Does anyone recall...

[DrEntropy]

Getting a Gilbert Chemistry Set?

I should have taken a photo of one before I tossed it. I think I was ten when I got it.

Along with an Erector Set and a "rock hound" kit with an ultraviolet lamp and several sample rocks of various origin.

 

[NutmegCT]

Yep - had the Gilbert chemistry set, an Erector set, a Lincoln Logs set, an American Brick set, *and* a Geniac electro-mechanical computer kit! Still have the Geniac.

Tom M.

 

[Gliderman8]

I also had an Erector set and the Visable V8 Engine Kit. Oh and my favorite: Estes model rockets.
Dem were the days.

 

[HealeyRick]

Gilbert Chem Set - can't have that anymore, sodium cyanide
Erector Sets - Nope, sharp edges on stamped steel
Cap guns/ Caps - Uh, uh. Danger of hearing loss. Especially if you strike a whole roll of caps with a rock
American Brick - Are you kidding? Did you ever step on one in your bare feet?
Lincoln Logs - Splinter hazards
Gas engine airplane - Fuel causes halucinations. Prop kicks back on starting cutting fingers
Bicycle - Not without a Snell Approved helmet
Lawn Darts - Death from Above
Model Cars - Not without an adult so you don't huff the Testor's
Slip N' Slide - Need a rider for Mom and Dad's liability insurance
BB Gun - "You'll Put Your Eye Out"

No wonder today's kids can only play video games

My favorite game was to tie a long string to the axle of my Erector set motor with the other end tied to a rubber tank. I'd build obstructions made of American Brick walls and Lincoln Logs manned by hundreds of army men laid out along the track of the string. Start up the electric motor and as it reeled in the tank, mayhem would ensue. No obstacle could stop the torque of that Erector set motor.

 

[DrEntropy]

Dem were the days.

I'll say. *sigh*

I'd forgotten the Visible V-8! Yup. Explained well the "suck-squish-bang-f*rt" to me. Got one for Herself many decades later, in the '70's, so she could envision what was going on in an engine. Marvelous teaching aid.

Still have American Flyer trains, boxes of rolling stock, track, etc, languishing in the attic.

 

[Bayless]

Yep, had an Erector Set. Still have a bunch of American Flyer trains and had a chemistry set, until I made hydrogen sulfide (I think it was) in the house.

 

[DavidApp]

We had Meccano in the UK.
Had a brick set that consisted of smallish bricks that you glued together with a water soluble paste. Do not remember the name of the set.
Chemistry set with all the lethal stuff including the bunion burner and rubber tube to fit on the gas supply.
Pump up rocket that was water powered. Would go right over the house if you gave some extra pumps.
My friend did not have a kids bicycle so he rode an adult one but had to ride positioned below the cross bar.

David

 

[DavidApp]

Just watched this a few weeks ago.
At school we did some experiments using all sorts of dangerous stuff and no eye protection. Had mercury to play with and no gloves.
Used metallic Sodium and [FONT=&quot]Potassium. This was High school.[/FONT]

David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ5l26calSU

 

[pdplot]

I had a Chemcraft set not a Gilbert. Made in Hagerstown, MD I believe. The only thing I ever made was black powder for dynamite- sulfur, sodium nitrate and powdered charcoal as I recall. Packed it tightly and lit it. It just burned. No explosion, so I lost interest and never made anything else.

 

[DavidApp]

Making black powder is like making bread.
In both cases you have to get it mixed up just right for it to work.

David

 

[DrEntropy]

Interesting video, that.

We played with mercury in Grandad's basement, rubbing it into dimes and quarters. Back when they were silver. No gloves. He had a calcium carbide lamp for his miner's hat, we had some fun with that as well. Collected the gas in a small paper bag, rolled it closed, placed it (outdoors!) in a pan with a candle tied to a string to pull the base over to light the bag...

He also demonstrated steel wool and aluminum filings.

Grandad was fun. A couple of Grandma's metal pie plates suffered, though.

 

[longbridgehealey]

I remember mixing random things from my Gilbert’s set to see what would happen. Got a blackish substance that I convinced myself was growing. I was afraid to go up in the attic where it was for weeks, was unsure what I’d find!

 

[DrEntropy]

I had a microscope, only thing I ever grew were amoeba. They were about the only small moving thing the 'scope was capable of seeing. I'm no germaphobe bu seeing those things made me a regular hand washer!

 

[pdplot]

With friends, we also made a stinkbomb. Sulfur and who remembers what else?

 

[DrEntropy]

Hydrochloric acid. Never tried Clorox but it oughta work, too.

High school chem lab would stink up the whole second floor with it.

 

[3798j]

Still have these...though I haven't played with them in awhile.

 

[John Turney]

Still have the Erector Set. Red metal box.

Moved on to chemistry lab in college. A couple of the guys were trying to make LSD.

 

[longbridgehealey]

I had that wood burning set!

 

[HealeyRick]

Still have these...though I haven't played with them in awhile.

View attachment 60670

OMG, were you that kid that kept everything neat in its original boxes? I was the opposite, there wasn't a toy that could withstand my brutality. I forgot about the woodburning set in my list of toys too dangerous for today's kids. Loved the smell of that burning wood. I suppose it's no accident we all had the same toys as kids, there probably just wasn't that big of a selection. Here's another one I bet a lot of us had. Although it didn't improve my carpentry skills any, it probably got me used to working with tools and a willingness to try fixing something. I'll tackle many improvement projects or mechanical repairs, even if I fail. Now, many kids don't seem to be willing to try the simplest projects.

 

[3798j]

OMG, were you that kid that kept everything neat in its original boxes?

Yeah, that was pretty much me.
My first tool box was also a Handy Andy. Later it became the trunk tool box in my first car...1961 TR3.