sinclair radionics
in may 1973 sinclair radionics generated £1. 8m turnover. the last sinclair radionics hi - fi product was the system 4000, in 1974 .
25th july 1961 clive sinclair founds sinclair radionics on the 25th july 1961, clive sinclair founded sinclair radionics. the company developed and sold hi - fi amplifiers, calculators and digital watches .
sinclair radionics ltd is founded by clive sinclair. company is based at 69 histon road, cambridge .
ablesdeal ltd incorporated. virtually all sinclair business activities, however, are conducted by sinclair radionics ltd .
the company, sinclair radionics, was responsible for many of the sinclair calculators, including the calculator in this teardown .
finding it inconvenient to share control after the neb became involved in radionics, sinclair encouraged chris curry, who had been working for radionics since 1966, to leave and get sinclair instrument up and running .
in july 1977 the neb increased its stake in radionics to 73% . by june 1978 sinclair radionics was working on the newbrain microcomputer project, which was later taken over by newbury laboratories .
in july 1977, the neb increased its stake in radionics to 73% . by june 1978 sinclair radionics was working on the newbrain microcomputer project, which was later taken over by newbury laboratories .
made in england by sinclair instruments ltd. (a company formed by clive sinclair as sinclair radionics started to have financial difficulties, later becoming science of cambridge ltd .) .
neb inject further £1. 65m to take 73 per cent equity in sinclair radionics, and extend loan facility of £1m
sinclair radionics loss £1. 98m on £6. 39m turnover. total neb investment £4. 45m, plus trading losses
sinclair radionics launched the system 2000 amplifer, fm tuner and loudspeaker in 1968. followed by the system 3000 in 1972 .
sinclair radionics followed up with further very innovative amplifiers, micro radios, and hi - fi units for the hobbyist, which were sold through stores as well as by mail order. another innovation ,
sinclair news
started to be produced in 1964, with information about sinclair radionics and its products .
jason fitzpatrick talks to chris curry about his early days at sinclair radionics, working with clive sinclair, acorn computers and the development of the bbc micro. filmed in 2015 .
clive sinclair had a deserved reputation of being a very innovative entrepreneur, but by the end of 1976 sinclair radionics was in financial difficulties. the british government' s national enterprise board (neb) bought heavily into sinclair radionics, and was especially interested in the flat screen television which might rejuvenate the ailing uk television industry .
clive sinclair founded sinclair radionics ltd. on 25 july 1961. sinclair initially worked alone in the evenings out of a room in london (he was still a technical journalist during the day), selling radio kits by mail order .
sinclair calculators are known for their innovative and often elegant designs. the dates of introduction of some of the notable models are listed below. all are from sinclair radionics ltd. , except where noted :
sir clive sinclair sells some of his shares in sinclair research to raise £12 million and forms a new company: sinclair vehicles .
in 1974, radionics launched the dm1 digital multimeter. such scientific instruments were to form a quiet backbone of radionics business for the rest of its existence. in marked contrast to the rest of the sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than often unreliable idiosyncrasy .
the sinclair name is associated with several companies. nearly all of the calculators were produced by sinclair radionics ltd. , though the wristwatch calculator was produced by sinclair instruments ltd. there is a brief history of clive sinclair, his companies, his calculators, and other products in the article clive sinclair and the pocket calculator in the collecting calculators section of this site .
the watch faced numerous returns and nearly bankrupted sinclair radionics, which had to be bailed out by the british government. sir clive sinclair is brilliant in many ways, but he probably should have left this idea on the shelf .
for further information about sinclair calculators and more photographs see the sinclair calculators section on this site .
sinclair, multimeter dm1. tragbares digital - multimeter, sinclair dm1, mit 3 ...
the wrist calculator was the last of the line of calculators that were developed under clive sinclair. the dates of introduction of some of his notable calculator models are listed below. all are from sinclair radionics ltd. , except where noted
sinclair radionics had never become truly large - the company had sales of some $ 20 million in its best year - and by l976, mr. sinclair was forced to seek outside financing in order to continue work on the pocket television .
sinclair, multimeter dm 2. kleines tragbares digital - multimeter, sinclair dm 2, mit ...
