Meccano Aero Constructor outfits
Liverpool, England, 1932-WWII
The Aero Constructor outfits came in three different sizes with metal parts to build a variety of different airplane types with one or two wings, one, two or three engines and wheels or floats. They also came in various color schemes with insignia for different countries. Some of the outfits had pilots, and a clockwork motor was available to turn the propeller and the wheels of the undercarriage (landing gear). Later the Special outfits, from 1937 onwards, had moveable control surfaces on the wings and tail. The model shown in this photo has this feature, plus an extra pilot figure riding as a passenger!
This particular model was likely inspired by one of the DeHavilland light aircraft that were popular in the British Commonwealth during the 1920s and 1930s.
This humble-looking Standard Vacuum Sweeper is the reason this Museum exists. In the early 1970s, accountant Frank Livermore spotted this sweeper in the corner of a local junk shop and, intrigued by its mechanical workings, Frank bought it on the spot. From that day on, he became a collector, and soon his Menlo Park home was bulging at the seams with his eclectic collection of antique mechanical and electrical devices.
Frank's friends joked that he should start a Museum of his own and, when one gave him a sign saying, Smithsonian West, Frank began to take the idea seriously. Frank and attorney Perry Moerdyke began the process of forming a registered non-profit Museum. In 1985 the Museum of American Heritage was incorporated. Frank's collection formed the nucleus of the Museum. In 1990 the Museum of American Heritage opened at its first location on Alma Street in Palo Alto and in 1997 MOAH was awarded tenancy of the City of Palo Alto's historic Williams House.
The Frank Livermore Trust was established to provide ongoing financial support for the care and maintenance of the collection.
Frank passed away in 2000, yet his curiosity and reverence for the spirit of innovation lives on in this Museum.
Today the collection boasts over 6,000 mechanical and electrical artifacts largely dating from the 1850s to the 1950s, which are housed in an offsite warehouse. Our artifacts are displayed in rotating exhibits at the Museum and are often loaned to other Museums and institutions for exhibit purposes.
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