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devices (and in fact looks to be much better than the interface
designed by LEGO).
All of the information about the Mini Board is available at an FTP
site (the address is "cherupakha.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.47)")). This
includes diagrams and a parts list. The tech reference is a 47-page
Postscript document.
There is a mailing list at listserv@oberon.com. Send the body
"SUBSCRIBE ROBOT-BOARD your_name" to this email address, the body HELP
for help.
The purpose of this mailing list is to discuss robot controller
boards, and robot control in general. In particular, this list will be
used to support the Miniboard 2.0 and 6.270 board design by Fred
Martin and Randy Sargent of MIT. However, any and all traffic related
to robot controllers is welcome.
Documentation about the MIT 6.270 is also available by FTP:
aeneas.mit.edu [18.71.0.38] in the ~ftp/pub/ACS/6.270 directory.
slh@digitool.com (Stephen L. Hain) contributes:
May I suggest adding Paradigm Software's Pearl Controller and Object
Logo to this section. The Pearl Controller connects between a
Macintosh serial port and a LEGO Robotics controller, and it is daisy
chainable. Object Logo has an extension consisting of a set of
object-oriented robotics programming features, allowing event-driven
robot control. Contact Paradigm at 617 576-7675. (Stephen works for
them.)
Subject: 7) Plural of LEGO
While most people point out that they just say LEGOs,
lunatic@netcom.com (Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex) dug out:
One catalogue, dated 1980, has the following on its back page:
Dear Parents and Children
The word LEGO(R) is a brand name and is very special to all of
us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your
help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks
as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will
be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very
proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!
Susan Williams
Consumer Services (Susan's name is a
pseudonym for the service dptmt.)
Matthew Miller, mattdm@mattdm.org, added:
The above quote from the catalog is often cited as evidence for "Lego"
as the proper plural, but in fact that is misreading it. Trademark law
in the US at least is easiest if the trademark is used as an
_adjective_. The point they're trying to make is that you should say
"LEGO Bricks", rather than calling the product itself either "Legos"
_or_ "Lego".
In fact, they seem to assume that "LEGOS" is the natural plural, since
that's the only one they bother to correct. So, in formal usage, both
"Lego" and "Legos" are wrong. To me, that means people shouldn't make
such a big deal about it in informal use!
Subject 8) LEGO advertising
LEGO is new toy every day.
LEGO c'est un nouveau jouet chaque jour.
LEGO es un juguete nuevo cada dia.
LEGO ist jeden Tag ein neues Spielzeug.
LEGO e' un gioco nuovo ogni giorno.
LEGO - eine Sprache der Kinder (LEGO - a language of the children).
LEGO zeigt, was Kinder koennen (LEGO shows what children can).
European LEGO advertising is quite good - they just show an animated
film of lots of LEGO being assembled, disassembled, reassembled etc. a
few times over in 15 seconds. Some of them are quite impressive.
Subject: 9) How to wash LEGO pieces
From a LEGO catalog...
DUPLO and LEGO SYSTEM toys can be washed by hand, using warm
water -- max. 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) -- and a mild
liquid dish detergent. Storage temperature max. 104 degrees
Fahrenheit = 40 Celsius. Electric parts are not washable.
jc@gmd.de (Juergen Christoffel) and gilmer@gandalf.ca (Jack Gilmer)
say:
Put your LEGO bricks into a pillow case or a mesh bag (the kind
for washing small articles of clothes) and wash in your washing
machine at a low temperature. Tested in kindergarten once a
year. (Be sure to put no metal or electric parts into the
machine, and wash clear pieces seperately by hand)
alekz@library.welch.jhu.edu (Alekz Vermont) says:
stick them in the tub w/warm sudsy water and swish about... let
soak. swish more. drain tub. spray with shower (to rinse) and
let air-dry...
Do not wash your LEGO people -- their faces come off!
... but mengsoo@bnr.ca (Meng Soo) notes:
There's nothing wrong with that. I'd pretend that their faces
melted, and became faceless mutant LEGO people. The fun really
started when I discovered permanent markers...
