Subject:
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The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 10 Sep 1999 16:05:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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4237 times
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Today's topic is Regular LEGO Sloped Bricks from 1958-1972.
LEGO sloped bricks today are available in many different angled slopes.
The earliest of these (and by far the most common today) are the regular
45 degree slopes. These came out in the late 1950's, and were followed
by the low sloped and extreme sloped bricks in the early to mid 1970's,
as well as other degreed slopes in the 1980's and 1990's.
Regular sloped bricks (45 degree) first came out at the same time as the
LEGO "tubes" on the underside of normal LEGO bricks in 1958. There was
no point in having them available earlier because without the tubes on
the bottom to hold the different layers of slopes together, a sloped
brick just wouldn't be very stable in a roof.
The very first color available was red (1958), which is still in current
production today (41 years later) in service packs. This was followed
in 1960 with blue sloped bricks. Black was the next color available in
the 1970's, and other followed in the 1980's and 1990's, but never with
the wide assortment that red, blue and black enjoyed earlier.
The first red and blue sloped bricks came out in service (supplemental
parts) packs. Just like the small plates (when they came out in 1963),
the early sloped brick production was primarily for the supplemental
parts packs. Few other sets even had any of these included (one
exception was the early Town Plan (725/810)).
From 1958-65 there were 4 different supplemental parts packs (for each
color - red or blue), sets # 280, 281, 282, 283. Each set had specific
sloped bricks. Here is a breakdown.
#280 - Contained 14 sloped bricks of 2 types - 2x4 sloped bricks, and
2x4 apex bricks.
#281 - Contained 21 sloped bricks of 4 types - 2x1 sloped bricks, 2x3
sloped bricks, 2x1 apex bricks and 2x3 apex bricks.
#282 - Contained 22 sloped bricks of 2 types - 2x2 sloped bricks, and
2x2 apex bricks.
#283 - Contained 20 sloped bricks of 5 types - 2x2 outside corner sloped
bricks, 2x2 inside corner sloped bricks, 2x1 (half pyramid) tri-slope
apex bricks, 2x2 roof connector apex bricks, and the 2x2 ("L")
perpendicular apex brick. (Note: the piece breakdown in this set was:
(10) 2x2 outside corner pieces, (5) 2x2 inside corner pieces, (3)
tri-slope pieces, (1) roof connector piece, (1) perpendicular apex
piece.)
In 1966, the 4 Supplemental Parts Packs were consolidated into 2 packs.
#280 and #282 were consolidated into pack #480 (with 23 pieces). #281
and #283 were consolidated into #481 (with 34 pieces). In 1969, these
numbers were changed. #480 became #980, and #481 became #981. But the
piece counts did not change at this time.
In 1973 #980 and #981 were replaced by one pack #934 (with 58 pieces),
and then only in red. Also in 1973, new pack #935 came out with low
sloped bricks in red only. These two packs have been around (in one
form or another) ever since.
From 1958 until circa 1963, all sloped bricks were made of Cellulose
Acetate. These are much easier to spot in red than in blue. The red
bricks have that "orange" hue that makes red the easiest color to spot
in Cellulose Acetate. The blue is a lighter shade, but not as easy to
differentiate as the red. The Cellulose Acetate sloped bricks are
notorious because they really show off the warping that is common to
most Cellulose Acetate bricks.
Of the 13 different types of regular sloped bricks that came out in the
late 50's, only 2 major changes have taken place. One is the
elimination of the "L" perpendicular apex brick in the late 1960's (you
can use the tri-slope, the connector, and regular apex bricks (all three
together) to do what the perpendicular brick did). This brick has
surprised many people who buy old used LEGO on the secondary market, and
wonder where the heck this unusual sloped brick came from!
The other change has been to the connector brick, that one that looks
like someone took a bite out of it. Originally this brick had a tube on
the bottom with a part of it (the connector) missing. Also, it had a
very sharp pointed end. Since the 1960's, this piece has been
transformed slightly by the removal of the tube underneath, and replaced
with a "ridge" that makes it look like a 2x1 apex brick plus the pointed
connector. The other change to this piece is a safety issue. The
original connector pieces, as I already stated, had a very sharp point.
Starting in the mid-1960's, TLG started grinding down this point to a
duller point. Over the years since then, I've noticed that this point
has always had some manual grinding done to remove its' sharpness.
Check out your examples of this piece for traces of the grinding. The
two changes to this piece basically aren't noticed unless you really
look for them. It hasn't affected them cosmetically.
The blue sloped service packs were discontinued in 1973, the same year
that the red low sloped bricks were introduced in a service pack. Since
1973, the only set with a major blue sloped brick selection has been
Basic Set 733, which came out in 1980.
Then in 1998 the regular sloped bricks came out in a Black Sloped Bricks
Service Pack, but that is for part 2 of this thread.
As always, if there is something that I've said that is in error, please
let me know.
Gary Istok
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Message has 8 Replies:
 | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| (...) I have a few copies of set 1082, a dacta set, which has equal numbers of red and blue sloped bricks in low and medium slope varieties. It includes apexes and connectors, inside corners, and inverted 2x2s as well. This set has a copyright date (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| Gary Istok: What about the old green 2*4 roof bricks my grandparents have? They look roughly like this from the side: |\ |\ Despite the look of the ASCII art, the dimensions are the same as of a 2*4 brick. The sloped side is "wigly" like a tiled(?) (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| What I find curious about the slopes is that we had plenty of red slopes (they may have all been 2x2, I don't remember), but we never had any apex or other special slopes (I remember later in life noting that "gee, they finaly got around to adding (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| Hmmm - very nice history. Thanks, Gary. That was very interesting. On point though - I think that bricks in colours other than blue, red and black appeared earlier than the 1980s. I recently bought a 386 Red Cross Helicopter, which I believe dates (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| Hello Gary, Gary Istok <gistok@umich.edu> wrote in article <37D92C5D.8826C9E@umich.edu>... (...) Another wonderful account of the history of a LEGO element. Thanks very much. As previously mentioned ((URL) the offer to host this material on the web (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| (...) <snipped excellent dissertation> (...) I'm messing about with some ideas for upcoming projects, and this is an excellent opportunity to ask a question which one of them sort-of hinges on: Has there ever been/how available are: white roof peak (...) (25 years ago, 14-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
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