planet sinclair is the best place to continue following the history. the sinclair museum concentrates on the products .
richard torrens has produced the website sinclair radionics: an inside view 1964 - 1975 with details of his time with clive sinclair from 1964 - 1975. although mainly concerned with sinclair audio equipment this site gives an extremely interesting insight into one of the most innovative electronics companies of the time, and is thoroughly recommended .
quartz watch with led display, sinclair' black watch, with attached control unit, step - down transformer and display stand, and watch kit by sinclair radionics limited, st ives, cambridgeshire, england, 1975 - 1976. plastic case and batteries missing .
in late 1962 sinclair radionics advertised its micro - amplifier kit, this was followed by the sinclair slimline micro radio, the smallest radio on the market at 70 x 41 x 16 mm, they were sold by mail order to hobbyists, generally as kits .
sinclair radionics was very successful, and in 1970, due to the needs for space, moved into part of an old flour mill in st. ives, then in huntingdonshire, alongside another electronics company .
sinclair radionics ltd. , london. gegründet von sir clive sinclair. entwicklung und produktion kleiner taschenradios (1964) und eines kleinen multinormen - fernsehers (mtv1a, 1977). entwicklung und produktion von kleincomputern und messgeräten (?). wurde von amstrad 1986 übernommen .
in 1975 sinclair radionics launched the oxford range of briefcase calculators. sinclair also attempted to capture the top - end calculator market with the sinclair sovereign, available in plated gold or silver. the calculator was critically acclaimed for its excellent engineering and design and enjoyed short success. a final attempts at the mass - market for calculators, the sinclair enterprise and the president did not sell well .
in 1975, sinclair radionics launched the oxford range of briefcase calculators. sinclair also attempted to capture the top - end calculator market with the sinclair sovereign, available in plated gold or silver. the calculator was critically acclaimed for its excellent engineering and design and enjoyed short success. a final attempts at the mass - market for calculators, the sinclair enterprise and the president did not sell well .
in 1966, sinclair radionics developed the world' s first portable television, the
microvision
, but never attempted to sell it because development costs would have been too high based on the complicated design the microvision used .
last month we looked at colossus the first electronic digital computer, fast forward to july 1961 and sir clive sinclair (born july 1940) launched sinclair radionics. this british company produced a number of miniature transistor radio kits, digital calculators, digital watches before venturing into the computer market .
such scientific instruments were to form a quiet backbone of radionics business for the rest of its existence. in marked contrast to the rest of the sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than often unreliable idiosyncrasy .
the black watch was launched in september 1975 by sinclair radionics, later sinclair research, the company behind the zx81 and zx spectrum. it cost £24. 95 ready - built or £17. 95 as a kit. it had a red led display and was marketed by the company as follows :
while all the developments with the calculators had been taking place a lot of other things had been happening at sinclair radionics. with his interest in miniaturising electronics it was natural that clive would look into developing a miniature television. this had started in the early 1960s and a
... introduced a 3 1 / 2 digit multimeter based on a lsi chip and continues to make audio equipment
.
sinclair radionics has only 250 employee and expects to make about $ 17 million for its fiscal year ending in march [ 1975 ]
.
searle became head of the computer division four months ago and has a long association with clive sinclair. he first joined him in the sinclair radionics company 10 years ago designing pocket calculators. he then moved to the u. s. first in california and later in new york, where he was responsible for promoting the company' s calculators and watches .
the sinclair radionics black watch™ was launched in the summer of 1975. it was revolutionary for its day. it had a small red led display that illuminated, showing the time and date, when a button was pressed. it was one of the first digital watches on the market .
including a five - digit led display, it suffered from technical flaws related with the design of the case, the chip, the battery and accuracy. not only was the watch unreliable, radionics was not able to fulfil the orders it had taken. as a result, radionics made its first loss in the financial year april 1974 - april 1975. the black watch fiasco had a devastating effect on sinclair' s finances and the company would have gone bankrupt had not the government, through the
from october 1964 to april 1975 i was working for sinclair radionics: this was the time that clive sinclair was into hi - fi. initially i was assisting with the design of such products as the z12, stereo 25, system 200, system 3000 amplifiers and then for much of this time i was either doing the servicing or was in charge of the service department .
