Toys that make you want to be an engineer

A bunch of us were talking once and discovered an amazingly high correlation between being engineers and having built model rockets when we were kids.

I used to build and launch model rockets, but I was @ 14 when I started doing that. It was a phase though. I think I built 4 and only launched them @ 10 times.

Yup, for me it was Estes Rockets and the game Mousetrap.

There are only 2 of us on this discussion site, who built with building blocks higher than we could reach. The magic of building blocks, is that I had to conceptualize; I had to think; I had to create on my own. It was not a canned plan, to follow instructions inside the package; I had to design, and make my own toys, from scrap materials which I had to search for, found, and improvised. I designed and made a lot of toys. These are the beginning stages of a leader, not a follower. [It must be a lot of fun to play with somethig which was given to you.] I had a lot of satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment which encouraged me even more, to bring out my curiousity of, why, why not, and what for. This is what put me on the right track when I was 4 1/2 years old.

ITHINK LINCOLN LOGS AND THE ERECTOR SET HAD A LOT OF INFLUENCE ON KIDS.

Tinker Toys, then Legos. Lots of Legos. Maybe then Model cars and aircraft, but mostly legos.

Kenner Hydrodynamic Building set, Erector sets, Mr. Machine, rockets, and a Wilsons Cloud Chamber from an Edmund's Scientific Catalogue set me on the path. Also, tearing apart my fathers favorite watch and not being able to put it back together again helped as well.

Yeah, I had blocks. Somebody gave them to us, a huge box of these really nice, finished blocks. I used to make all kinds of structures and buildings. It used to drive my mother crazy because I was 4 or 5 and I would stack boxes so I could climb up and build the structures taller. She thought for sure I'd be an Architect. I don't think she sees the connection between the blocks and physics but its there for me at least.

Lincoln Logs, Tools, Tinker Toys, Tools, Lego, Tools, Dad's old mechano set,Tools, Estes rockets but most important was a garage full of dirt bikes ( did I mention tools?).. Now that I am older, I find that not much has changed about my toys except their mass and price.

Anybody remember minibricks? How about meccano?

There was Meccano (now a pricey collectors item), Lego , Fischer Tecknik and several other brands - also the Radio Shack 150 in 1 electronics set.

There is not much even similar on the shelves now - the cost of manufacture of these items would have probably reduced over the last 50 years.

Is it cost or are todays kids (or their parents) just not interested in this stuff?

Andy

We still have Meccano sets etc. but the kids never had time to try and thread on that fiddly little nut when a Playstation or Gameboy was handy, providing instant entertainment. Grrrr. But the way, from the age of 10 a was messing around in our local scrap yard. Health and safety seems to have stopped that one!

We bought a meccano set a few years ago for our kids. I hated the things. The nuts were impossible to thread on, and wouldn't stay tight, so by the time you got (whatever) put together, it was all loose and wobbly. Oh for some loctite!

Everyone of the names you mentioned are not only still in production but have expanded as new technologies emerged. I just dropped a bundle at Radio Schack buying several learning kits for young relatives. I even kept a Vex robotics kit for myself. Its a quick easy way to integrate radio control and a microcontroller into alot of stuff. slo

Tools. My dad is a complete tyro, although he did try to figure electrical circuits and angles of moment. (He has since - at the age of 65 - converted from the practice of internal medicine to being a renowned practicioner of nuclear medicine, re-teaching himself maths with a slide rule!).

With three younger brothers, I was the one to fix things, I give huge credit to two old men in the neighborhood (who, on reflection, were probably the age I am now), who tought me to fit the right wrench to the nut, to cut threads, to solder wires and to sweat pipe. After that, I am autodidact in electrical design, mechanical analysis, and overall bricolage. Ah, you don't know bricolage? That's a fancy french word for making it work with what you have on hand - improvisation, combat engineering. God I love it! And thank you, Mr Hall, and Dr Wells.

