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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObituary: Trevor Baylis Inventor whose wind-up radio brought information to Africa's rural poor
Trevor Baylis, who died last Monday aged 80, was the inspired creator of the "clockwork radio"; his simple yet effective design won him recognition as one of Britain's foremost inventors. Baylis got the idea for the wind-up radio in the early 1990s after seeing a television report on the spread of Aids in Africa, which also showed how basic radio communication was an impossibility for many rural Africans.
"My only motivation," he said in 1997, "was the pure mechanical challenge of getting a clockwork radio to work." From his garden shed on Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, he soon developed an elementary concept and built his Freeplay Radio, powered by a spring energy dynamo, an idea inspired by the old-fashioned wind-up gramophone. (Later versions stored the energy in rechargeable batteries.) But Baylis found it difficult to get commercial backing, or even to persuade companies to pay attention, something which only fuelled his determination.
Philips, Marconi and Richard Branson's Virgin all turned him down, and Baylis was laughed out of an office in Glasgow, after travelling for five hours to be told that no one would meet him. Eventually, in 1994, an appearance on the BBC's Tomorrow's World programme gave his radio the springboard it needed.
It was instantly recognised as a winner by Christopher Staines, an accountant, and Rory Stear, a South African entrepreneur. They took the design to South Africa, where it was manufactured by Baylis's newly formed company Baygen in factories staffed as much as possible by disabled workers. When he was first taken to see the operation, he was overcome with emotion and wept.
more at
https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/obituary-trevor-baylis-36691923.html
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Obituary: Trevor Baylis Inventor whose wind-up radio brought information to Africa's rural poor (Original Post)
OnDoutside
Mar 2018
OP
shenmue
(38,506 posts)1. Rest in peace
ret5hd
(20,548 posts)2. A man who wanted to good...and succeeded.
GusBob
(7,286 posts)3. Hate to ask, but going to
Radio was one of the primary movers in African genocide in the 1990's
Hope his humanitarian project wasn't the exact opposite
hunter
(38,340 posts)5. sigh... I share your skepticism about radio, especially here in the U.S.A.
GusBob
(7,286 posts)6. Things were a little different there, then
I hope his devices were not used in the conflicts. But radio was
hunter
(38,340 posts)4. I've got one. It's my kitchen radio.
For the one I bought I'm hoping some other community that needed a radio got it free.