Technica - 1965

			Technica Index Registry History About	prev next

	1965 The Samsonite Gear Wheels The first gear wheels, or cog wheels, were designed by Knud Kristiansen around 1964 or 65; the original Danish design patent was filed on March 1, 1965. These elements built upon the basic Lego wheel and allowed children to expand their constructions to include mechanical toys or models with rotating parts or geared transmissions. The first sets with gear wheels were released in late 1965 by Samsonite, Lego's US licensee from 1961-1972. The first series of sets included the classic 001 Gear set, the companion 002 Motor Set, and several larger sets, such as the 004 Master Builder Set. These gears were never available in European sets.
		1966 US catalog: 68K, 148K
Samsonite gear wheels:	The gears were essentially a round plate with the typical studs on the top and tubes on the bottom. Other parts could be connected in typical Lego fashion. The gears could be made to rotate by attaching them to a wheel and wheel brick or to a 4x4 round turntable. By Technic standards these early cog wheels were extremely large, but this was a specific design attribute so that the tooth spacing could be a unit dimension of the brick stud pitch. This allowed the teeth to fit between the studs of a plate or brick allowing it to act as a rack. The teeth were designed so that they could mesh with adjacent teeth both in the same plane and at a 90 degree angle.
		US patent 3,461,601: 57K

		US patent D206,012: 16K
	Samsonite continued to offer gears, usually as a feature of their larger sets and there was at least one additional series released in the early 1970's that included them. The gear wheels were discontinued in 1973 when Lego reacquired the US license. The Samsonite gears were too limited to be developed into a more useful system, but they probably served as the inspiration for the 2nd generation of gears: the European gear wheels.
Example sets:	001 Gear Set (1965) 002 Motor Pak (1965) 003 Master Mechanic Set (1965) 004 Master Builder Set (1965) 103 Standard Set (1971) 104 Deluxe Set (1971) 105 Master Set (1971)
		prev next