MEWEKA Metall-Werk-Kasten….. The Toy we all wished we had.

On a recent trip to Munich I saw something in the Deutsches Museum that I want (there were really a LOT of things in there that I want). This was the kind of toy that shows why Germany is so good at engineering, if kids grew up playing with these think what they could do as adults. The toy is a Meweka Handstanzpresse all fitted into a complete Metall Werk Kasten…… in other words a hand stamp press in a metal working kit. To paraphrase the German description below this was a toy or tool for the person that wanted to more than just put prefabricated parts together. A erector set is nice but what about the kid who wants to make his own parts of shapes different than in the kit? This was the toy for him! With about 30 attachments or tooling this cut, notch, punch holes, bend, roll edges, stamp, make wheels, make gears and about anything else you might want to do with metal. The kit came with a few pieces to play with but you also use tin cans or whatever aluminum you could find…… just picture kids making their toy out of scrap aircraft aluminum that was shot out the sky? They also offered plans for projects, I don't know how many or if they were sold extra. I wonder just what did kids make with these? From what I can tell this toy came out about 1952 and was in production only a few years. Back then it cost about $ 20.00 which is I'm sure why I didn't have one. That was probably the cost of my whole Christmas list.

It says these were sold overseas. Has anyone ever heard of them? or had one? or still have one?

I want one both because it's cool and I think i could use the little thing…..

I'll let the pictures tell the story…..

Here is a article I bought on German Ebay…….

Neat....how many would still be complete if you could find one here? I hate to admit I was pretty hard on my tools, and dads, and ....You know what I mean.

Charles

Holy hell that's awesome. I inherited my dad's 40's era meccano in grade 6 (1981) or so but always liked the raw materials better. We had a roll of ~.02" soft aluminum roof flashing left over from a re-roof and I found the tin snips and did all sorts of things with it. But I would have died with happiness with something like this. Dammed if I'm not going to attempt to make this for a christmas present for my ten year old. That gear cutter is insane. Can anyone see how the press brake function works? I don't see a die for it but they have bends that look 2-3" long.

Looking at this further, it's thoroughly meccano compatible and since my son has now inherited grandfather's meccano, even more reason to do this!

Yeah, I agree that's totally awesome! I want one, and also a larger kit to go in my floor-standing arbor press.

Probably get your pants sued off here in America because some idiot notched the tip of a finger off, unfortunately.

Rivett,

When you locate one get two I will take the other one!

Paul

That is neat.. A build Your own erector set plus, tool..

All those European eBays must open up a whole world of collecting. I imagine a person could spent a lifetime just perusing each eBay, country after country and category after category.

That could have changed my whole life.

Rivett,I seem to recall you mentioned this to me some time ago,possibly showed pictures. That would be a truly great toy for boys or girls who had a mechanical mind. It would have gotten them years ahead mentally,into some type of career in making things.

Thanks guys, I'm glad you think this is as cool as I did.

Peter, you are right, foreign eBay can be lots of fun, I have been doing it for years.... When I went in search of one of these all I found was the magazine article and I though it was only fair to buy it because I wanted to post it and the seller had his watermark on the pictures...... And I could learn more about my prey..... Got to love this form of hunting.

George, I don't think I could have ever mentioned this to you because this was the first I have ever heard of the thing....... In the millions of objects in the museum this one and what it could do for a kid really caught my attention.

I took about 3000 pictures on this trip, I just need to find time to post more cool stuff on the PM......

Rivett,

That is really cool, The Germans it seems to me, gave more attention to practical /technical training from an early age than we did in the U.K. Where, engineering &manufacturing always seemed to be subservient to the classics & arts, somewhat of a snobbish attitude, (Not that I think the arts &classics, do not have their place, everything is important in balance) I remember as a youngster having a toy kit of Germanic origin, this consisted of a box of building blocks made of a nice ceramic type material, These blocks were of different colour shapes & sizes, & by following the instruction card in the box, a youngster could make up classical building details, Arches , walls columns lintels etc., This little kit did engender in my young mind classical building features & taught me to be observant of the beauty of fine buildings, Some years back, I visited the museum in the town of Schweinfurt in Bavaria , & low & behold a complete boxed set of this toy was on display.

