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From: [e-mail] (Tom Pfeifer)
Subject: LEGO frequently asked questions (FAQ)
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Summary: FAQ about the construction toy LEGO, posted monthly
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Archive-name: LEGO-faq
Last-modified: March 8, 1994

This is the FAQ for the rec.toys.lego newsgroup
***********************************************

I compiled it from information in postings, email contributions and catalogues.
Providers of larger pieces of information are mentioned. Please feel free to
send corrections and contributions. The usual FAQ disclaimers apply.

Please include the word LEGO somewhere in the Subject-line of email.

Tom Pfeifer
[e-mail]
phone (Germany) [phone]

*** New since Jan 17:
official Legoland 1994 prices & hours, DACTA UK phone, Clones, etc.

The charter of this group:
==========================

To provide a forum for the discussion of all things and experiences relating to
the LEGO(tm), DUPLO(tm) and compatible construction toys. Including
interesting models that one has built, experiences one has had using LEGO,
or questions about how to build particular components.

Contents:
=========

 1. Addresses, Phone numbers, Mail order, Clubs
 2. Books & papers about LEGO
 3. Price comparison & profits
 4. LegoLand theme parks
 5. Large displays / play rooms
 6. Computer connections and DACTA
 7. Plural of LEGO
 8. LEGO advertising
 9. How to wash LEGO pieces
 10. Storing / sorting / using LEGO
 11. Taking pieces apart
 12. LEGO history / What does LEGO mean
 13. Material, Technology and Measurements
 14. Nice quotations
 15. FTP and WWW sites
 16. Substitutes / compatibles / clones

Subject: 1) International addresses, Phone numbers, Mail order,
===============================================================
Clubs
=====

Mail order:
   USA: see Shop at Home
   Europe: Ask your local service department for the
   "LEGO Service catalog of spare parts"

AUSTRALIA
   LEGO Australia P/L.
   P.O. Box 639
   Lane Cove; N.S.W. 2066
AUSTRIA
   LEGO Handelsgesellschaft mbH.
   Consumer Service
   Albert-Schweitzer-Gasse 11
   A-1147 Wien
BELGIUM & LUXEMBOURG
   LEGO Consumer Service
   c/o LEGO BELGIUM
   n.v. Leuvenseteenweg 323, 1932 Zaventem

CANADA

   LEGO Canada Inc.
      331 Amber Street
      Markham, Ontario
      Canada L3R 3J7
      Tel. [phone]
      Toll-Free 1-800-387-4387 (may be obsolete, please tell me)
      and 1-800-267-5346 (valid)
      Fax [phone]
   LEGO Club (newsletter, catalog information, etc.)
      P.O. Box 3700
      Markham
      Ontario, L3R 6G9

DENMARK

   LEGO A/S
      DK-7190 Billund
      Phone +45 - 75 35 11 88
      Fax +45 - 75 35 33 60
   LegoLand
      Phone +45 - 75 33 13 33

