Charles Bird Plimpton (31 October 1894 – 29 December 1948) was an English inventor and businessman. He invented
Bayko
Bayko was a British building model construction toy invented by Charles Plimpton, an early plastics engineer and entrepreneur in Liverpool. First marketed in Britain it was soon exported throughout the British Commonwealth and became a worldwid ...
in 1933, a plastic
building model
An architectural model is a type of scale model made to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design intent. They can be made from a variety of materials such as paper, plaster, plastic, resin, wood, glass and metal. The ...
construction toy, and one of the earliest plastic toys to be marketed.
He established Plimpton Engineering in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, England, to manufacture the toy, which was sold across the world for over 30 years.
Biography
Charles Plimpton was born in 1893 in
Peckham
Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720.
History
"Peckham" is a Saxon p ...
, London, to John Calvin Plimpton, an American citizen, and Caroline Augusta Plimpton (née Bird). Plimpton's father later moved his family to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
where he established his own company, J.C. Plimpton & Co – Import & Export American Merchants.
Charles Plimpton attended school at
Liverpool College
Liverpool College is a school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC).
History
Liverpool College was the first of many public schools founded in the Victorian E ...
. In 1911 he went to the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
to study Engineering, but only completed two years and dropped out in 1913. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Plimpton enlisted as a
wireless operator
A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...
with the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and served much of his time on
minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
s.
In 1922 Plimpton married Margaret Audrey, with whom he had two daughters, Anne and Jean. They lived in
Wallasey
Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...
, which was then a part of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
. In the mid-1920s Plimpton contracted
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and spent much of the next ten years in a
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
. But it was during this confinement that Plimpton began working on the design of a new construction toy. Based on a toy popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the card and wood Mobaco Building Sets made by Mobal in the
Netherlands
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, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Plimpton adapted its design to use plastic pieces made from
Bakelite
Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
. Bakelite was a recently developed synthetic plastic, and, at the time, the world's first commercial plastic.
Bayko
On 20 November 1933, Plimpton applied for a patent for "An Improved Constructional Building Toy", which was granted on 16 January 1935 as patent No. 422,645. Limited production of his new toy began in late 1935, where he used the kitchen of his house and the help of his family to pack the construction sets. In 1934, he established Plimpton Engineering Company Limited in Liverpool to manufacture his product, and by the end of 1934, "Bayko Light Construction Sets" were in full production. The term "Bayko Light" was derived from the name "Bakelite".
Over the next ten years the Bayko system was improved on and its production grew as the construction sets were exported across the world.
In the late 1940s Plimpton applied for, and was granted on 2 December 1948, a second patent No. 613,767 entitled "Improvements in Constructional Building Toys". It dealt with the design of new parts for Bayko, but they were never manufactured. Plimpton's tuberculosis had resurfaced again and he had spent most of his last year in a sanatorium in
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
. He died on 29 December 1948 at the age of 55.
Plimpton was well respected in the toy trade, and an obituary was placed in the February 1949 issue of ''Games and Toys'' (see box).
Plimpton's wife continued running Plimpton Engineering for the next ten years, but retired in 1959 after Bayko began losing its market share to new construction toys like
Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
. She sold the company to
Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd was a British toy manufacturing company, established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England, to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company. During the 1920s and 1930s it became the ...
in 1960, who continued manufacturing Bayko for another seven years.
References
External links
C.B. Plimpton biographyPete Bradley's Bayko Site ''Bayko and related information, including a biography of Charles Bird Plimpton''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plimpton, Charles
1894 births
1948 deaths
People from Peckham
Toy inventors
Model manufacturers of the United Kingdom
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in England
Businesspeople from Liverpool
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
20th-century British inventors
People educated at Liverpool College
20th-century English businesspeople
Royal Naval Reserve personnel