Subject: 10) Storing / sorting / using LEGO
One of the greatest ideas was:
Keep them on a bed sheet: spread the sheet for playing - fold it
together to tide up in seconds, and put it in whatever container you
like.
Per K. Nielsen" (pnielsen@image.dk) remembers a bag LEGO used to sell
in the good old days in Denmark, which could also made by yourself.
The bag was big and blue, similar stonewashed jeans. It was really
nothing but a large circular piece of cloth with holes around the
edge, enforced with brass rings. Through them went a piece of thin red
rope. Whenever you wanted to play, all you did was open the bag wide
and sit on it. When you were through playing you just pulled the red
string and the blanket turned into a bag. Convenient!
Most netters strongly object sorting their pieces and enjoy sitting on
the floor having their pieces all around them.
The variety and size of technic elements may still demand some
sorting. Hardware stores sell storage units with 18-60 drawers,
intended for sorting nuts and bolts and the like. The transparent
plastic drawers (which can include transparent dividers) allow one to
see the contents of a drawer without opening it.
Rick Clark (JRClark@aol.com) highly recommends Brookstone's #177956
Flipper Parts Boxes (phone 1-800-926-7000 (24 hrs)).
Franz-Michael S. Mellbin (fischer-mellbin@fischer-mellbin.com)
recommends not to sort by color but by size: Collect all your blacks.
Stir well. Now find that 2x1 black with a hole through. Then, try to
collect all your 2x1 with holes through. Stir well. Now take out two
black, three white and one red. Get it?
Sort big and small pieces together. Who has space for 69 different
boxes? By mixing big and small together, you can easily find both as
long as there are not to many big pieces. Sort only what you need to
find.
Subject: 11) Taking pieces apart
People use teeth, fingernails, screwdrivers, penknives, ...
LEGO now sells a small handle-like gizmo called a "brick separator".
It works GREAT! It's under US$2 and also found in some basic buckets.
[part number 821]
dholmes@netcom.com (Dennis Holmes) means: What you need is TWO
separator tools. Stick one on top and one underneath, with the handles
facing the same direction, and then squeeze the handles together.
Works like magic!
1x1x1s are easy - twist one of them through 45 degrees, and then prise
them apart with fingers.
To separate 2x1 flats crj10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Clive Jones) writes:
Let: -
...be the 1-wide cross-section of the 2x1 block, so:
-
-
represents the two blocks stuck together. Now find two 12x2 plates.
Apply them like this:
------------ <- wiggle
-
-
------------ wiggle ->
...and wiggle them backwards and forwards *hard*. Within a second or
so, you'll find that all but the most stubborn plates separate, and
getting the 2x1s off the 12x2s is then easy.
Joe Garlicki (jlgst56+@pitt.edu) has another way to separate 2x1
flats. First, take two 2x1 blocks (the regular size). Put one on top
of the 2x1 flats, and put the other one on the bottom. Then, snap the
two 2x1 flats apart. After that, it's easy to get the 2x1 flats off of
the 2x1 blocks. Note: This method can be applied to other small plate
sizes as well.
malakai@potomac.engin.umich.edu (Jeff Jahr) uses
... the small black mechanics wrench from some of the old space sets.
The jaw of wrench is designed so it can grab onto a LEGO bump -
absolutely useless for prying - but the other end is flattened like a
screwdriver. They seem to be made from a slightly softer plastic than
the blocks to avoid scratches.
Subject: 12) LEGO history / What does LEGO mean
See also: Facts and Figures, listed below in the WWW section.
LEGO comes from Danish "leg godt".
The recent "20th anniversary" refers to the LEGO company in the US
(1973), not to LEGO itself. It was available before because Samsonite
had a license to produce it.
Andreas Henning (d2henan@dtek.chalmers.se) and Timo (tho@tik.vtt.fi)
say:
The LEGO patent of the original brick has expired some years ago.
