If ever there was a Meccanoman to his fingertips, it was Mr de Beer. He lived and worked in Cape Town, South Africa, and he must have given Meccano inspiration to countless youngsters during his lifetime. He worked in the Standard Bank in Cape Town, but his spare time was spent with Meccano. He had a deep love and understanding for the hobby. I do not know how he became involved with the Claremont Congregational Church, but that is where we used to meet every month. The church hall has a room off to one side, which was only used for Meccano. Mr de Beer hand built six 7 drawer wooden cabinets, each one with precise compartments for all the parts. The members of the Claremont Meccano Club were divided into groups accordingly, and used to choose the models they wished to build. Mr de Beer closely supervised the activities, and prepared each model carefully for the exhibitions, which he organised in the church hall. He was ably assisted by Mr Korck, whose son Graham also became a member, along with Mr de Beer’s son, Kenneth. Mr de Beer was a inspiration to us all and a gentle teacher in the art of assembling and presenting proper working models. He gave me a lifelong interest in Meccano for which I shall always be deeply grateful, as well as a deeper knowledge of engineering and the workings of machinery.
Michael Adler demonstrating the Industrial Robot to Mr de Beer and his son Kenneth.
Occasionally, Me de Beer would allow us to visit his home where he had a number of supermodels. The best of course was the giant blocksetter. This gleamed and shone and to my young eyes seemed the ultimate and unattainable. It worked perfectly of course, with smooth meshing of gears and stately travel of its movements. It gave off a perfect oily smell. We had a real one on the breakwater, built by Cowans Sheldon, so it was inevitable that we should go and examine it, time and time again. I well remember another of his models, the bucket dredger.
I made many friends in the Meccano
club. I know there are half a dozen
of us who are still in contact.
Things became quiet for many years while we established careers, but
inevitably we turned again to Meccano after a hiatus of many years. Those friends formed the Cape Town Meccano Club which still
exists to this day. We invited Mr
de Beer and his son Kenneth to visit the new club one Saturday afternoon. Now elderly, he took great interest in
the models which had sprung up since the old Claremont days. In the photo, you see Michael
demonstrating his Industrial Robot, but it was to the Master who still had the
special Meccano gleam in his eye.
An Orrery, one of Mr de Beer's models from the Meccano Magazine of June 1957, shown at a Cape Town exhibition
Michael Adler – November 2000