Category:Kemex

Toy Brands and Manufacturers
Kemex
1930s -

~1934: Meccano Kemex Chemical Outfits [image info]

~1934: Meccano Kemex Chemical Outfit Parts [image info]

A full-page advert for Kemex Outfits - "KEMEX OUTFITS for Chemical Fun!".
Note the Meccano-like typeface, especially the letter "M" [image info]

Like most large toy companies in the 1930s, Meccano Ltd. also sold chemistry sets, with the Binns Road company's sets being sold under the brandname Kemex.

Like Meccano, the sets were numbered 0, 1 and 2 in order of the contents, with the larger sets usually including all the contents of the lower-numbered versions, with the larger sets coming in "L" (for "Spirit Lamp") and "B" (for "Bunsen Burner") versions.

Chemistry sets were easy for companies to produce from cheap materials if they already had the infrastructure to make the boxes and produce manuals (which Meccano Ltd had in abundance), and Meccano Ltd also had the advantage of being able to heavily promote Kemex in their own magazine, Meccano Magazine, with full-page ads and promotional editorial articles.

1934 promotional text

" The contents of the Meccano Kemex Chemical Outfits provide many hours of fascinating fun. With the apparatus and materials contained in them a boy can make inks and soaps; dye wool, cotton and silk, and bleach fabrics that are already dyed; analyse air and water; grow crystals; write with electricity; make invisible inks and a chemical garden; and perform a host of other interesting chemical experiments.

The Outfits include everything necessary, and the hundreds of experiments that can be made are described in a simple manner in an attractive Manual that is included in each Outfit. The No.0, No.1, No.2L and No.3L Meccano Kemex Outfits each contain a Spirit Lamp for use as a source of heat. In the No.2B and No.3B Outfits a highly efficient Bunsen Burner is included instead of a Spirit Lamp. "

The sets

No. 0 Meccano Kemex Outfit

75 experiments

This Outfit includes a supply of specially selected chemicals, packed in airtight containers, together with a length of Magnesium Ribbon, sufficient to perform 75 attractive experiments. The apparatus provided includes Test Tubes, Test Tube Brush, Delivery Tubes and Corks, and a simple and highly efficient Spirit Lamp that makes the Outfit completely self-contained. Price 5/-

No. 1 Meccano Kemex Outfit

130 Experiments

This Outfit includes the whole of the contents of the No.0 Outfit, together with further chemicals that increase the number of experiments that can be performed to 130. The additional apparatus includes a Test Tube Holder, Glass Stirring Rod, Funnel and Filter Papers. Price 7/6

No. 2L Meccano Kemex Outfit

250 Experiments

This outfit includes the whole of the contents of the No.1 Outfit, and further chemicals that increase the number of experiments up to 250. The additional apparatus includes a porcelain Evaporating Dish, Special Test Tubes, a handsome Test Tube Stand, and an Evaporating Stand.

No. 2B Meccano Kemex Outfit

Similar to No. 2L Meccano Kemex Outfit, except that a Bunsen Burner is included in place of the Spirit Lamp.

No 3L Meccano Kemex Outfit

350-400 Experiments

This Outfit includes the whole of the contents of No. 2 Outfit, with additional chemicals and apparatus. The latter includes a gas-generating apparatus, consisting of a large Wide-necked Flask with Thistle Funnel and Delivery Tubes, and a Blowpipe.