Yes in or around the early years of the last century simple educational/technical toys were encouraged in that progressive country, I wonder if it would not be a most beneficial exercise to have our modern engineering graduates, town planners, politicians & modern architects play with some of these mechanical & building kits?

cutting oil Mac said:

Yes in or around the early years of the last century simple educational/technical toys were encouraged in that progressive country, I wonder if it would not be a most beneficial exercise to have our modern engineering graduates, town planners, politicians & modern architects play with some of these mechanical & building kits?

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My boy - girl twins were born in 1970. When they were 3 or 4 they were enrolled in a parent cooperative pre-school where in addition to paying, the parents had to volunteer a certain number of days at the school.

There were small kid sized work benches with vise, real saws, drills, hammers, nails, and lots of pine scraps. The volunteer would help with how to use the tool, but the kid did all the making. There were some wild airplanes, space ships, trucks, cars, and doll houses that came from that.

Later in the City School 6th grade, the boys had a shop class, the girls had a cooking, baking, how to use laundry appliances, etc. The second semester the girls had shop and the boys had cooking, etc.

Paul

paul39 said:

My boy - girl twins were born in 1970. When they were 3 or 4 they were enrolled in a parent cooperative pre-school where in addition to paying, the parents had to volunteer a certain number of days at the school.

There were small kid sized work benches with vise, real saws, drills, hammers, nails, and lots of pine scraps. The volunteer would help with how to use the tool, but the kid did all the making. There were some wild airplanes, space ships, trucks, cars, and doll houses that came from that.

Later in the City School 6th grade, the boys had a shop class, the girls had a cooking, baking, how to use laundry appliances, etc. The second semester the girls had shop and the boys had cooking, etc.

Paul

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Well I guess I can only wish we still had that kind of programs around. I would for sure love to enroll my kids on it.

Thanks for giving us youngsters a chance to learn about older times!

MMtz

When I was in Jr. High school in rather conservative Iowa, the following was true:

1. My father was the principal. This was always normal to me at the time, but of course on the whole it's kind of strange.

2. In spite of being a pretty conservative and standard mid-west community, we all (boys and girls) took a section (semester?) of shop. And thinking back on it, it was 85% devoted to "how to make stuff without maiming yourself or breaking every tool you touch". Decades later I read news reports of daft accidents and think "did you not have a school shop teacher who taught you not to do those things? or a Dad or Uncle or Neigbhor or Aunt who explained them to you?"

3. We also all took a little bit of home-ec, which was all about food (no sewing etc.) - I forgot most of that, but I'm sure it avoided some awful incidents (like they really beat into us the need to fully chicken, etc.)

What is the date of the kit?
I would say much after the war eh?

Edit- oh I see you mention from '52 on a bit....

the actual item is a lot smaller in the article than I thought it was from the museum pictures....

yes, it would have been a hoot when I was a kid.... back then I didn't even know to think of such a thing. And I was roughly the right age when that was probably available. No empty can would have been safe!

The funny thing is that I was recently thinking about a useful tool very much like that, but bigger, with perhaps a throat depth of maybe 200mm or so. I fully understand that any such number will eventually turn out to be 9.7mm too small for what I need to do, though! probably that is why I have not simply made one....

Since I am unlikely to run into an affordable hand turret punch unit, the thought of a single punch unit, perhaps able to use easily changed-out tooling from the roper-whitney hand punches, is attractive. But I had never thought about the forming possibilities, having or having access to, sheet metal shears, benders, etc.

I now have one! Omg... can you believe this, I have only seen two of these in real, the one in the museum and now the one on my dining room table.

Will start a new thread with non photobucket pictures when I get the chance.

Need to find the template book as mine was missing! Other than that the tool/toy is complete and mint.

Did you find it in the U.S.?

Yes, a guy bought it at a train show in Detroit and saw a copy of this posting on another site. He posted he had it and I followed up.