FINLAND
   Oy Suomen LEGO Pb
   PL 42; 02701 Kauniainen
   or:
   Oy Suomen LEGO Ab
   PL 46; 02631 Espoo
   Puh.: 90-520 533
FRANCE
   LEGO France S.A., Service Pie`ces de Rechange
   B.P. 837, F-28011 CHARTRES Ce'dex.
   Te'l.: 37 28 53 68
GERMANY
   LEGO GmbH
   Service: Regina
   24594 Hohenwestedt/Holstein
   LEGO-hotline (Berlin=030) 19866 (short story played from tape)
   (probably other German cities too, new number (069) 19733 in March
   94)
GREECE
   N. Kouvalias S.A.
   25, El. Venizelou Ave.
   GR-17671 Kallithea
HUNGARY
   LEGO Hunga'ria KFT
   1027 Budapest
   To"lgyfa utca 28
ITALY
   LEGO S.p.A.
   Servizio Consumatori
   Via Colombo, 12
   20020 Lainate (MI)
   Tel. [phone]
NETHERLANDS, The
   LEGO Nederland B.V.
   Afd. Konsumenten Service
   Postbus 18, 9860 AA Grootegast
NORWAY
   A/S LEGO System Norge
   Postboks 66
   N-1301 Sandvika
   or: Postboks 38
   1314 Skui
   Telefon: [phone]
PORTUGAL
   LEGO, Lda.
   Largo Joao Vaz. 9-A/B/C/D
   1700 Lisboa
   Tel.: [phone]
SPAIN
   LEGO, S.A.
   Apartado 500
   28850 Torrejo'n de Ardoz (Madrid)
SWEDEN
   Svenska LEGO AB
   Fack; S-443 01 Lerum 1
   or: Box 304; S-443 27 LERUM
   Tel: [phone]
SWITZERLAND
   LEGO Spielwaren AG / LEGO Jouets SA / LEGO Giacattoli SA
   Neuhofstrasse 21
   CH-6340 Baar
   Tel: [phone]
UNITED KINGDOM and IRELAND
   LEGO U.K. Ltd., (including club)
   Ruthin Road,
   Wrexham,
   Clwyd LL13 7TQ

   Customer Service - 0978 296 247
   LEGO Club - 0978 296 290
   Service, spare parts - 0978 296 233
   Anything else, incl. - 0978 290 900
   DACTA UK
   The LEGO club costs 3.95 pounds (4.50 pounds for Ireland). They
   need: name, address, post code, sex, date of birth. Cheques made
   payable to 'LEGO U.K. Ltd' or credit card.

UNITED STATES

   LEGO Systems, Inc.
      555 Taylor Road
      P.O. Box 1600
      Enfield, CT, 06083-1600
      1-800-243 4870
   LEGO Systems, Inc.
      Consumer Affairs
      P.O. Box 1138
      Enfield, CT 06083
      1-800-422-5346 (9am-9pm Mon-Fri) (Eastern time)
      [phone]
   LEGO Shop at Home Service
      P.O. Box 1310
      Enfield, CT 06083
      Tel.[phone], -4012, and -6800 (8:00 - 8:00 EST)
      1-800-835-4386
      1-800-453-4652
      (catalog available, no charge for shipping, 3-5 weeks for
      delivery)
   LEGO Builders Club
      PO Box 5000
      Unionville, CT 06087-5000
      (one year $7.95, two years $14.00; membership kit and free
      bonus mini set, birthday mailing, magazine (Brick Kicks), ...)
   LEGO Dacta
      555 Taylor Road
      P.O. Box 1600
      Enfield, CT 06083-1600
      orders and info: 1-(800)-527-8339
      fax: [phone]

Subject: 2) Books & papers about LEGO
=====================================

The World of LEGO Toys
   Henry Wiencek
   Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York
   Times Mirror Books
   TS2301.T7W474 1987 688.7'2 86-23200
   ISBN 0-8109-1790-4 (hardcover)
   ISBN 0-8109-2362-9 (paperback)

Where does it come from? LEGO brick.
   Text and editing: Kathy Henderson
   illustrated by Diane Tippell
   Art Director: Debbie MacKinnon
   22 pages, fully illustrated in full color
   Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett, 1986.
   Library of Congress: TS2301.T7T525 1986
   Dewey: 688.7'2
   ISBN: 0-382-09362-3
   The book traces the manufacture of Lego bricks all the way from the
   sucking of oil out of the earth to the placing of the finished bricks in the
   hands of children. While this edition is supposedly "adapted" for the
   United States market, it still has a definite British feel to it. Type is large
   and writing is simple enough for seven-year-olds. A delightful, if not
   deep, the book does the job for its intended audience. (Wes Loder
   ([e-mail]))

