Early in 1911, Gilbert got the idea for his Erector Set while riding a train from New Haven to New York. Railroad crews from New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad were raising new power lines that would convert the train from steam to electricity. Gilbert was fascinated by the architecture of the steel towers that carried the power lines. Gilbert and his wife cut out some cardboard girders and worked with them until the pieces fit together and could be used to build a variety of objects.
Gilbert’s educational sets revolutionized the toy industry. He was one of the first toymakers who believed that playing was essential to learning. Gilbert sensed the possibilities of scientific toys which would enable a child to play with ideas and hypotheses, and at the same time teach them about the laws of physics, engineering, and nature.
The Man Who Saved Christmas – 1918In World War I, Gilbert testified before the U. S. Council of Defense on behalf of the toy industry, after Congress declared a moratorium on the manufacturing of toys. Gilbert testified that not only were these construction toys valuable learning tools, but they showed the long-term effects of fostering inventiveness, creativity, ingenuity, and problem solving abilities. Gilbert told Congress that we must take care of our current human resources, “our children,” for the perpetuity of American ingenuity and the value of learning.
