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Part 22/22a: 1'' pulley with/without boss

22	1'' pulley with boss	01	-	10	10	8	N°00	Key fixing until 1912
22a	1'' pulley without boss	13	-	15	15	6	N°5

The parts

Initially part number 10 (until 1904), the 1'' pulley was a single part in the days of MME. The feather key fixing technique meant that the pulley could be fixed to the axle or not depending upon the orientation of the key. With the advent of the boss in 1912, the pulley became much thicker, and so the part 22a was designed to fulfil the job of a 'loose' pulley.

Generally, the two parts developed in parallel, as you can see by the matching pairs in the photograph to the right. Most variations applied to both types, after 1913. There are a small number of exceptions as you will see in the table at the bottom of the page.

Chronological variations

After the usual pile of different MME and early Meccano parts (pre-1912), there was not much change in the design of either part. The only difference is the groove width. This tends to start off quite wide (from 5/32'' to 3/16'' for the 'deep groove' version, 4-5mm). From the 20's right through to the early 70's, the thickness of both varieties dropped back to around 9/64'' (under 4mm). The late 70's yellow plastic varieties are thicker again, back over 4mm. You can see the four 1'' pulleys with boss (left is early 20's wide, middle two are 30's and 50's, right-hand is yellow plastic and wide again).

The 1'' pulleys without boss vary in a similar way. The left-hand part in this picture is the MME pulley (technically a part 22), then note the 'moulded' shape to the early two-part MME pulleys, becoming a wide V, then narrow by the nickel version of around 1915/16. The groove stays fairly consistent or narrows through to the post-war ones on the right. Late-70's plastic pulleys are wider again.

Variations and oddities

None known

Dealer spare parts boxes

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).

Description	from	22	22a
Cast brass, no holes in face, feather key fixing	01	.mm
Cast brass, four holes in face, feather key fixing	??	.mm1
Milled brass, no holes in face, feather and tongue key fixing	07	.mm2
Milled brass, no holes in face, tongue key fixing	??	.mm2a
Milled brass, three holes in face, tongue key fixing	??	.mm2b
Bronzed, cast lead alloy wheel, three holes, tongue key fixing	??	.mm4
Brass, two-part wheel, three holes, tongue key fixing	07	.mm3
Black, two-part wheel, three holes, tongue key fixing	??	.mm3a
Bronzed, two-part wheel, three holes, tongue key fixing	??	.mm3b
With boss and set screw, no holes, brass, rims machined flat	12	.br1	.br1
as above with three holes in face	12		.br1a
Thin groove, steel faces nickelled †	15	.ni	.ni
As above but U-shaped 'economy' steel boss †	16	.ni1
Brass faces and boss, deep V groove	27	.br2
Steel faces enamelled dark blue	34	.nb	.nb
Steel faces enamelled red	37	.re	.re
Steel faces enamelled red, with mazac boss	40?	.re1
All brass, post-war stamped 'Meccano'	45	.br	.br
Blackened steel (Korean war), brass boss †	51	.bs	.bs
Silver finish steel, alloy boss	60s?	.si	.si
Matt brass finish	71	.mb	.mb
Moulded yellow plastic (no holes in face), 22 with brass boss	78	.ye	.ye
Moulded yellow plastic, with thicker centre / brass pummel	79	.ye1	.ye1
Iridescent	79	.ir	.ir
Moulded yellow plastic, three holes	??	.ye3
		ALL	ALL

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!

• A greyed-out box shows that no part exists for that colour combination.
• Part number codes with a green background have an attached picture of the part, just click once on the code to show a photograph of that part in a separate window.
• Parts marked "†" were temporary or economy parts, or existed only within specific themed outfits. The previous part continued throughout or afterwards.

Further information

Total number of messages on this page: 10.  This is page 1 of 2.   

David Morgan      (at 4:11pm, Wed 28th Sep, 11)

I have a plastic pulley (22bp) with a boss which is untapped and not drilled for tapping. Is this a special part or an anomaly. I will put a picture in my gallery.

Michael Conduit      (at 2:17pm, Sun 30th May, 10)

I have a single tapped pulley , one in a huge lot Im converting to collars, though perhaps not this one, which is marked MECCANO IMPORTE D'ANGLETERRE on both sides.

Michael Conduit      (at 2:40pm, Sat 1st May, 10)

Similar to Douglas, I also have several early pulleys with a tapped and an untapped hole, so we can assume they are not an anomaly. Was this a case of the tra**tion from single to double tapped and the new work instructions took time get across the factory

Douglas Carson      (at 2:33pm, Wed 14th Apr, 10)

I have come across some 1" pulleys with boss of the early standard boss type, that have one tapped hole and one untapped hole. Is this a known variation?

john smith      (at 7:58am, Tue 13th Apr, 10)

I found a pulley similar to br1 or br2 but with a shallow V groove. It has a single screw with a groove width of 3mm and has meccano and fabrique en anglaterre stamped on it.

Antoni Gual      (at 7:10pm, Thu 28th Jan, 10)

I got some 1" pulleys steel faces black enameled with my Meccano (made in Spain) back in 1962. I can send pictures of the single one remaining.

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