The Epistemology and Learning Group at the MIT Media Laboratory, has
made some of their papers and publications available via anonymous FTP
from cherupakha.media.mit.edu:/pub/el-publications/EL-Memos. Some
papers of interest to the LEGO community are:

memo13.PS.Z
memo13.tar.Z
memo13cvr.PS
   "BRAITENBERG CREATURES"
   by David W. Hogg, Fred Martin, and Mitchel Resnick
   This paper describes 12 autonomous ``creatures'' built with Electronic
   Bricks. Electronic Bricks are specially-modified LEGO bricks with
   simple electronic circuits inside. Although each Electronic Brick is quite
   simple, the bricks can be combined to form robotic creatures with
   interesting and complex behaviors, similar to the fictional machines
   described in Valentino Braitenberg's book Vehicles (1984).
memo10.PS.Z
CHILDREN AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE"
   by Mitchel Resnick and Fred Martin
   Artificial Life is a new field in which researchers study living systems by
   trying to build artificial versions of them. In this paper, we argue that
   ideas from Artificial Life research can and should be shared with
   children. We describe various computational tools (including
   LEGO/Logo and Electronic Bricks) that students can use to build
   artificial creatures. By building and programming artificial creatures (and
   discussing and thinking about how the creatures behave), children can
   explore some of the central ideas of Artificial Life -- ideas like
   feedback, levels of organization, and emergence.
memo8.PS.Z
memo8.hqx
   "LEGO/LOGO: LEARNING THROUGH AND ABOUT DESIGN"
   by Mitchel Resnick and Stephen Ocko, September 1990
   Most classroom problem-solving activities focus on analytic thinking:
   decomposing problems into subproblems. Students rarely get the
   opportunity to design and invent things. In this paper, we describe how
   LEGO/Logo, a computer-based robotics environment, supports a
   variety of design activities. We examine how students using
   LEGO/Logo can learn important mathematical and scientific ideas
   through their design activities, while also learning about the design
   process itself.

Israel Shenker
   in: Smithsonian magazine, June 1988
   (if you know it, please tell me title and publisher)

Subject: 3) Price comparison & profits
======================================

[e-mail] (Lars Henrik Mathiesen):

In April 1993 LEGO published their results for 1992. The mother firm reported
a net profit (before Danish taxes, probably) of US$100,000,000, while the net
sales in the North American market were given as US$4,000,000,000.

Somebody calculated the price per piece in the 'old days' as $0.10. Today it
may be between $0.10 and $0.30. Count, calculate and mail me (Tom) your
comments.

LegoLand, Billund, Denmark is reported to sell at list prices, no factory
discounts.

Subject: 4) LegoLand theme park
===============================

Billund, Denmark, Europe:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Billund is in Jylland (Jutland), roughly equidistant (35 km) from Esbjerg and
Vejle, a town of only just over 4500 people.

Tel. +45 - 7533 1333, Fax +45 - 7535 3179
Legoland Park, Nordmarksvej 9, DK-7190 Billund

(Legoland official:)
Entrance fees for 1994: 1 day   2 days   Season   Groups (>=20)
Little Kids (3-13)      DKK 80  DKK 130  DKK 195  DKK 60
Big Kids (14-59)        DKK 95  DKK 160  DKK 240  DKK 75
Senior Kids (60-)       DKK 60  DKK 100  DKK 150  DKK 50

(increase since 1993: little kids +5, big kids +0) When admission has been
paid, all rides and exhibitions are free.
The Traffic School has a separate booking and payment system.
Guides and coach drivers are free and get free meal coupons.

The whole park (both indoor and outdoor will be open
from April 29, 1994 until Sept. 18, 1994, 10am - 20pm, activities -6pm
peak season (June 25 - Aug. 14) 10am - 21pm, activities -7pm
(end of Legoland official)

The indoor exhibits are interesting though, from Easter till 3rd Sunday in
December 10 am - 17 pm (1993!). (probably obsolate, not mentioned for
1994)

Examples of the replications in the park and their piece counts, found by Mike
Weldy ([e-mail]) in a magazine:

 o Mt. Rushmore (American monument to Presidents Washington,
   Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt) (1.5 million regular bricks and 40K
   Duplo)
 o Billund Airport (complete with airplanes) (687,860 bricks)
 o Port of Copenhagen (3 million bricks)
 o The Statue of Liberty (1.4 million bricks)
 o Big Chief Sitting Bull (1.2 million bricks)
 o a buffalo hunt (2.5 million)

[e-mail] (Craig A. Finseth) and [e-mail] (Bo Kjellerup) have
details how to get there:

AIR:
----

From Europe: Fly to Billund. (Yes, there are flights directly to Billund from
most major European cities.) The airport, which was at first build by the LEGO
company, is the second busiest (behind Copenhagen) in Denmark. The first
model of the airport was made out of LEGO bricks.

