No matter what era you model, how can you not have a billboard for Erector — the hugely popular toy construction sets that were a staple in American households from the 1930s through the 1950s?

Erector sets, invented by A.C. Gilbert in 1911, consisted of steel girder beams, nuts, bolts, screws, pulleys, gears and motors. They were first introduced in 1913 at the New York Toy Fair and Gilbert stated that his intention was to, “teach boys the principles of construction and engineering”.

Individual sets were designed to produce specific structures, but were flexible enough to allow children to use their imaginations and build what they wanted with the parts. Using the gears, girders and motors, children created their own mechanical toys — ferris wheels, robots, cars — you name it! Sets came numbered, such as “No. 8 1/2″ or “No. 12 1/2″. I have yet to find in there is significance to the “1/2″ designation.

It is believed that Erectors Sets were the first toy featured in a national ad campaign in America. The success of the campaigns made Erector a household name.

An interesting side note — an Erector set was used to build an early artificial heart at Yale School of Medicine in 1949. The Erector heart bypassed a dog’s heart successfully for more than an hour.

Modern day Erector sets are still produced, but have lost much of their popularity. They are similar in the overall idea, but the design of the pieces has changed substantially — most notably, the modern girders no longer have a lipped edge. I believe they’re also now made out of plastic, not steel.

About the Billboard

I created this billboard using vintage ads and Erector cases as a guide. This billboard features set No. 8 1/2 which was advertised to build the “Giant Ferris Wheel”.

I have conflicting information about when this billboard would be appropriate — based on the year the set was sold. The No. 8 1/2 set was created in 1938 but I have an ad from 1948 still advertising it. Therefore, I would assume it’s appropriate for at least that decade.

Save and Print the Billboard

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