Hi a quik poll of the twenty engineers working for me reveals the following

Lego 75%

Technical Lego 60%

Meccano 100%

This confirms my long held beleif that engineers are born not taught

I spent many a rainy day (and many sunny ones too) playing with legos. I waiting (im)patiently for a month for the very first "advanced" lego kit to arrive in the store were we ordered it. Finally! Real gears!

It wasn't a specific toy, more my desire to take them apart in an attempt to make them better.

I still launch model rockets, except now I know the science behind it.

I would have to vote for Legos as well. I guess it started with Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs and then upgraded to Legos. I had two older brothers that were into the same things and we all graduated with ME degrees. The oldest brother was the try it and see if it will work type, the middle brother was the creative solution person, and I am the break it down into its elements and understand it before fixing it type. We also enjoyed Transformers and Erector sets and such, but our most fun was had with a pack of bottle rockets and little plastic cowboys and indians. I guess that would be fracture mechanics?

I had to jump in on this because I clearly remember playing with a toy called "Construx". I remember spending hours building creations like robots, race cars, ships, etc...The hours very quickly passed by. That was when I was 10. That toy inspired me so much that I have saved it for future generations because I don't think toys today allow the creativity of times past (when battery powered toys were an anomaly instead of the norm).

Very good question posted by the way!

I started to get interested in engineering building things (models are a great way to get started), but taking my brothers toys apart to see how they work was how I learned. Of course I couldn't get them back together again...that was then...

Does no one remember the Building Sets made by Kenner?

You could make a great high-rise building or a spansion bridge, using beams and griders.

I had a set of plastic red girders and beams that you could make buildings out of. It also came with plastic panels for sides. Like everything else I owned, it was given away by my parents. If I only had that stuff now, I would be an ebay king.

you can find the replacement parts on e-bay

just look for Kenner Building sets

Careful what you by, not all of the parts to the set are in the packages (they don't claim to be either)

I remember those things! They were cool. And, likewise, given away or garage-sale'd by my parents

My central vac is full of Lego, whuch makes me wonder about my septic tank........

I was wondering if kenners panel and girder sets would get mention. I remember the "upright" girders having a somewhat limited "lifecycle." You had to rotate them around as the corners broke off so that the beams could fit and hold at the top. Or you could have "curtain walls" partially held together by the "windows" panels themselves. It's the toy that taught me the words: "cantilever construction."

Along with the models (that taught me the basics of molds, plastic flow, etc.), anybody play (tinker, fiddle) with slot cars (the Aurora HO size) and HO trains? Or Taking a clock apart with the main spring still under tension and having to reverse engineer the entire gear train from the one center pinion and the location of the main spring gear (luckily self-contained). I definitely agree with one of the comments that engineers (machinists) are born not taught. Models and slot cars led to drafting, which led to machining, which led to electrical/progamming which has led to designing and manufacturing (with little formal engineering education).

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

-Robert A. Heinlein

Please forgive the following rant:

Where the heck have all the Lego Techinic sets gone!!!!! For cripes sake; I went to go pick out a technic set for my nephew a couple years ago, and what did I find? A bunch of goofy colored, irregular shaped, plastic parts that had nothing to do with creating and assembling and redesigning and taking apart and puting to gether and shafts and u-joints and pneumatic cylenders and gears and differentials and rack and pinions and chains... What the heck is Barnicle? Some action figure set modeled after some action figure TV show?

Shame on me. My vote is for Lego, I would maybe folow the directions that come with the set once, but then all the new parts were dumped into my storage tub (approx. 20" X 36" X 8" ) which was, an still is, a little over 3/4 full and were free game for any new creation. My first set with pneumatics was the backhoe set, then the big 6X6 logging truck. I modeled every peice of implement and tractor on the farm! I knew why sissor action hoists were so useful when I was six. I also learned why they weren't very nice (my little dump wagon acted more like a catapult) I got tired of using compressable fluid for actuators, which made them hard to control and tried using water. What a mess! The valves aren't really set up for that! If I would have come along earlier it would have been Erector sets, much later I would have been begging for Mindstorms.

