BAYKO and Health and Safety

Thanks to Geoff Handford for prompting me to, somewhat belatedly, get on with writing this particular page. Today, the phrase “Health and Safety” rolls off the tongue, sometimes - wrongly in my view - rather contemptuously with the “gone mad” epithet added. However, BAYKO precedes this period by several decades, and I'd rather consider the two facets separately, so here goes : -

BAYKO's very birth was health related. C.B. Plimpton, inventor of the world's first, and finest, plastic construction toy, was plagued through much of his adult life by T.B., indeed, it was during a long, enforced convalescence from that disease, in a sanatorium in Ruthin, North Wales, that bored little grey cells did much of the early development work. We know this from talking to C.B.'s two daughters.

It's not difficult to imagine how this drove Plimpton's awareness of, and attitude to, illness, particularly if you remember that antibiotics didn't emerge among the general public until after world war two, and so many diseases, generally regarded as a nuisance today, were very much more threatening in BAYKO's early days.

It's difficult to see how Plimpton could have headlined the health message much more forcefully, slide your mouse over the image [right] to highlight it…

…the second paragraph of page 1 of the very first BAYKO manual [right] bore the legend : -

This healthy message not only played on the minds of understandably nervous 1930s parents, but also took advantage of the robustness of BAKELITE, the early form of plastic from which BAYKO parts were manufactured.

The second version of the manual paraphrased and enhanced this message, and maintained its position in paragraph two on page one, slide your mouse over the image [left] to highlight it.

Compared with wooden competitors, Plimpton obviously felt that this was a strong, positive marketing plus for BAYKO, and so continued to drive the message home : -

This message continued, unchanged and in the same position, in the 'New Series' manuals, launched immediately before world war two.

The earliest post-war manuals relegated the message to paragraph three, though still on page one, slide your mouse over the image [right] to highlight it. Its now in a bold font, with a minor change to the script as Plimpton embraced the entire range of antiseptics, rather that specifically supporting LYSOL.

The modified script now read : -

This message continued until the end of the Plimpton era, even though the later polystyrene parts are, in fact, rather vulnerable to boiling water!

The MECCANO era had finally begun to reflect the more relaxed attitude to, and significantly reduced fear of, childhood illnesses as the growing range of antibiotics, and other medical advances, wrought their magic among the unfortunate youngsters.

The nearest we get to any hygiene related comment after the takeover is : -

…of course, the rather more cynical amongst us may tempted to the thought that it was simply that MECCANO had finally accepted the vulnerability of their polystyrene BAYKO parts to the earlier prescriptions of boiling water. Slide your mouse over the image [left] to highlight it.

There is what amounts to an urban myth about BAYKO which I've had quoted at me quite regularly at toy exhibitions across the country…

This is simply not true, not least because BAYKO died thirty years or so before 'Health and Safety' really took off.

Those who recognise the fallacy of the above, non-the-less think that it would be illegal to sell BAYKO today, for the same reason, because of the dangers inherent with the metal Rods.

This is also not true. What they don't take into account is just how far technology has evolved over the intervening decades, and the opportunities which that affords.

Were BAYKO to be manufactured today, the Rods could easily be made from plastic : -

The rational for this is that crimping would introduce weak points, every half brick [⅜ inch = 9.525 mm] throughout the length of the Rods.
This way the Rods, would easily break, possibly at several points, if little Johnnie decided to do a flying head-butt at a model on the carpet!
Effectively they would act as, what I have called a 'mechanical fuse' - to put it another way, the Rods would break before little Johnnie!

There would be some additional potential benefits to the manufacturer, the retailer and the modeller - Win, Win, Win : -

For the record, I've made efforts to trace any possible BAYKO-related accidents, but earlier recording standards weren't what we would expect today, and I haven't been able to find any…

…of course, I know that doesn't mean that there weren't any!

In a somewhat different vein, there were a couple of more serious issues, actually within the BAYKO factories.

Firstly, particularly in the early BAKELITE days, fumes were an issue, mainly in the production area, though there was basic extraction.

Secondly, there was a general problem with 'flash' [little superfluous tabs of plastic from the mould] which had to be removed. This was done by girls, it was almost invariably girls, sitting either side of a large sanding belt on which they touched the offending parts, to sand off the 'flash'. I've been told that the girls were known locally, with typical scouse humour, as “the coloured girls”, because they would be covered in the coloured plastic dust of whatever colour parts they, and their colleagues, were working on.

In the company's defence, plastics like BAKELITE are very inert, chemically…

…though inhaled/ingested particles surely had an irritant effect, possibly very long lasting.