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Table of Spare Parts Boxes

This page contains detailed information about the individual spare parts boxes and wrappings, and is an extension to the page on Spares Packaging.

Boxes
As shown on that page, parts were mostly supplied in yellow cardboard boxes, but occasionally in white cardboard boxes, wrapped brown paper, and plastic bags.
From 1962, the yellow boxes were generally a much lighter shade of yellow, with a greenish tinge.
The product code was printed on the label from about 1954? to 1964.
Over 40 different sizes of box were used altogether.  Boxes had a code number printed (or embossed) on one of the end flaps, which identified the size of the box.  The letter E in the table below means that the number is embossed.

Examples of box codes - 8, 4E, 39 (Courtesy J.Nuttall)

Box Labels
In the early 1950s, these were in yellow with a black outline.  Some labels contained illustrations.
From around 1954? new yellow labels were introduced without the black outline.  The product code was included, and most parts were illustrated.
At the start of the light red and green period in 1958, the yellow label continued for unpainted parts, but a green label was used for parts in the new colour scheme.  The green labels all contained product codes and illustrations.
Occasionally, small white labels were used which included the product code, but no illustration.
Towards the end of the period (1964/5) blue labels were used, which had no product code or illustration.

Photographs of all the various combinations of boxes, wrappings and labels are shown on the Spares Packaging page.

The following table shows detailed information about the packaging used for each part in the Meccano system during this period.   Due to the difficulty of dating certain parts, the table may contain details of boxes from adjacent periods.  The type of boxes and labels that have been found are listed, as well as the number of parts supplied per box.  It seems strange that many parts were packed in threes, particularly for items like Gears and Sprockets, Flanged Wheels and Cylinders.

The 5770x series of eight parts is something of a mystery.  It is not known why Meccano used two numbering systems side-by-side for the same parts.  Most of the 5770x parts were wrapped in brown paper, but paper wrappings have also been seen with the usual 12xxx numbers.  Numbers 57700 to 57707 have been found, all on paper wrappings.  For some time, the number 57704 was a mystery as this label had never been found anywhere.  Collectors speculated that it would be somewhere between part 36a and 101, with nobody being able to come up with any definite answer.  Then a label 57704/1 was discovered by Greg Rahn in an unused Gears Outfit B.  It was on a wrapper containing a single length of Sprocket Chain (part No.94).  It is thought that the 57704 number (without the /1 suffix) would probably have been used on a spares wrapper for a single length of Sprocket Chain, but such a label still has not been found.  Sprocket Chain was normally packed in boxes of six, but it is possible that single lengths of Sprocket Chain could also have been supplied as a spare part.

This information has been very kindly supplied by William Irwin, assisted by Greg Rahn, Clive Weston, Melvyn Wright, and John Nuttall.  Where an item has not been seen, a question mark (?) indicates that the data has been interpolated, or the product code could not be confirmed.  If you have any spare parts boxes from around 1958 to 1964, and can confirm any missing details please contact  either me, or William Irwin.

Tables compiled by William Irwin

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