Technic sets are still available, but not in many stores that I get to. Check out: http://shop.lego.com/leaf.asp?cn=48&d=11&t=5

or if you've really got money to spend:

http://shop.lego.com/leaf.asp?cn=55&d=11&t=5

You know, I dislike seeing those new legos (and other building kits) that are designed to build one thing (with the final product looking "just like it"), when half the fun was staring at a pile of blocks that didn't, on their own, suggest what should be built.... you had to decide for yourself what you wanted to do with them.

I had the same experience as a young programmer... a computer can do anything, but what do I want to (try to) make it do today?

Exactly, I didn't want to step on any more feet so I backspaced out that part of my rant. Instead I focused on the good and found that they still make technic sets with pneumatics and the motors are getting smaller and more powerfull. I think the Mindstorms further embrace the versatility and open ended design by providing some "intellegent" toys. If I didn't have access to Bridgeports and lathes and scrap aluminum piles at work I would have baught a mindstorm kit and hacked the micro controller out for an Atmel AVR and program it in C/ASM!

I pretty much agree with another post here saying that engineers are born, not taught. My parents would pull thier hair out from all the not-to-be-taken-apart toys that I destroyed wanting to know their ins and outs. Legos were the only things they could find that I wouldn't tare apart. Probably because they weren't put together in the first place! Although when they up graded to the 9volt square motor from the round shaped one that came with a round battery box for 3 C cells I did break open the old underpowered motor.

I stumbled across a page where a guy hacked a RC servo into a Lego frame and modified the horn to aceept lego parts. http://www.hempeldesigngroup.com/lego/servos/ Lego people should really take note of this. And put a stepper motor in lego frame too!

I must agree - Lego was the pinnacle of my creative youth, and Toys'R'Us continued to be a great store well into my teens due to the little section of the lego aisle with the new technic sets; but alas, so it seems those days are gone... Good to see they are still selling the sets online, but I would hope that some stores at least are still willing to promote the more mechanically minded of us. I know of a number of engineering firms whose head engineers design their ideas with Lego first as a proof of concept before beginning their actual design and analysis. Lego is by far one of the most creative (though still limiting...oh how I wish I had a plastic moulder to make my own pieces...!) toys of my childhood.

My trinity of creative toys was definately Lego, Construx, and a somewhat forgotten and backwater set called Capsella which was made of bulbous nodes that can connect together, some with gears and shafts and electrically powered motors that gave it motion. This set was (for the most part) watertight, which made for some cool aquatic designs too...

I had a very small collection of Capsella, my bathtub toy of choice!

During my last year at college the freshmen intro to engineering course actually used several sets of Mindstorms for labs. Some kids really dug it, and others not so interrested!

Erector sets, chemistry sets, and especially, basket case motorcycles. If I were a kid today, the Lego Mindstorms robotic sets would catch my attention , I think. (In fact, I've had a good time playing with them as an adult.)

I didn't grow up to be an engineer; my parents didn't buy me legos and model rockets. But I always wished the kids with model rockets would play with me, which is probably why I like hanging out in this forum so much.

Just look on the bright side: not being an engineer, at least you probably did grow up? LOL

Interesting. Now I can't help but wonder who's more "grown up": a sock puppet or an engineer who talks to a sock puppet.

We'll need to have a meeting and schedule it for review!

Engineer -- like on a Lionel locomotive? My brother and I took the "engine" apart to use the motor on another project. If we had had a little foresight and kept it in good condition, the thing would be worth a small fortune today.

I guess I'm showing my age to be amazed that no one has mentioned Erector Sets: I always wanted one with a motor, but couldn't afford it. Now I build robotic machines!!!

We had an Erector set also, and I wish I could still buy one. They would be great for mechanical models. We also had Tinker Toys, but they aren't as adaptable as Erector sets.