in the event, the gamble failed. the tv1b / c / d was the last product from the sinclair radionics stable. in july 1979, the national enterprise board - sinclair' s government backers - finally got fed up and pulled the plug on the company. sinclair received a £10, 000
golden handshake
and set up science of cambridge instead. the rights to the tv1b were sold to binatone, but the product was soon dropped .
april 1974 - sinclair scientific. this used the casing of the cambridge models .
mr. sinclair, the son of a small london businessman who now works for him, quit school at the age of 17 to engage in several entrepreneurial fits and starts - running a small publishing company, making transistor radio kits and writing for a technical magazine. he set up sinclair radionics when he was 22, to assemble components for transistor radios and hi - fi' s .
the men principally responsible for the sinclair instrument range were john nicholls, the project leader, responsible for the electronics and his assistant keith pauley, who engineered the designs for production. in marked contrast to the rest of the sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than often unreliable idiosyncrasy. as norman hewett (another former managing director of radionics) has pointed out ,
in 1975 sinclair radionics released the sinclair scientific, a scientific pocket calculator for £99. 95. it used rpn, and displays only in 5 digit mantissa or 2 digit. in 1977 a revised model, the
scientific programmable
, was released at £29. 95. the scientific programmable mark 2 was later released, reducing the price to £17. 22. sinclair attempted to capture the top - end calculator market with the sinclair sovereign, available in plated gold or silver, it was critically acclaimed for its excellent engineering and design and enjoyed short success .
sinclair himself was not particularly interested in his company' s digital instruments and played little part in their development; as he commented to computing magazine (17 february 1983) ,
instruments were profitable but dull .
his hands - off approach meant that the instruments division was treated virtually as a company within a company. derek holley, managing director of sinclair radionics at the time, recalled :
, as outlined above, and also the first sinclair portable digital multimeter was launched .
arnold, william (9 january 1975) .
sinclair keep it lean
.
clive sinclair is a famous british inventor who was responsible for some of the most iconic electronics during the 70’s and 80’s. these inventions include the sinclair c5, the zx spectrum, portable tvs and calculators. despite the fact that sinclair did not invent the first pocket calculator he did invent the smallest slimline calculator by far, the sinclair executive .
when it became clear that radionics was failing, clive sinclair took steps to ensure that he would be able to continue to pursue his commercial goals: in february 1975, he changed the name of ablesdeal ltd. (an off - the - shelf company he bought in september 1973, for just such an eventuality) to westminster mail order ltd. ; this was changed to sinclair instrument ltd. in august 1975 .
the sinclair ql was announced in january 1984, shortly before the apple macintosh went on sale, but it suffered from several design flaws, and never acheived sinclair' s expected sales. also in 1984 sinclair finally launched a flat screen tv which was moderately successful .
14 oct - receivers called in to tpd ltd (ex - sinclair vehicles ltd) .
there is more information about the sinclair scientific in the featured hand - held calculators section .
sinclair used the gillette gpa as the basis for its oxford range, launched in 1975 .
sinclair produced a few more models, including the cheap programmable enterprise programmable. like all the sinclair programmable models, it was provided with comprehensive manuals with sample programs in different subjects .
in september 1982 the sinclair tv80 pocket television was launched, but was a commercial failure .
clive sinclair was always interested in making tiny versions of common electronic items. here, into the smallest practical volume he managed to squeeze the led display and chip used in other sinclair calculators (the sinclair cambridge memory and cambridge universal), which were then becoming obsolescent .
when i left sinclair radionics, i was working with bi - pre - pak designing audio equipment for them, then i was with pa: ce / mm electronics on their stage mixing equipment. then i left them to join welding alloys ltd, designing their welding machines. finally i started out on my own trading as 4qd, making motor speed controllers .
there is much more information about the sinclair executive in the featured hand - held calculators section .
although the wrist calculator sold reasonably well it had the old sinclair problem of poor quality control .
