INVENTOR

Frank Hornby

1863 - 1936

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Frank Hornby (15 May 1863 – 21 September 1936) was an English inventor, businessman and politician. He was a visionary in toy development and manufacture, and although he had no formal engineering training, he was responsible for the invention and production of three of the most popular lines of toys based on engineering principles in the 20th century: Meccano, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys. He also founded the British toy company Meccano Ltd in 1908, and launched a monthly publication, Meccano Magazine in 1916. Hornby's inventions and initiatives made him a millionaire in the 1930s. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Frank Hornby is the 415th most popular inventor (down from 413th in 2019), the 6,332nd most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 5,920th in 2019) and the 68th most popular British Inventor.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Frank Hornby ranks 415 out of 426Before him are Lawrence Hargrave, Charles F. Kettering, Arunachalam Muruganantham, Arthur Fry, Walter Frederick Morrison, and Sarah E. Goode. After him are Richard Pearse, David Hahn, Boyan Slat, Jarkko Oikarinen, Jack Andraka, and Tony Fadell.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1863, Frank Hornby ranks 178Before him are Sándor Bródy, Walter Migula, Gonzalo Córdova, Reginald McKenna, John Bunny, and William Gibbs McAdoo.  Among people deceased in 1936, Frank Hornby ranks 190Before him are Hermanus Brockmann, Alice Davenport, Louis-Gustave Binger, John McKenna, Edmund Breese, and George Dern. After him is Thomas Meighan.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Frank Hornby ranks 6,334 out of 8,785Before him are Colin Morgan (1986), Sandy Turnbull (1884), Nigel Havers (1951), Sylvia Cheeseman (1929), Marsha Thomason (1976), and Stuart J. Russell (1962). After him are Anya Chalotra (1996), George Etherege (1635), Finola Hughes (1959), Tom Tugendhat (1973), John Leckie (1949), and Phil Brown (1962).

Among INVENTORS In United Kingdom

Among inventors born in United Kingdom, Frank Hornby ranks 68Before him are Isaac Pitman (1813), Barnes Wallis (1887), William Friese-Greene (1855), John Whitehurst (1713), Roger C. Field (1945), and Lawrence Hargrave (1850).