Editing Erector Set (section)

==Applications==
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Over the years, Erector Sets have been used to prototype a variety of devices, including: 
*In 1949, an Erector set was used to build the precursor to the modern [[artificial heart]] by William Sewell and Dr. William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.<ref name="Watson">{{cite book |last1=Watson |first1=Bruce |title=The man who changed how boys and toys were made |year=2002 |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-03134-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/manwhochangedhow00wats }}</ref>{{rp|202–203}}
*In the 1970s, information theory pioneer [[Claude Shannon]] constructed a bounce-juggling machine from an Erector set.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A mind at play : how Claude Shannon invented the information age|last1=Soni |first1=Jimmy |last2=Goodman |first2=Rob |year=2017 |isbn=9781476766683 |oclc=962009552}}</ref>
*In the late 1980s, with an Erector Set, various old toys, and bits of jewelry, [[Jack Kevorkian]] jerry-rigged a machine he called the Thanatron (later renamed to the Mercitron). Three bottles were suspended from a rickety beam, one filled with a saline solution to open a patient's veins, another with barbiturates for sedation, and a third with potassium chloride to stop the heart. After Kevorkian connected the patient to an IV, he or she would pull a chain on the device to start the lethal medications flowing. He called it his “[[Rube Goldberg]] suicide device.”
*In the late 1990s, engineer Mark Sumner used Erector to create a working model for "Soarin’”, an attraction at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World's Epcot near Orlando, Florida.<ref name="Watson"/>{{rp|204–206}}

In 1990, Meccano S.A. built a giant [[Ferris wheel]] in France. It was modelled after the original 1893 [[Ferris Wheel (1893)|Ferris Wheel]] built by [[George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.]] at the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] at Chicago and was shipped to the United States to promote "Erector by Meccano" after Meccano S.A. had bought out the Erector brand name and began selling Erector by Meccano sets in the U.S. It went on display in New York City, after which it was purchased by [[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]] and put on display in their [[St. Augustine, Florida]] museum. The model, the largest in size{{Clarify|mass or weight or number of pieces|date=June 2018}} at the time, is {{convert|6.5|m}} high, weighs {{convert|544|kg}}, was made from 19,507 pieces, 50,560 nuts and bolts, and took 1,239 hours to construct. At this mass and size{{Clarify|number of pieces?|date=June 2018}}, some deviation from Erector by Meccano-only parts was a necessity, to prevent it collapsing (mainly in the structural spokes). The largest model by mass would certainly be in contention, but some models have topped {{convert|600|kg}}.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}