The History of Lego Technic 1977-1987 Part 1

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

     Before we start, I would like to say that I will be breaking down the history into chunks, all links can be found at the bottom of this page when all posts are wrote, 38 years of history over four posts. Lego Technic spurred from Lego in 1977 under the name, Expert Builder, or Technical Sets, in 1982 and 1986 the line was renamed Technic. According to Brickset.com, there are currently 273 sets, not counting supplementary sets, and accessory packs. That number is forever changing as every year Lego releases a new batch of Technic sets. The sets are designed 2-3 years in advance to being released, so a set that was released in 2015 got its concept in 2012-2013. In 1977, Lego released what were called "Technical Sets" in Europe; this new line of Lego's was aimed for older children in their teenage years. In 1978 "Expert builder" sets were released in the U.S, both lines are the same sets just under different names; both launches consisted of four models and two supplementary sets. In Fig 1. We see the original Technic elements, some bricks with holes for axles and pins; at the bottom middle, we see a 40-tooth gear, a 24-tooth gear and a 24-tooth crown gear. The crown gear was later replaced by bevel gears, which didn't come along until 1995. In 1979 Lego released its first motorcycle along with its first bulldozer and 6 more supplementary sets, set 951 (Fig 2.) which featured lifting and tipping of a bucket, treads running on 40 tooth gears. The 12-volt motor was also introduced in 1979, it used the same transformer as the 12-volt train motors. In 1980 the 8858, and 8860, were released, both sets were designed to allow the builder to build different designs of their choice. The 8888 expert builder book was also released in 1980. In 1981 five sets and one accessory set were released; 8710, accessory set, 8844, 8845, 8846, 8848, 8859. 1982, the technic year, Lego changed the name of these sets from Expert Builders and Technical sets to Technic in continental Europe, the name was not changed in the USA until 1986, even with the long time between the two continents name change,  The name Technic has held firm ever since. 1982 also saw the introduction of a 4.5 volt motor set, the Friction connector was also introduced, also known as a pin, it became one of the most valued pieces in all of the technic line, its main purpose is to clamp attach two pieces together, by the lip on each end of the pin latching on to the outside edge of a beam or brick. Only four sets were released from the technic line in 1982, those sets were 8030, 8050, 8090, and 8700. In 1983 only three sets were released, the 1924 motorcycle which was designed as a promotional product, the 8841 desert racer, and the 8847 dragster made 1983 a small year. 1984 made up for the drop in 1983 by introducing pneumatics (Fig 3.). This was the first line of pneumatics to be used in technic. to properly set up a proper with these pneumatics one needed to connect a pump to a distribution block, now the air compressor is of course able to create compression but

Fig 3.

somehow the distribution block also creates vacuum pressure; both pressure and vacuum are transferred to a valve to choose between the two. The vacuum or pressure is then routed through the bottom port of the valve and into the only port on the cylinder. The only downside to this pneumatic setup was the cylinders could move a better amount of weight when using pressure instead of vacuum. The only two sets released in 1984 were 8851, 8843 and another idea book for pneumatics. 1985 was a very small year of the technic line as attention was focused elsewhere in the Lego group, the only set to be released was the 1972 Go-Kart. In 1986, Lego released eight set in total, two of which were supplementary packs. the sets of 1986 took on an arctic appeal, 8620, 8640, 8660, 8680, 8842, 8849, 1986 is also when we saw the premiere of technic figures, bigger than a mini figure.1987 was another small year for technic, as only one set was released the 8852 robot, as the transformer movie was released not to long before this set was released Lego tried to catch a part of the hype by creating their own transformer, there was also another idea book released in 1987. as long as this may seem it only covers a 4th of Lego’s long running history, more updates to the history of technic will come soon, until that time, remember if you can dream it you can build it.