Franz-Michael S. Mellbin comments
(fischer-mellbin@fischer-mellbin.com) comments:
Lego changed their strategy, so now they are taking out patents
(lots!) on their specific sets - including many sets, that are never
marketed.
nad@cl.cam.ac.uk Neil Dodgson found:
My "The Art of LEGO" book says that the company name, LEGO, came from
the Danish "Leg godt", roughly translated as "Play well". The company
originally made wooden toys during the depression. They also made
yo-yos for a while, during the yo-yo craze. Unfortunately this left
them with warehouses full of yo-yos when the craze suddenly stopped;
so the boss just cut all the yo-yos in half, and used them as wheels
for toy trucks, etc. The same guy invented the LEGO bricks, initially
without the tubes inside; the addition of these tubes meant that the
blocks held together really well, and sales took off. I think it was
in the mid to late '50s that LEGO decided to drop all its other
products and just make the bricks (risky...).
(Somebody found in a book that LEGO dropped their other product lines
when a fire burned down the building housing them. Thus, it was not as
risky to sell the bricks exclusively. It would probably have been
riskier to re-capitalize the wooden toy line than to drop it.)
Bo Kjellerup (kokdg@diku.dk):
The fire was caused by the son of the boss, Kirk Kristiansen, who was
playing in their garage/hobby room aside the factory and set it all on
fire.
BTW, the son's name was misspelled in the church's annuals, so he is
spelled with 'K' now.
"The Art of LEGO" says that one reason LEGO survives is that it
constantly adapts itself to the modern world; e.g. the original LEGO
trains, and now the remodeled one that will run off the mains. Perhaps
all these new special blocks are a reflection of a society that wants
instant gratification, rather than spending a few hours building a
model?
found by r1b6116@zeus.tamu.edu / Ken Blair:
Taken without permission from _Brick Kicks_ #1 ("The official magazine
of the LEGO builders club", USA) (circa 1987 or 88?)
"Bricks & Pieces: The LEGO Story"
Did you know that 300 million children have owned LEGO sets since they
were first made? And that you are one of the 68 million kids from
around the world who like to play with LEGO building bricks today!
Here's the story of how we grew...
Although the international LEGO Group is now very large, it is still a
family-run company that started out quite small. More than 50 years
ago, a carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen and his 12-year old son,
Godtfred, started making toys in the little town of Billund, Denmark.
Plastic had not been invented yet, so they made toy cars, trucks,
yo-yos, animals, and other toys out of wood. They decided that a good
name for their company would be LEGO, which means "play well" in
Danish, and also, they discovered, happens to mean "put together" in
Latin! Ole and Godtfred were very proud of their workmanship, and
adopted the LEGO motto that "only the best is good enough."
When plastic became available after World War II, LEGO began to make
both wooden and plastic toys. It was about this time that the idea of
plastic LEGO bricks was introduced. Godtfred loved to build with these
colorful new pieces, and was continually putting them together and
taking them apart to build new designs. In fact, it was Godtfred who
perfected the special design that makes every single LEGO brick fit
together in any combination, over and over again. The first LEGO
building set was made more than 30 years ago- and the bricks from that
set can still be used with even the newest LEGO building set of today!
LEGO bricks first appeared in the United States in 1961 and quickly
became as popular here as in Europe. The international LEGO group is
now worldwide, and is run by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, Old Kirk
Christiansen's grandson. As the company keeps growing, so do the kids
of exciting LEGO kits that are now sold in 129 different countries ...
from DUPLO preschool to FABULAND, LEGO BASIC, to LEGOLAND, LEGO boats
and trains to LEGO TECHNIC SETS. In fact, this year alone, we will
make more than six billion bricks and building pieces for all the LEGO
lovers 'round the world- like you!
From _The_World_Of_LEGO_Toys_, by Henry Wiencek, Harry N. Abrams,
Inc., 1987,
quoted by dulcaoin@cats.ucsc.edu (joshua):
1949 was the revolutionary year for the company--it was in that year
that the company introduced something then called the "automatic
binding brick." For years Ole Kirk [found of LEGO] had been making
wooden blocks in the traditional European style--simple, handmade
cubes that could be stacked one on top of the other. When he began
producing plastic toys he copied the old wooden design in the new
material, but the plastic cubes didn't seem quite right..."It occured
to us that the bricks would become an even better toy...if they could
be 'locked' together." What emerged...was later to become the real
LEGO brick.
devaney@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU: Before LEGO was in the US market, the
luggage manufacturer Samsonite has had a manufacturing license, but
without much success in the toy market, so LEGO took the license back
and opened a shop in Connecticut.
