Bayko

Bayko Building Set 1, 1955. Museum no. Misc.153-1983. (click image for larger version)

In 1933 Charles Bird Plimpton set up the Plimpton Engineering Co Ltd especially to manufacture Bayko. This company continued to manufacture Bayko until 1959 when it was taken over by Meccano. The only interruption in this period was in 1941 when all production came to an end so the factory could help with the war effort. During this time it produced parts for Wellington bombers.

Bayko took its name from the material Bakelite - an early type of plastic developed between 1907 and 1909 by the American Leo Hendrik Baekeland. A Bayko set consisted of a base which had a grid of holes into which you pushed thin metal rods of various sizes. Onto these rods you then slotted wall, door and window pieces and gradually built up a house. Floors of thin metal sheets could be added in and the final stage was the roof which came in one piece. The original colours of the sets were quite muted - brown, maroon, green and white - but from 1939 with the advancement of plastic technology the colours became brighter. The base, windows and doors became green, the roof became red and there were red and white bricks for building walls, which became standard until 1960. As with Meccano, you could buy accessory sets which converted existing sets into bigger and better ones.

Bayko was marketed as an ideal toy for boys and girls of all ages and was even recommended for sick children due to the fact that Bakelite was washable. The sets were all extremely versatile and, as well as houses, you could also build things like a sheep pen, a Noah's Ark or a mosque. During the 1960s, Bayko declined in popularity and could not compete with the rise of Lego.