From the US or anywhere else: Fly to Kobnhavn (Copenhagen), then to
Billund.

Once in Billund, walk. It's just across the parking lot, about five minutes away.
The Legoland Hotelis half a mile from the airport.

TRAIN:
------

You can't directly. Billund is about as far as you can get from any railway lines
and still be on land in Europe. Since the town was essentially "put on the
map" by LEGO Systems and that company didn't really get going until well
after World War II, I would guess that they missed out on the railway building
era. In any event, you can take a train to Vejle (nice town) and a bus to
Billund (about half an hour).

If you arrive with a ferry from England (Harwich - Esbjerg), take the train from
the ferry to Esbjerg rail station, and go by bus to Billund (about one hour).

BUS / AUTO:
-----------

The bus goes there. A main road goes there. As I recall, the airport and
LegoLand parking lots are one and the same.

Store:
------

There is a large store and it carries the entire current line. It does _not_ carry
old, non-standard, or discontinued kits. All sales are at list price. If you're from
the US, the only reason to buy anything is that the current line is somewhat
different in Europe than the US, so you might find a new kit (and wince when
you have to pay for it). Price is a smaller consideration for other countries.

Features:
---------

Family Hotel LEGOLAND, open all year round, Tel. +45 - 75 33 12 44
Banking: Den Danske Bank has a branch in the Information Office.
Handicapped: Walking-impaired and wheelchair users can go all over the
park.

More:
-----

To keep the FAQ in limits, I'll email you the heartwarming descriptions by
some visitors, if you send a Subject line 'LEGOland Billund request' to
[e-mail]

New international theme parks
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

** USA ** [e-mail] (Ray Flournoy):

LEGO has now decided on its US site for Legoland, and it is:
Carlsbad, California, a city near San Diego. It will open in 1999, probably.

** UK ** Tom Gardner knows:

Legoland UK will be on the site of the old Windsor Safari Park in, surprise,
Windsor. It will probably be finished in 1996.

Subject: 5) Large displays / play rooms:
========================================

The Seattle Science Museum has (or had 2 years ago, anyway) a large room
filled with LEGO to a depth of several inches.
[e-mail] (Jon Leech)

The Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota (USA), has a Legoland store
near the center of the mall. It has a large area for play, with tables and chairs.
The tops of the tables are LEGO, and there are basins set in the center
where loose LEGO bricks are stored. There are also huge models there: some
hang from the ceiling by cables, others stand tall on the ground, with moving
parts and blinking lights. And best of all: ALL AGES ARE WELCOME.
[e-mail] (Steven Parks)

... The sculptures range from dinosaurs, circus performers, and animals, to
scientific models of such things as the space shuttle.
... there are two *MEGA LARGE SIZE* lego blocks located in one part of the
surrounding parking lot that you might want to take a picture of.
[e-mail] (FOO)

Subject: 6) Computer connections and DACTA
==========================================

See address of DACTA in the address section.
Fred Martin from the MIT provides:

LEGO Dacta is the educational branch of the LEGO company (which has its
U.S. headquarters in Enfield, CT). Dacta sells the LEGO Technic product line
-- the geared and motorized version of the LEGO system.

Call Dacta and get their "Gear Up for Learning" catalog, which has many
LEGO Technic kits. Recommended kits are the 1038 Technic Universal
Buggy (a specialized kit for building a small LEGO vehicle with a dual motor
drive; about US$60), the 1032 Technic II with Motorized Transmission (a small
general-purpose kit including one motor and one battery pack; about US$76),
ncluding
two motors and two battery packs; about US$200).

