Magic Mystery Adventure: Chemical Magic

40 pp. Magic tricks using chemistry. The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest in the world. Gilbert originated the Erector Set, which is a construction toy similar to Meccano in the rest of the world, and made chemistry sets, microscope kits, and a line of inexpensive reflector telescopes. In 1938, Gilbert purchased the American Flyer, a manufacturer of toy trains. The Gilbert Company struggled after the death of its founder in 1961 and went out of business in 1967. Its trademarks and toy lines were sold to other companies. Beginning in 1922, A. C. Gilbert made chemistry sets in various sizes as well as similar sets for other budding scientists, adding investigations into radioactivity in the 1950s with a kit featuring a Geiger counter and radioactive samples. In 1929, Gilbert bought the US company producing Meccano construction kits, which had been set up in 1913 by the British parent, and continued production as "American Meccano" until 1938. A. C. Gilbert began making microscope kits in 1934.--Wikipedia