Do you know where the name “MODULEX” came from?
The answer was given to me by an employee who worked at the Modulex company in Billund, Denmark, back in the 1980s.
“I can tell you the name comes from Module X where the X is the Roman letter for 10. The architectural models were in a scale 1:10 which fits to the Roman letter X.”
Now you know!
UPDATE:
Here’s a page (and enlarged scale from that page) of the original M20 manual from 1963. This will help to answer the question in the comment below.
What’s with the 20, then?
That’s a great question!
From one of the early (1963) M20 manuals, we read, “The components of the Modulex-system are based on a 5x5x5mm unit [the 1×1 brick]. Irrespective of the scale chosen, the components used are always the same. Consequently the basic unit of the system represents a definite fundamental value in each scale . The scale 1:20 is of particular interest within building, as the Modulex unit in this scale represents 10 cm, i.e. the basic module for the coordination of dimensions in metric countries, and it approximately equals the 4 inch (=10.16 cm) module used in USA, Canada, and – to a large extent – in Great Britain. For statistical purposes etc. the Modulex basic unit may be applied as a symbol of a definite quantity, size, or period.”
So the M20 represents the 10x10x10 cm (1000=M) and the 1:20 building scale.
Thanks for the extra info! I’d not seen that page before.
Brian
Hi Karyn
Very nice and exact information! It’s nails the usage of Moduelx Bricks.
Best Regards
Modulex Bricks A/S