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Parts 1-6a: perforated strips

The original and definitive Meccano part.  The two original ideas that Frank Hornby realised in the Meccano perforated strips were to place equidistant holes all the way along each strip (other toys had holes at each end and other variations), and to make each hole act not only as a bearing for axles, but also as a connection point for nuts and bolts.

 
112½'' perforated strip1901-503824N°3
1a9½'' perforated strip1905-12166N°10
1b7½'' perforated strip1922-4136N°9
25½'' perforated strip1901-754036N°0
2a4½'' perforated strip1921-12128N°8
33½'' perforated strip1904-242418N°4
43'' perforated strip1908-242412N°6
52½'' perforated strip1901-12012072N°0
62'' perforated strip1905-363012N°8
6a1½'' perforated strip1907-141410N°5

The parts

The full range of perforated strips from the 1950's
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Loading picture Strips The above picture shows the full range of perforated strips in medium green, dating from the 1950's.  Interesting points to note are as follows:

Radiused and truncated ends
Radiused (left) and truncated (right) ends of Meccano strips.

Chronological variations

Perforated strips were included in the very first parts manufactured as MME (before the name Meccano started in 1907).  They were tin-plated thin steel, with folded-over edges.  In 1908, the parts changed to thicker gauge steel without folded edges, initially tin-plated, then nickel-plated from 1909, then painted from the 20's onwards.
A selection of the different colours of part 2
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Loading picture Part2 This picture shows some (but by no means all) of the variations in strips through the years.  They are (from left to right): Missing from this photo are (among others) the early 1906 tinned steel variety (looking much like the earliest nickel one above), black japanned versions from 1919, 70's Army and Combat multikit olive green, 78/79 dark blue, and post-80's varations in red and other colours.

The following image shows a close-up of the centre stampings from the picture above, in two rows.  Top row pre-war, bottom row post-war:

Central parts of the picture above, in two sections
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Loading picture Part2 stamps Note that the stamp is the same for the gold and mechanised army parts (top row last two), and is the same for all the post-war UK-production strips (bottom row all except the last one), even though the stamping is very feint on some of these.  The French Meccano has a much larger rounded font for the "Meccano" stamping.  Current production of Meccano uses this same font but says "Meccano (N)", signifying the new owners Nikko.

Pre-war (left) and post-war (right) strip thickness
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Ed Barclay
Loading picture Strip thickness comparison Although the thickness of strips does vary, there appears to be a significant thinning of strips during the war. The picture to the left shows pre-war medium green strips (1933-on) to the left, and post-war strips (1945-on) to the right.  The post-war strips are about 15% thinner.
Two unusual 1.5 inch strips
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Loading picture Part 6a variations

Variations and oddities

The top of these two 1½'' strips is a fairly common 1970's zinc-plated strip stamped "Meccano England" (rather than "Made in England").

The lower is much more interesting, a nickel-plated strip from the 20's which is stamped "Meccano" above the central hole, and "1½'' S." below it.  I have never seen reference to this stamping before (or seen it on any other part other than a 6a), does anyone know anything more about this?

A 1½'' strip stamped with a 5 instead of an S in the same place
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John Nuttall
Loading picture Part6a FEA It seems to be the only Meccano part I know of that is stamped with its description!
This is not uncommon. There is also a "Fabrique en Angleterre" version of it and either version may or may not have a dot after the S. In some cases a figure 5 was mistakenly used instead of the letter S, as in this photo. Among my nickel collection these are more common with 1½'' S (or 5) than without it.  I know of no other part with its name stamped on it. John Nuttall

Dealer spare parts boxes

A selection of perforated strips in dealer boxes
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Loading picture Part1 boxes A range of perforated strips in their 'spare parts' boxes.  At the top is a wired-together bunch of a dozen of part number 1, which I believe would have had a white paper label wrapped round them? They are tied together with thin mild steel wire, once through the holes and once around the entire strips, then twisted together. Below these are brown-paper wrapped parts 1 and 2a from early post-war, then to the bottom left the later medium-green boxes with yellow labels, and to the right the later yellow boxes with green labels (showing these to be 1958-onwards light green parts), and in the bottom right the lighter yellow variation of these boxes. 

Note that there isn't a box for each size of parts, the left-hand 2'' and 3'' strips are in the same sized box, and the centre-right 2'' strips are in the same sized box.  The dead centre 3½'' strips are in a box that is thinner and wider but the same length, the 4½'' strips at the bottom right are in a box long enough to fit 5½'' strips.

Pre-war gold strips (part 2)
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Clive Weston
Loading picture Part2spareparts To the right is shown a pre-war pack of 5½'' strips, part number 2.  These were wrapped in brown paper and sealed with a printed red-on-yellow scalloped sticker.  The parts here are gold, dating them from 1934 to 1941.