in the 1980s sinclair entered the personal computer market with the zx80 at £99. 95, at the time the cheapest personal computer for sale in the uk. in 1982 the zx spectrum was released, later becoming britain' s best selling computer, competing aggressively against commodore and amstrad. the combination of the 1984 failures of the sinclair ql computer and tv80, and the 1985 sinclair c5 electric vehicle bankrupted the company, and a year later sinclair' s products were sold to amstrad. sinclair still exists today, continuing to market sir clive sinclair' s newest inventions .
he added that in future sinclair intends to launch new computers with a full range of software .
the micromatic was one of several radios produced by sinclair’s radionics company, before that there was the slimline in 1963, the micro 6 a year later and the micro fm 1965 but at the time these were way beyond my modest means. i’m not sure that i could afford them now either, judging by the prices the few that come up on ebay have been fetching…
today the company still exists, but in a completely different form than it did in the 1980s. in 1993, 1994 and 1995 sinclair made continuing losses on decreasing turnover, and began to worry investors since clive sinclair himself was using his own personal wealth to fund his inventions. by 1990 sinclair' s entire staff had been reduced to sinclair himself, a salesperson / administrator, and r & d employee. by 1997 reportedly only sinclair on his own was working at his company .
during the majority of the 1970s, sinclair focused on building the most affordable pocket calculators with the best design. in 1972 sinclair released the world' s first slim - line pocket calculator, the
the debut of the x - 10 was also fraught with problems. the original circuit design had been delivered to sinclair radionics accompanied by a working prototype; jim westwood took the prototype and engineered it into a marketable form which was sent to the firm in hampshire which manufactured sinclair' s circuit boards. they promised that the first batch of boards would be delivered within a few days, and the first advertisement for the x - 10 was planned to coincide with promised deliveries .
sinclair fm watch radio fmwr. combination of a lcd digital wristwatch with alarm function a ...
in 1982 clive sinclair converted the barker & wadsworth mineral water bottling factory at 25 willis road, cambridge into the sinclair building to use it as the company' s new headquarters. (it was sold to cambridgeshire county council in december 1985 due to sinclair' s immense debts and finance troubles. )
in april 1976, the national enterprise board bought a 43% stake in sinclair radionics for £650, 000, and in october the national research and development council agreed to provide £1m for a revived portable tv project, which was finally launched in january 1977 as the microvision tv1a and mon1a at £99. 95. supply exceeded demand, and 12, 000 units were left unsold until they were sold off cheaply. this resulted in a £480, 000 loss for sinclair. sir clive sinclair was certain that the tv1b model released in 1978 would be more successful, but sales were disappointing .
the design of the tv1a was significantly different from that of the prototype. aeg telefunken of germany had developed a miniature cathode ray tube exclusively for sinclair, while the bulk of the electronics had been custom - designed for sinclair radionics. in hindsight, the tv1a was a notable departure for the company, which hitherto had depended on adapting existing components; now it was developing its own hardware. this was a significant step forward, paving the way for the much more ambitious hardware development programmmes of the 1980s .
sinclair research profits £14. 28m on turnover of £77. 69m, including £309, 000 government grants .
, which was smaller and considerably thinner than any other on the market. the vital statistics of the sinclair
as many have already observed, sir clive sinclair was just way ahead of his time with the c5 .
maybe, like the sinclair c5, clive was just ahead of his time with this often forgotten machine .
in 1982 the sinclair zx spectrum was released, later becoming britain’s best selling computer, competing aggressively against commodore and amstrad. unfortunately, sinclair had a misstep with its sinclair ql (for quantum leap) personal computer launched in 1984. although the computer was hyped as being advanced for its time, and relatively cheap, it failed to sell, and production was suspended in 1985. amstrad acquired sinclair’s computer products lines in april 1986 .