From [Uhle, Mergret: Die LEGO Story. - Vienna: Ueberreuter, 1998]:
Company structure:
* all companies are hold 100% by the Christiansen family, at all 50
companies in 33 countries
* 4 Holding companies, 2 of them in Denmark, 2 in Switzerland, the
latter holding 22 companies, including such large as LEGO Italy
and LEGO USA,
* fabrication in Denmark, Switzerland, USA, Brazil, Korea, total of
360.000 square meters ,
Tools (moulds) produced in Germany and Switzerland,
micro motors in Hungary
* 97% of products sold outside Denmark to 137 markets
* per Dec 31, 1997: 9.500 full-time employees, 4.300 of them in
Denmark
Subject: 13) Material, Technology and Measurements
The LEGO motto: Det bedste er ikke for godt. (Only the best is good
enough.) Actually a word-by-word translation would be, "The best is
not too good" - in which "not too good" parses nicely into the idiom
of a Jutlandish understatement, making the between-the-lines statement
be, "Actually, we'd prefer to deliver rather better than the best".
Henning Makholm (hem@math.ku.dk)
from Wiencek's The World of LEGO Toys, paraphrased by saint@saint.org
(Dan):
LEGO brick are made out of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene), it is heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 C), then
injected into a mold which is kept at 85 degrees. The pressure
used to mold the bricks varies from 24 to 150 tons. The molds
are kept within one degree of the 85 degree specification. ABS
absorbs moisture, so the entire molding hall is kept at 50%
humidity. The allowable tolerance for a brick is two-hundredths
of a millimeter, or about eight ten-thousands of an inch.
My xwebster says: ABS: a tough rigid plastic used esp. for automobile
parts and building materials.
bullwnkl@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Bullwinkle J. Moose / Mike Weldy) found
in Israel Shenker's article:
The ABS granules is dyed to LEGO's secret specifications in factories
in Holland and Germany. Molds for the pieces are made in a factory in
Germany and two factories in Switzerland. The margin of error in the
molds can only be 5 one-thousands of a millimeter -- less than the
thickness of a human hair! For security reasons, LEGO inters worn-out
molds in the concrete of its new buildings.
Franz-Michael S. Mellbin (fischer-mellbin@fischer-mellbin.com)
comments:
Legos real industrial force is the very fact that no other company can
provide the same quality plastic molding (at a competitive price) as
Lego can. This is why the molding process is such a heavily guarded
secret. It is make or break for their profit margin if anyone could
match them on this.
There are LEGO factories in Billund(3), Switzerland, Brazil, South
Korea, and the United States (in Enfield, Connecticut).
More Random Lego tests: Random pieces are selected and tested for
size, sharp points or edges, damage when dropped or compressed,
torsion, flammability, toxicity, colorfastness, and "clutch
power"(resistance to separation). Optimal clutch power comes after 8
to 10 couplings.
One last Lego test: Pneumatic-powered steel jaws mimic children's
jaws, treating the pieces to the ultimate test-- trial by biting!
Two 2X4 bricks can be joined 24 different ways. Six can be joined
102,981,500 different ways.