Pre-war gold strips (part 5)
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Clive Weston
Loading picture Part5spareparts And here are some more gold pre-war strips, this time part 5 (2½'' strips).  Note that the label this time is a diamond, more like the post-war stickers, but still red on yellow.  This might be a later version than the one shown above.

Individual part numbers

Part numbers for the parts on this page are as follows:    Unique part numbers
For identification, each variation has been given a suffix to the main Meccano part number. These suffixes consist of a two-character code for the colour, and if there are many variations, a further number and sometimes letter code to identify each variation. See the bottom of the 'Parts' page for further details.

You don't need to worry what the codes are, just click on any one for a photograph.

The button above turns on and off the display of DMS numbers (where they are known). The DMS (Development of the Meccano System, Hauton and Hindemarsh) published in 1972 and added to in 75 and 82, suggested part numbers for every variation of every Meccano part. These numbers aren't perfect, but they are recognised and also referenced in the EMP (Encyclopedia of Meccano Parts, Don Blakeborough).

More about bosses More about stampings More about paint colours
Descriptionfrom1 12½''1a (9½'')1b (7½'')2 (5½'')2a (4½'')3 (3½'')4  (3'')5 (2½'')6  (2'')6a (1½'')
Tinplate with rolled edges 01.mm.mm .mm .mm.mm.mm.mm.mm
Tinned steel 08.ti  .ti .ti.ti.ti.ti 
Bright steel ??.st  .st .st.st.st.st 
Nickel plated steel 09.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni.ni
Black japanned † 19   .bs   .bs  
Dark green 27.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg.dg
Grey (part used in GRB)†28 .gy        
Medium green (pre-war) 33.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1.mg1
Gold 34.go.go.go.go.go.go.go.go.go.go
Matt olive (Mech army)†39-41.ma  .ma .ma .ma .ma
Medium green 45.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg.mg
Light green 58.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg.lg
Silver painted 64.si.si.si.si.si.si.si.si.si.si
Nickel plated 64        .ni1.ni1
Zinc plated 66.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn.zn
Zinc plated, five holes 70        .zn1 
Olive (Army multikit) †73  .am.am      
Yellow (eg multikits) †73  .ye.ye.ye  .ye  
Zinc with truncated ends 76     .zn1 .zn1  
Dark blue 78.db.db.db.db.db.db.db.db.db.db
Dark yellow (eg multikits) 78  .dy.dy.dy  .dy  
White (eg Space kits) 79   .wh   .wh  
Iridescent 79   .ir .ir .ir  
Black (Starter sets) 90      .bk   
Red (Dynamic sets) 93   .re.re.re.re.re.re.re
ALLALLALLALLALLALLALLALLALLALL

Please send us pictures of missing parts! Hints and tips for pictures
Take a picture of the part in very good light, preferably on a plain yellow background, without a flash but with a tripod.
Ideally, trim the picture to about 150 pixels per inch of the Meccano part (unless the part is particularly big or small), save it as a reasonably good quality jpg file with a filename of exactly the part number, for example 19b.ni1.jpg, and email it to us by clicking on 'Contact us' at the top of the page. Thanks!

Further information

Total number of messages on this page: 14.  This is page 1 of 3.   Next

Brian Maunder      (at 12:58pm, Mon 6th Mar, 17)

I have a nickel plated 4" strip. It came with a collection of nickel plated parts and looks genuine, although not stamped Meccano.

sara      (at 8:31am, Wed 15th Feb, 12)

does anyone know, if a similar perforated strip smaller (about 3mm wide) exists in roll form? What would its name be? Found this meccano stuff which is close but a bit too large for my crafting. Have looked all over. (Sometimes sold as jewelry connectors but too short, would like a roll of it).
Anyone have a clue if it exists and what industry its linked to?

Rob T      (at 4:48pm, Mon 21st Nov, 11)

Joham
Also see here
http://www.nzmeccano.com/image-49104

Rob T      (at 4:43pm, Mon 21st Nov, 11)

Trix holes are diagonal
Meccano X are straight across & straight vertically
You will see a photo comparing pieces, towards the bottom of this page
http://my-meccano.co.uk/news/70_news_11_09_10.html

Rob

Joham      (at 12:38pm, Mon 21st Nov, 11)

Perhaps a little out of place but........how do you tell the difference between Trix and Meccano X parts?

Don Noble      (at 7:22am, Sat 19th Feb, 11)

I have several green 3-hole strips from the dark green pre-war era marked "Fabrique en Angleterre" and with the curious 1 1/2 S stamp. So it went on some time after the nickel years.


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