Jig-saw Puzzle Maker (Meccano)
| Past Exhibit |
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Jig-saw Puzzle Maker (Meccano) Meccano Jigsaw Puzzle Maker, detail (i)
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| location: |
| Arch Two , Area 25 The Legend of Hornby |
| Shelf 7 |
A red "Jig-Saw Puzzle Maker" with its original box, by Meccano.
Using the puzzle-maker
This piece is something of an oddity - it resembles a bench vice and clamps to a table, after which you place the edge of a piece of card with a photograph glued to it into the device's maw, and wind the handle. The card is pulled through the device, and repeatedly punches a line of jigsaw puzzle edges along the card until you have a separate puzzle-edged strip. This can then be carefully fed through repeatedly edgewise to chop it up into the individual puzzle pieces.
The Museum staff have investigated this intriguing little machine, and decided that although it probably works well, the idea of energetically winding the handle to punch card while holding the card with ones's fingers is probably to invite the loss of parts of one's fingertips - the bench clamp is probably a necessary aspect of the machine to allow the user to keep their fingers a long way away from the blade.
Box lid
