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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 2 of 3.   Previous  Next

Tim Robinson      (at 1:58pm, Sun 30th Jan, 11)

Has any one else noticed that 5 1/2" strips seem yo come with two distinct hole sizes? Most of mine have been refurbished so it's not obvious if this relates to specific periods, or to differences in tooling that may have been extant at the same time.

Steve Clark      (at 6:55am, Mon 24th Jan, 11)

I have a mid green part 1a in my collection that is stamped like the shorter versions on one side only with Meccano above Made In England along the horizontal. It has the usual stamp of longer strips on the reverse. I've checked the others and this is the only one I have like this. Anyone else got any?

Stephen Brook      (at 12:30pm, Wed 28th Apr, 10)

Just a small correction to the "Chronological variations" section above.
I think 1964 - 1969 (painted aluminium) should read 1964 - 1966. Zinc plating took over from the painted finish in 1966.

Stephen Brook      (at 12:35pm, Wed 9th Dec, 09)

Re: Dick Watson's comment.

I have a number of 2" strips with the stamping Importe D'Angleterre which are part of a UK 1923 set 6 in a cardboard carton. I have sent a photo along with photos of the carton.

I am beginning to wonder - this outfit contains a full compliment of 12.5" square ended braced girders also. Is it a case of "get rid of this out of date stuff to the cheapskates in Yorkshire who can't thoil (Yorkshire expression) to buy their kids the real thing for Christmas instead of sending it all the way to the colonies as we usually do" ?

Staffan Kjellin      (at 10:47am, Fri 7th Nov, 08)

Hi! I have a very odd ferf. strip no. 5 on my site: http://www.vingaker.com/meccano/ . Have anyone seen it before ?

Reply: That's fun! The reason it's confusing is because it's not a part 5, it's a part 44! If you measure very carefully you'll find it's 0.1 inch longer on the left-hand side. Type "44" in the box at the top right of this page and click on "go", to find information and another picture of one of these unfolded parts. It would be great if you could email us a good picture of it!

Dick Watson      (at 12:34pm, Wed 13th Feb, 08)

I have just found a Nickel 5½" Strip stamped:
IMPORTE
D Angleterre
Meccano.
Its source is unknown. I will see if I can get a photo.

Reply: Hi, thanks for that, and sorry about the issue that refused to let you put apostrophes in the comments. That's now fixed. I think Importe D'Angleterre is the early version of Fabrique En Angleterre, perhaps about 1921? That would be logical, does anyone know better?


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