that the first use of the Hornby name. In 1920, both sources say, the company moved into model railways: the Index calls it the first proper train set, and the company article says 0 gauge. Modelled Miniatures arrived in 1931, the company article says, and became Dinky Toys in early 1934. The Index agrees on 1934.

When it ended in Liverpool

Here the sources come apart, and the dates for the closure are worth setting side by side.

Wikipedia’s article on the toy says Airfix shut the Binns Road factory in 1978, ending Meccano manufacture in England. The same page later refers to the Liverpool factory closing “nine years” before 1989, which would make it 1980.
Wikipedia’s article on the company says November 1979.
The Index says 1979.

Those are three dates for one closure, two of them from the same encyclopaedia.

Where it is now

Wikipedia’s article on the toy says the Canadian toy company Spin Master acquired Meccano in 2013 and still owns the brand. The factory in Calais, France, closed on 31 October 2023. In January 2025 Spin Master licensed Meccano to the British company Addo Play, which will develop, design and manufacture new products, according to the same article.

Dates in order

1901: invention and patent, according to Wikipedia and the Index.
1907: workshop at 10 Duke Street and trademark, according to the Index and Wikipedia.
1908: Meccano Ltd formed, according to both.
1909: the Hornby System, according to Wikipedia.
1914: Binns Road, according to Wikipedia.
1920: model railways begin, according to both.
1934: Dinky Toys named, according to both.
1942 or 1939 to 1945: toy production stops, according to Wikipedia or the Index.
1964 or 1962 to 1963: Lines Bros takeover.
1978, 1979 or 1980: Binns Road closes.
1989: Allen-head bolts, according to Wikipedia.
2013: Spin Master.
2023: the Calais factory closes.
2025: licence to Addo Play.

What kind of sources these are

Two Wikipedia articles and the Brighton Toy and Model Index, a wiki run by the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. We have left out sales and export figures.

Questions a buyer would ask

What are the holes’ spacing and the thread of the bolts? Are the bolts slotted or Allen-head? Is every part from the same set, or from different decades? Is the plating intact? We make no claim about condition, rarity or safety.

What we left out

We left out the company’s other lines, a rival building set bought in 1960, and the educational claims made for the toy, because the sources do not test them.

Quick answers

Who invented Meccano? According to Wikipedia, Frank Hornby, a Liverpool clerk, invented it in 1901 and patented it as “Mechanics Made Easy”.

How far apart are the holes in Meccano strips? Wikipedia says the perforation spacing is 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) and has not changed.

Where was Meccano made? Wikipedia says the Binns Road factory in Liverpool opened in 1914 and was the headquarters for 60 years; sources differ on the closure, 1978 to 1980.

Roam first. Shop later.

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