Maker Info
A. C. Gilbert Company
The A.C. Gilbert Company was founded in 1909 in Westville, Conneticut by Alfred Carlton Gilbert (born Salem, Oregon 1884, died 1961). Gilbert, a graduate of Yale Medical School and gold medalist in the pole vault at the 1908 London Olympics, was best-known as the inventor of the Erector Set. He gained the moniker "The Man Who Saved Christmas" in 1918 after lobbying the U.S. Council on Defense to continue the production of toys despite a strong government effort to have all non-essential manufacturing ceased for the remaining duration of the First World War.
The company was known for producing Erector Sets, chemistry sets, microscope kits, inexpensive telescopes, slots cars, and model trains.
At the current time (2010) there is a permanent exhibition of Gilbert products at the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Conneticut.
