Gilbert Erector Rocket Jets Ride
This whimsical operable model has no known prototype. It represents the growing interest in space travel, rockets and other fast vehicles in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The tower with its three fins is said to slightly resemble the Space Shuttle. The four rockets with their two large exhaust stacks are reminiscent of contemporary hot-rod cars in the era when it was considered "cool" to have "dual pipes" and "glass packs" (loud mufflers). And today, even in the face of expensive fuel and environmental regulations, speed and power still rule!
The Rocket Jets Ride - based on an original design by John Cook (also known as Doc Prune on his well-known Web site (www.girdersandgears.com) was built mostly from a large accumulation of 1950s and '60s vintage Gilbert Erector parts. There are no plans for it in any Erector set instruction manual. Most of the parts to build it can be found in two 1950s vintage Amusement Park (No. 10) sets. Traditional Gilbert Erector sets and parts are still readily available on the Ebay auction site and at Gilbert conventions and club meets.
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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PO Box 1731, Palo Alto, CA 94302
351 Homer Avenue
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