The original black and white line illustration from the 1916 instruction manual is shown above, below is the front cover of the same manual featuring two boys playing with the crane.

The crane is similar to the type of crane found on a small dockside and railway yards in the 19th. and early 20th Centuries.

This is a Meccano model I first came across many years ago illustrated in the Hornby Companion series Volume 6 " The Meccano System" by Bert Love Jim Gambol. The crane could be built with a contemporary set No. 4 but it was not mentioned that the braced girders were not included in the set these would have had to be purchased as extra parts, only sets destined for the U.S.A. had the braced girders included in the set.

In building the model I used wherever possible nickel and brass parts produced around 1916. The round ended braced girders I used were introduced in 1918. Its a very simple model, it has no faults, the heavy clockwork motor balances the jib, it fits together well and works!

The crane features the braced girders introduced into the Meccano system in 1915. Models using the parts were first shown in an Instruction manual in 1916 but were not at that time included in the standard set range only in the Inventors Accessory set. Meccano were obviously trying to push the new parts as old models are shown using string in comparison with the new braced girder models are in the manual.

I think the braced girder is a very attractive part, it was largely displaced when flexible and strip plates were introduced in 1934, by 1937 even the Number 10 set only contained two of the parts. Perhaps my fondness for these parts is that one of my first Meccano purchases was two, red, fifteen hole braced girders in the early 1950's.

Page created November 26 2013 revised february 17 2014