Printed from www.nzmeccano.com
Odd 7 outfit chest-USA origins?
This chest came to me (empty) in a USA EbaY auction in the spring of 2014. It was from the east coast of the United States and was odd to even be in the US as, according to the lore, the #7 outfit was never offered by the USA Meccano agent, ever! This included the whole period that Meccano USA was assocciated with Binns Road up to 1929 or so when Gilbert bought Hornby out! So, why is this important? Well, upon receipt of the chest, I noticed it was "different" than my 1928 7 outfit chest that most corresponds with the size. My recent 1923 7 chest is quite a bit smaller than the other 2 as shown in another gallery. Anyways, the pics below show the main differences. I can't get over the "feeling" that the chest is different in enough ways that makes me think it is not of UK origin but built such that it is not a good homemade effort either! It has all the earmarks of a professional cabinet maker's hand in the late 20's period of manufacture. The main differences are the size, the hardware used and the style of the font on the decals.The materials used also don't seem as nice and refined as the UK version( if that makes any sense to anyone but me.....;-) Could this be a one off for someone in the US that contacted the Meccano Company,INC in Elizabeth, NJ and asked for a set made for them like the one available in the UK and it's colonies but not there? Certainly all the parts were available to do the job and a cabinet maker could have been commissioned to make the cabinet in the style and spirit of the current UK version but with material and hardware sourced in America......You be the judge......I say it is NOT of UK origin ( it SCREAMS it to me actually!) and, being found in the USA, the differences outlined, Occam's Razor says.........For the record, the sizes are: overall, including lid-26 7/8" x 16 1/1/16" x 7 1/8" high for the USA? version compared to 26 3/8" x 15 13/16" x 6 7/8" high for my 1928 UK version. The drawer dimensions are similar in size at at about 12 1/4" x 14 3/4" but the USA version is deeper at 2 5/16" high compared to 2" high for the UK one. The tray is also very similar in size but here again the depth is deeper on the USA version : 2 1/16" compared to the UK 1 15/16". The USA version also has an extra boiler compartment!.......
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kbisset (at 5:06pm, Mon 29th Sep, 14) |
I tend to agree that your empty cabinet is different from (to?) the UK one. The decal is interesting; it seems that the “7” may be a little lower than the “No.”, too - implying that it was possibly not part of the original decal. Perhaps you could check that with a straightedge, as I am just looking at the picture. I note the finger joints at the corners are a bit coarser in the “US” version than in the UK one. |