Geometry, provided by Jef Poskanzer (jef@netcom.com): Thanks to
various pointers, especially the MIT course notes, here is the metric
version. **All measurements in mm.**
|side: __ __ __ __ top: +----------------+
| +----------------+ | () () () () |
| | | | |
| | | | () () () () |
| +----------------+ +----------------+
|spacing of knob centers: 8
|diameter of knobs: 5
|height of block: 9.6
|
|end: __ __ bottom: +================+
| +--------+ # -- -- -- #
| | | # ( )( )( ) #
| | | # -- -- -- #
| +--------+ +================+
|height of knobs: 1.7
|thickness of block walls: 1.5
|outer diameter of cylinders: 6.31
|thickness of cylinder walls: 0.657
(height of block) =
(spacing of knob centers) * 6 / 5
(thickness of block walls) =
((spacing of knob centers) - (diameter of knobs)) / 2
(height of knobs) =
(height of block) / 3 - (thickness of block walls)
(outer diameter of cylinders) =
sqrt(2) * (spacing of knob centers) - (diameter of knobs)
(thickness of cylinder walls) =
((outer diameter of cylinders) - (diameter of knobs)) / 2
Subject: 14) Nice quotations
I'm surprised that no one has ever mentioned the glorious sound of
LEGO. LEGO bricks are about the only present you can tell what is by
shaking it.
chelius@studsys.mscs.mu.edu (The Shaggy T.A.)
I can hear that restful sound of LEGO pieces in my mind even now. It's
kind of like the peaceful sound of a waterfall, but more tinkly.
kurisuto@chopin.udel.edu (Sean J. Crist)
LEGO is not a toy. - It's a way of life.
mikes@bioch.ox.ac.uk (Mike Smith)
"Too low they build, who build beneath the stars."
Edward Young / Night Thoughts
"Particularly they who do not build with LEGO."
Jeff Crites / Synopsis of Oneself
crites@cc.purdue.edu
Subject: 15) FTP and WWW sites, further references
The LEGO company has its own www-server: http://www.lego.com/
All the sites mentioned below are maintained by enthusiasts, not the
LEGO company. Please mail corrections to me.
The latest version of this faq is available at
http://www.multicon.de/fun/legofaq.html.
Paul Gyugyi (paul@gyugyi.com) used to maintain an FTP archive of LEGO
information, which has been taken over by Brian Ward
(bri@blah.math.tu-graz.ac.at):
ftp://blah.math.tu-graz.ac.at/pub/lego/, there is a README that
describes what the site contains, for example CAD, faq, games, images,
sets, uploads. The latter is an upload area for contributions.
Jeffrey T. Crites (crites@cc.purdue.edu) maintains his famous
"Jeff's Castle LEGO Listing"
(http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~tom/castle.crites.txt),
and typed LEGO's
"Facts and Figures"
(http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~tom/facts_figures.crites.txt)
for your reading. Now on my server.
Here is a list of further WWW pages and ftp sites:
http://www.gyugyi.com/
http://www.gyugyi.com/legocad/legocad.html
ftp://ftp.gyugyi.com/www/legocad/layout/ by paul@gyugyi.com (Paul
Gyugyi)
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~crow/lego/empire.html by
crow@coos.dartmouth.edu (Preston F. Crow), PC's LEGO Empire
http://fys.ku.dk/%7Esparre/LEGO/index.en.html (Europe) (Jacob Sparre
Andersen)
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/karr/lego/index.html by David A.
Karr
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/mberz/LEGOS/lego.html
http://sbchm1.sunysb.edu/msl/lego/homepage.html by Joe Lauher
lauher@sbchem.sunysb.edu
(lists of all Technic stuff and pictures of each set)
http://starline.princeton.edu/ by Jason S. Ehrlich with searchable
LEGO set databases
http://www.blake.pvt.k12.mn.us/highcroft/lego/opening.lego.html by
Marilyn_Kelley@blake.pvt.k12.mn.us (Marilyn Kelley)
http://rhf.bradley.edu/~xero/Lego/lego.html LegoWars by Eric O'Dell
and Todd Ogrin
http://www.math.psu.edu/ward/lego and
http://blah.math.tu-graz.ac.at/~ward/lego by Brian Ward
http://att2.cs.mankato.msus.edu/~superdan/lego.html by Dan Bailey
http://home.t-online.de/home/hoelscher.cord/lego.htm by Cord Hölscher
(German)
Links added 1998
http://www.weirdrichard.com/ Richard Wright provides a lot of
information and other links.
next
from you?
