History
Radios powered by handcranked generators are not new, but their market was previously seen as limited to emergency or military organizations. The modern clockwork radio was designed and patented in 1991 by British inventor Trevor Baylis as a response to the AIDS crisis. He envisioned it as a radio for use by poor people in developing countries without access to batteries. In 1994, British accountant Chris Staines and his South African partner, Rory Stear, secured the worldwide license to the invention and cofounded Baygen Power Industries (now Freeplay Energy PLC), which produced the first commercial model. The key to its design was the use of a constant velocity spring to store the potential energy which are no longer in use. After Baylis lost control of his invention when Baygen became Freeplay, the Freeplay Energy units switched to disposable batteries charged by cheaper hand-crank generators.
Read more about this topic: Human-powered Equipment
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