Windup merchants: A history of clockwork radio

On the 5th of March 2018, an incredible man passed away.

That man was Trevor Baylis, inventor of the #ClockworkRadio.

When Baylis left school in London at the age of 15, he had no qualifications to guide him. Despite this, he led an incredible life. Not only did he work as a stunt man, but he was also an engineer, physical training instructor, and an inventor.

Most of Baylis’s inventions were designed to improve the lives of the people he cared about — friends from his stuntman days who sustained injuries. Baylis created tools that would allow people to live normally with life-changing disabilities.

However, Trevor Baylis was also responsible for keeping much of Africa informed during the AIDS epidemic, thanks to the development of his clockwork radio.

Here’s the story you need to know.

What is clockwork radio anyway?

Mechanical clocks, wind-up cars and other devices powered by similar technology have been around for quite some time. However, it wasn’t until 1991 when we discovered the benefits of the #WindUpRadio for the first time.

Throughout the world, there’s a huge divide in the amount of access we have to information. In the western parts of the globe, we often assume that we’ll always have electricity on-tap. Wherever you go, you can check the internet via Wi-Fi, or plug into an outlet for electricity from the grid.

However, there are still plenty of parts of the world that are unconnected to this power source. They don’t have batteries or electrical supplies, which means that they can’t communicate at a greater scale, or access essential information.

When Trevor Baylis invented the clockwork radio, it was to address this issue and provide third-world countries with the information they needed to stop the spread of AIDS.

Introducing Trevor Baylis, the inventor of clockwork radio

To understand the development of clockwork radio, it’s important to learn about the man who invented it — #TrevorBaylis.

Baylis was almost an Olympic champion in his early years but missed out on competing in the 1956 games. Instead, he began working for a firm that sold modular swimming pools, discovering his passion for mechanics and design in the process.

In 1991, when watching a documentary about the AIDS issue in Africa, Baylis learned that lack of education and awareness was contributing to the spread of the disease. He decided that he needed to come up with a way to get the right information to African communities.

Radio was the most convenient and cost-effective choice at the time. It consumed very little energy and was easy enough to use — even for people who didn’t know how to read. Trevor began working avidly on a radio that didn’t require any batteries or access to electricity to function. The resulting device changed the lives of millions.

Through wind-up technology, Baylis ensured that people around the world could power crucial devices like radio with nothing but their own muscle power. All the while, Baylis was also working on countless other inventions too. By the time of his death, he had more than 250 inventions to his name.

How does clockwork radio work?

So, how does the wind-up #RadioInvention work?

Simple. Like any other electrical appliance, radios require electricity for energy. However, there are many different ways to generate this power. Typical radios that we have in our homes and cars rely on electricity generated by the electricity grid and batteries. However, hand-powered radios work off the magnetism theory discovered by physicist Michael Faraday.

Faraday found in 1831, that by passing conductive wire through magnetic fields it was possible to produce electrical currents. This means that if you spin a coil of copper wire around a magnet in a wind-up radio, you create a steady flow of electricity.

Baylis used this concept and adapted it. Instead of using fuel, water, or gasoline to move the conductive wire around the magnet, you use your own hand instead. This doesn’t keep the system running forever, but you can generate a significant amount of power through regular cranking.

With a little bit of elbow grease, there’s no need for any batteries or electrical supply.

Is there still a place for clockwork radio?

Trevor Baylis had the heart of a true inventor.

From the moment he stepped into the mechanical world, Baylis was constantly hunting for solutions to his problems. He began by addressing the needs of some of his injured friends. Baylis’s inventions helped disabled people to live a healthy life and even ensured that they could maintain their independence.

Eventually, Baylis was also inspired to assist broader groups of people. He discovered that the individuals in Africa were suffering from a lack of access to information. His design of the wind-up radio ensured that countless individuals could get the critical correspondence that they needed.

Since Baylis changed #RadioHistory with the invention of the clockwork radio, countless other brands and pioneers have followed in his footsteps. Motorola once teamed up with the Freeplay brand designed by Baylis to produce their own wind-up phone charger! The tool allows five minutes of talk-time for 45 seconds of charging.

Other companies like Sony, Phillips and more have also gotten involved, exploring the benefits of wind-up technology to serve a wide range of customers.

Although the clockwork tools available today are a lot more efficient than the ones that Baylis first created, he was the man who introduced the power of clockwork radio to the world. Without Trevor Baylis and his inventions, we never would have discovered what was truly possible when we apply human strength and power to the traditional tools we rely on each day.

Tune-in to Radio Fidelity for more.