Subject: 16) Substitutes / compatibles / clones
Finally some information about similar products. Most people state
that the quality is much lower then original LEGO pieces.
erikred@uiuc.edu (Erik Robert Wilson) TYCO are reported to have sold
(up to approx. 1995) compatible basic bricks in 500/1000-piece buckets
for approx. $0.03 per piece. They also made that LEGO-looking
telephone. There are LEGO compatible "superblocks" as well as DUPLO
compatible ones. They are of fair quality (for a clone) in different
colors (orange, green, hot pink, neon yellow, regular pink, violet,
sky blue, pastels), including 1/2 height plates (not LEGO 1/3). If you
mix them with your originals, you can use non LEGO colors so they are
easily distinguishable.
Mini-Micro Blocks are found in 1000-piece buckets about $0.02 per
piece. There are large quantities of the basic 2x4, 2x2, and 1x2
bricks, more tight but reported to be fully LEGO-compatible. Made by a
company called Ritvik, which also makes Mega-Micro blocks.
ed@odi.com: The Ritvik Mega-Blox are giant-scale; a 1x1 brick is about
2cm x 2cm by 8 cm. The knobs are only a tiny bit shorter than the base
of the bricks, and they don't hold together via friction; turn a model
upside down and it falls apart. The charm is that they're great for
very small (pre-Duplo) children who don't have the strength or
coordination to play with Duplo or LEGO.
Ritvik Toys Inc., P.O. Box 1408, Champlain, NY 12919
HQ in Quebec, Canada. Offices in U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
Ken Koleda (KOLEDA_K@msb.flint.umich.edu):
Tandem Bricks, made in Taiwan Tandem Toys, Rolling Hills, CA 90724
Notes: Largest brick is the 2x4 full height. A large portion of these
bricks are 1x flats. The flats are the same height as LEGO (1/3).
Colors are similar to lego, except with a good number of gray flats
and greens bricks. Quality is similar to other clones, generally
somewhat below LEGO (loose, but workable).
PEDLO is reported to be similar, but not compatible with LEGO. Their
plates are only 1/2 height of full bricks, not 1/3 like LEGO.
mckinney@adonis.ee.queensu.ca (Alexander (Sandy) McKinney):
Qubo ville Basic Building Bricks, look identical except for the LEGO
missing from each of the studs. Assortment of 23 standard pieces, 2x4,
2x2, 1x4, 1x2, 1x1, about CAN$ 2.95
Made in Italy by GOMPLA S.n.c. di Bisello D.&C., Via Emila Romagna
13/15, 35020 Saonara (PD) - Italy Imported by Wallace Companies Inc.,
USA, 175 Citation Court, Birmingham, Al 35209 CANADA, WSP Marketing
Int., 49 Valleybrook Dr., Con Mills, Ontario, M3B 2S6
elgaard@diku.dk (Niels Elgaard Larsen) and
fischer-mellbin@fischer-mellbin.com (Franz-Michael S. Mellbin) says:
Some years ago LEGO did have a lot of trouble with a Chinese company
that made LEGO clones called "0937". I wonder if they placed them
upside-down in the stores. Now they changed their product name and the
style to military dark green bricks and weapons.
There are more clones playing with the brand name, e.g. 'ELGO'.
perryda@sol.acs.uwosh.edu (Russ Perry Jr):
Glow-In-The-Dark BetterBlocks^TM, usable with Lego^R, Tyco^R and Micro
Bloks^R, 200-piece set $25, The Lighter Side, 4514 19th Street Court
East, PO Box 25600, Dept L9501, Bradenton FL 34206-5600, USA
tore.eriksson@mbox325.swipnet.se (Tore Eriksson):
In Sweden we have two clones: Byggis abd Bricks. Probably from the
same factory. Sometimes they have a 'B' printed on each stud. The
quality is almost LEGO-like.
ats@acm.org (Alan Shutko) knows:
Rokenbok systems (http://www.rokenbok.com) has LEGO compatible
deckplates and ramps, although their building materials are not
aesthetically compatible (and I don't know if you can build Rokenbok
structures on LEGO baseplates).
_________________________________________________________________
** end of rec.toys.lego faq **
e-mail: pfeifer@multicon.de
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