Bayko
Encyclopedia
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
building model
Building model
Building models are scale models of structures. They are commonly used in model railroading as well as wargaming and diorama making. Architectural models are also made to demonstrate and promote buildings before they are constructed....
construction toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
invented by Charles Plimpton
Charles Plimpton
Charles Bird Plimpton was an English inventor and businessman. He invented Bayko in 1933, a plastic building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed...
, an early plastics engineer and entrepreneur in Liverpool. First marketed in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
it was soon exported throughout the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
and became a world wide brand between 1934 and 1967. The name derived from Bakelite, one of the world's first commercial plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
s that was originally used to manufacture many of the parts. Bayko was one of the world's earliest plastic toys to be marketed.
Bayko system
Bayko was primarily intended for the construction of model buildings. The rectangular Bakelite bases had a square grid of holes into which thin metal rods of various lengths could be placed vertically. In order to make larger models, two or more bases could be joined together by means of metal links secured by screws into holes on the bottom surface of the bases. Bakelite bricks, windows and other parts could then be slotted between pairs of rods in order to create the walls of the building. Other commonly used parts included floors (thin sheets of plastic with the same square pattern grid of holes as bases), and roofs of various types. There were also a large number of other more specialised parts. In the original sets bases were coloured brown, walls were red or white, windows were green and roofs were maroon. From 1939 the standard colours until 1960 were green bases, windows and doors, red roofs, and red and white bricks.The main advantage of Bayko over its rivals is generally regarded as the high standard of realism of the models constructed with it. The main disadvantage often quoted is the fragility of Bakelite which frequently led to bases and window parts breaking. Some safety concerns have also been expressed regarding the suitability of using thin metal rods in a toy for children.
Plimpton era
- See Charles PlimptonCharles PlimptonCharles Bird Plimpton was an English inventor and businessman. He invented Bayko in 1933, a plastic building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed...
for early Bayko history.
The Bayko system was invented and patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed by Charles Plimpton
Charles Plimpton
Charles Bird Plimpton was an English inventor and businessman. He invented Bayko in 1933, a plastic building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed...
in 1933. Plimpton set up Plimpton Engineering
Charles Plimpton
Charles Bird Plimpton was an English inventor and businessman. He invented Bayko in 1933, a plastic building model construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to manufacture the components, the majority of which were made from Bakelite, a new synthetic plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
developed in the early 1900s. The sets were called "Bayko Light Construction Sets" (the term "Bayko Light" coming from the name "Bakelite") and went on sale at the end of 1934. The Bakelite material was sourced from Bakelite Limited, a Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
supplier, and for the first few years of its life, Bayko was marketed by both Plimpton Engineering and Bakelite Limited.
Initially five sets were produced, "Set 1" (the smallest) through to "Set 5" (the largest). The bricks were red and white, the bases brown, the windows dark green, and the roofs dark maroon. Plimpton began advertising Bayko in Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd was a British toy company established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in England to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company...
's Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine was an English monthly hobby magazine published by Meccano Ltd between 1916 and 1963, and by other publishers between 1963 and 1981. The magazine was initially created for Meccano builders, but it soon became a general hobby magazine aimed at "boys of all ages"...
in September 1935, unaware that 25 years later, Meccano itself would own and manufacture Bayko. Regular advertisements appeared in the magazine over those next 25 years.
In 1935 three Ornamental Sets A, B and C were introduced that contained decorative parts to supplement the existing sets, including pillars, arches and curved bricks and windows. In 1936 a "Set 6" was introduced, a much larger set than "Set 5" that included all the new ornamental parts. By 1938, the Bayko sets were described as "Bayko Building Sets", and in 1939 all the existing sets were relaunched and replaced by a new series of six sets that incorporated new parts and a red, white and green colour scheme.
Production was interrupted in 1942 by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when the company switched to manufacturing for the war effort
War effort
In politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force...
. When production resumed in 1946, the set range was reduced to three, "Set 0" to "Set 2". A "Set 3" was introduced in 1947.
Charles Plimpton died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in December 1948 and his wife, Audrey Plimpton took over the running of Plimpton Engineering. Further new parts were added to the sets in 1949 to increase the realism and flexibility of the system, and in 1951 a "Set 4" was introduced. However, by the late 1950s Bayko came under pressure from other construction toys that appeared on the market, like Lego
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
and Airfix
Airfix
Airfix is a UK manufacturer of plastic scale model kits of aircraft and other subjects. In Britain, the name Airfix is synonymous with the hobby, a plastic model of this type is often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even if made by another manufacturer....
, and Audrey Plimpton retired in 1959. She sold the company to Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd was a British toy company established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in England to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company...
in 1960.
Meccano era
Having acquired the rights to manufacture Bayko in 1960, Meccano LtdMeccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd was a British toy company established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in England to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company...
moved production to its Meccano
Meccano
Meccano is a model construction system comprising re-usable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, with nuts and bolts to connect the pieces. It enables the building of working models and mechanical devices....
factory in Speke
Speke
Speke is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, close to the boundaries of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley. It is south east of the city centre and to the west of the town of Widnes....
, Liverpool. To rationalise and simplify the system, all the Bayko sets were redesigned. Many of the decorative parts were dropped and the cumbersome one-piece roofs were replaced by flat-roof pieces. The colour scheme was changed to grey bases, green roofs, yellow windows and doors, and red and white bricks. In order to reduce production costs, polystyrene
Polystyrene
Polystyrene ) also known as Thermocole, abbreviated following ISO Standard PS, is an aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry...
was used for all the plastic parts instead of Bakelite.
Four Meccano Bayko sets went on sale at the end of 1960, numbered 11 to 14 to avoid being confused with the Plimpton sets. The Bayko adverts continued in Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine
Meccano Magazine was an English monthly hobby magazine published by Meccano Ltd between 1916 and 1963, and by other publishers between 1963 and 1981. The magazine was initially created for Meccano builders, but it soon became a general hobby magazine aimed at "boys of all ages"...
, and — due to the cost-cutting measures — the new sets were sold at a lower price than the Plimpton sets. In 1962 Meccano introduced its own decorative pieces, including opening French windows, large shop windows and pantile roofs, and a new "Set 15".
In 1963 Meccano Ltd also began feeling the pressure of competing toys, even though the models Bayko produced were more realistic architectural constructions. By 1964, all advertising for Bayko was stopped, although Meccano continued manufacturing Bayko sets and spares until 1967.
Over its lifespan, both Plimpton and Meccano Bayko was exported across the world, and, besides being a toy, it attracted a modest adult following that still exists today. A healthy trade in original Bayko sets and parts also exists today, with some enthusiasts even casting their own Bayko pieces.
External links
- Bayko Building Site
- Binns Road Bayko
- Pete Bradley's Bayko Site
- Bayko Collectors Club
- Bayko (information about Bayko from the V&A Museum of Childhood)
- Bayko at ToyPedia.