A game for red-blooded American Girls

Boy howdy, you should have seen my eyes light up when Momma showed me her grandfather's "metallic toy construction set" by American Model Builder of Dayton, Ohio.

Just the thing for a red-blooded American Girl!

Technically, an Erector Set was the trade name of the metallic toy construction set originally patented and manufactured by the AC Gilbert Company of New Haven, Conn. It consisted of small metal beams with holes for nuts, bolts, screws, and mechanical parts such as pulleys, gears, and small electric motors.

But while the AC Gilbert Company was developing its Erector system, AMB was working on its own system in Dayton, Ohio.

Both were influenced by England's Meccano system that had been developed in 1901; AC Gilbert Company sought to design something different, AMB duplicated the Meccano system.

Oops.

Understandably, Meccano sued him for copyright infringement and AMB, which started in 1911, ceased production by 1921.