Didn't have much of that stuff in rural Maryland in the 1950s (Lincoln Logs was about it), BUT Dad regularly brought home scrap industrial machines from his job at Westinghouse. He intended on using them in one project or another, but quickly discovered that they'd be dismantled and turned into something else by his 9 year old son before he could. Fortunately, he was pretty flexible about the change in plans...

Gentlemen, I think we've all just been trumped!

In more ways than one...what with living in rural Maryland (gem state of the east); and having a dad that got on with CircleBarW.

I have a similar experience. I learned how to weld around age 7 or 8 from my dad, so from then on no bicycle was safe. I even stole the lawn mower motor once. but as everyone else said, legos and erector sets were always there.

Video games of the 80's, such as Galaga, PacMan, Asteriod, Cenpede and many more.

I saw a guy replacing the electronic boards and thought then that computers and electronics would be huge in the future. So I went to school for my BSEE.

Cheers.

XcelR8ing

I remember Lincoln Logs and later Tinker toys, before I got my first mega-box of Legos. I was in 4th grader heaven. My dad also brought back from Germany a battery-operated vehicle that had all kinds of various attachments to make different mix-and-match cars, trucks, or tanks (with wide rubber tracks that fit over wheel pairs)...and I soon found that by epoxy attachment of flat legos to the body of that base car I could make up my own supercars and then all kinds of Rube-Goldberg machines :) Then I discovered Cub Scouts and my first Estes Rocket. Oh my. All KINDS of paper airplane and glider designs could be made of balsa or balsa-framed with film covering and powered with an Estes motor...although later I used the much cheaper "Gross" of bottle rockets to get motors - the best were the ones that whistled but with no 'report' so you could stage them for longer thrust times but didn't blow up your model ;)

OHHH! And Jet-X motors. Solid fuel, a little fuse protruding from the cap. What great things. Balsa planes. Knight kits. Eico kits.

What about Heathkit? The one that had different electronic components, and pull up springs fastened to a board. You'd pull the springs, insert wires, and wholla! You've got an AM transmitter...etc. EE'ing numbers, so to speak.

Building bocks, stacked card pyramids, taking clocks apart to see what made them tick, got into my dad's tools and hammer; took an old Mercedes engine apart when I was 4.5 years old. Oily hands and clothes, but sure had a lot of pieces. Funny, I still remember the shape, and color of the parts, the stench of the slippery oil, and this is 62 years later. I love engineering, but turned out to be a conceptual engineering inventor. Created a lot of prototypes too, all with original specifications; even made a lot of the parts myself. I actually built the world's first electronic piano. I have patented a new mechanical principle. I love being an engineering inventor. I could go on for many pages, but I think I will stop here.

Aw you on now. That 4.5 years (not four and a half) was an interesting concept for a Mercedes dismantler.

How about the Hubley cast metal model cars? The parts were quite intricate and yes, metal. The Kenner Construction set was my favorite engineering toy, though. Damn they were good!

I seem to recall finding a Mamod steam engine in the loft when I was about 8. Not exactly a construction set, but a real working engine got me hook line and sinker. And I survived the experience. In fact I'm still building engines now, there just a tad more powerful.

Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, Lionel Trains, crystal radios, telescopes, microscopes, chemestry sets, war surplus goodies (mechanical, electrical, radios...)

I think my first encounter would be Tonka Toys? They were wooden rod/peg and round parts you could assemble to form all sorts of shapes.

Lego naturally would be a next one.

Light Brite too.

There was a mechaincs set where you could add battery power and little servos, but alas I never had one of those:)

It was legos that influenced me to get an engineering degree. But, it was the way how engineers analyzed that made me take it. Knowing those figures was like an eye-opener in an invisible world. Every day was a new expereince with my role models. If my role model (Dad, Ch.E) didnt give me attractive hands-on projects to work on when I was young, maybe I wouldve chose Business Ad.

Proficiency was another. Ch.E was my stuff, but I hated the chemicals in the lab. The ammonia was to die for. So, I chose Industrial Engg, and Systems thinking had me entranced ever since.