[e-mail] (Chris Vaughn) found in the Dacta catalog:
MS-DOS or Apple II Slot Card Pack - US$161.50 includes slot card, cable,
LEGO TC logo software and reference guides. (card is for most MS-DOS
machines, except IBM PS/2 Models 50 and above or any other microchannel
computer)

Interface Box and Transformer - US$188.00 This box is what you connect all
your motors, lights, and sensors to. It has 2 inputs, and 6 outputs (3 if you
want to use three motors and have them all be reversible).

[e-mail] (Andy Carol):
The Lego Control Lab for Macintosh and/or PC is available for about US$600.
It connects to any computer via serial cable (RS-232), has 8 different output
ports which can control motors, lights, and sounds. It has 8 different inputs for
buttons, angles, thermal, etc. This is _NOT_ a plug in card, but rather an
external device hooked up via serial cable. It is programmed with LOGO, and
has a really nice graphical system under Mac and Windows. It's also possible
to use a C and C++ API for all control functions.

[e-mail] (jim koch) provides:
The price for Apple or IBM starter pack US$798.00 (Jan 92).

[e-mail] (Chris Vaughn) writes:
The Mini Board is a "miniature microprocessor-based controller board
designed for control of small robotic devices". It was designed at the MIT
Media Laboratory. This board is perfect for controlling LEGO 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 [e-mail]. 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.

[e-mail] (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 yust say LEGOs, [e-mail]
(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

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.
[e-mail] (Juergen Christoffel) and [e-mail] (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.
[e-mail] (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 [e-mail] (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.

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.

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]

[e-mail] (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 [e-mail] (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.

[e-mail] (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
===============================================

While LEGO comes from Danish "leg godt", "lego" means 'I assemble" in
Latin.

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 ([e-mail]) and Timo ([e-mail]) say:

The LEGO patent has expired some years ago.

[e-mail] 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
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 ([e-mail]):
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 [e-mail] / 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!

Subject: 13) Material, Technology and Measurements
==================================================

The LEGO motto: Det bedste er ikke for godt. (Only the best is good
enough.)

from Wiencek's The World of LEGO Toys, paraphrased by
[e-mail] (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.

[e-mail] (Bullwinkle J. Moose) 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.

There are LEGO factories in Billund(3), Switzerland, Brazil, South Korea, and
the United States (in Enfield, Connecticut).

Two 2X4 bricks can be joined 24 different ways. Six can be joined
102,981,500 different ways.

Geometry, provided by Jef Poskanzer ([e-mail]): 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.
[e-mail] (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.
[e-mail] (Sean J. Crist)

LEGO is not a toy. - It's a way of life.
[e-mail] (Mike Smith)

Subject: 15) FTP and WWW sites
==============================

Paul Gyugyi ([e-mail]) maintains an FTP archive of
LEGO information. It is located at earthsea.stanford.edu in ~ftp/pub/lego,
there is a README there that describes what the site contains, for example
CAD, faq, games, images, sets, uploads. The latter is an upload area for
contributions.

A World Wide Web (WWW) server is also available, the URL for it is
http://legowww.itek.norut.no. It contains a lot of information that has been
collected from the newsgroup and the FTP site, maintained by David Koblas
([e-mail]).

Subject: 16) Substitutes / compatibles / clones
===============================================

Finally some information about similar products. Most people state that the
quality is much lower then original LEGO pieces.

TYCO are reported to sell compatible basic bricks in 1000-piece buckets for
approx. $0.03 per piece. They also made that LEGO-looking telephone.

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. The latter may be larger?
Ritvik Toys Inc., P.O. Box 1408, Champlain, NY 12919
HQ in Quebec, Canada. Offices in U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.

Ken Koleda ([e-mail]):
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.

[e-mail] (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

[e-mail] (Niels Elgaard Larsen) says:
Some years ago LEGO did have a lot of trouble with a far east company that
made LEGO clones called "0937". I wonder if they placed them upside-down
in the stores.

** end of rec.toys.lego faq **