) documented the rise of the british home computer market. it focuses on the rivalry between sir clive sinclair and
in 1966, sinclair radionics developed the world' s first portable television, the
microvision
, but never attempted to sell it because development costs would have been too high based on the complicated design the microvision used. in 1976 it was sold as a revised version, the
microvision tv1a / mon1a
at £99. 95. supply exceeded demand, and 12, 000 units were left unsold until they were sold off cheaply. this resulted in a £480, 000 loss for sinclair. sir clive sinclair was certain that the tv1b model released in 1978 would be more successful, but sales were disappointing. the technology was sold to binatone .
in 1965 the
micro - fm
debuted as
the world
s first pocket - size fm tuner - receiver
, but was unsuccessful due to technical difficulties. despite problems, illegal clones were produced in the far - east. sinclair' s final 1960s radio kit was the 1967
micromatic
, billed as
the world' s smallest radio
like sinclair' s earlier radios. the
micromatic
was a reasonable success and was sold until 1971. in may 1971 sinclair radionics made £85, 000 profit on £563, 000 turnover; the following year profit increased to £97, 000 on turnover of £761, 000 .
the pursuit of the dream of the hand - held television was to consume an awful lot of time, effort, and money at sinclair radionics. it was not until ten years later, in 1976, that the sinclair tv1a microvision was launched. although only a black & white model, it was revolutionary in being the first multi - standard receiver, working on vhf and uhf, and so could be used around the world. clive' s ultimate idea was a flat screen tv and work continued on developing a near flat television tube .
another sinclair radionics product that was introduced in 1964 and failed was the first class d amplifier kit rated at 10 watt rms. a class d switching amplifier that was good in theory but sadly ahead of its time and available technology. the amplifier used low frequency germanium transistors as pulse width modulators and switches and wrongly relied on the loudspeaker' s inductance to filter the class d signal into audio. most often this would short out the output transistors. when it did work the power level was far below 10 watts and sinclair' s main advertising channel, wireless world magazine, was so deluged with complaints that it supposedly refused to take further advertisements from sinclair .
6 nov - tpd ltd (ex - sinclair vehicles) goes into voluntary liquidation with debts of £6. 4m .
the zx80 was highly successful, and was followed by a series of improved models. however, the old sinclair problems of being unable to meet high demand and quality control took their toll, especially with the sinclair ql home computer .
in march 1981
sinclair computers
was renamed to
sinclair research ltd
and the sinclair zx81 was launched at £49. 95 in kit form and £69. 95 ready - built, by mail order. in february 1982 timex obtained a license to manufacture and market sinclair' s computers in the usa under the name timex sinclair. in april the zx spectrum was launched, priced at £125 for the 16 kb ram version and £175 for the 48 kb version. in july timex launched the ts 1000 (a version of the zx81) in the us. in march 1982 sinclair made an £8. 55m profit on turnover of £27. 17m, including £383, 000 government grants for flat screen .
sinclair research profits of £8. 55m on turnover of £27. 17m, including £383, 000 government grants for flat screen
for people in britain in the 1970s and 1980s clive sinclair was known as
the inventor of the pocket calculator
.
the sinclair executive. image courtesy of maltagc (cc - by - sa - 3. 0), via wikimedia commons
here are details of the only two known models of wrist calculator, the sinclair wrist calculator and the quik - check .
was available only as a self - assembly kit, by mail order from science of cambridge, previously sinclair instrument ltd .
clive still had ambitions to form his own company, and had registered the company sinclair radionics in 1961. having found financial backing he left babani' s, only to have the backer get cold feet and withdraw. clive then got a job as technical editor with the journal instrument practice, for which he also wrote articles. one of his tasks was to produce a comprehensive survey of the available semiconductors, which opened the door for him at all the semiconductor manufacturers .
two years later clive sinclair formed sinclair research, launched the zx - 80 and searle rejoined him. he ran the u. s. office in boston, concentrating on selling the zx - 80 and 81 until taking - up his new job .
although they were far from being the most high - profile of sinclair' s products, sinclair' s digital multimeters were the steady - selling bulwark of the company' s catalogue in the 1970s and enabled sinclair to produce his more exotic gadgets. six digital multimeters, plus one
pocket frequency meter
and an oscilloscope, were produced between 1974 - 79. they were :
on 28 may 1985, sinclair had announced that it wanted to raise an extra £10m to £15m to restructure sinclair research. given the loss of confidence in the company, this proved hard to find. in 1986, the company sold its entire computer product range and the
sinclair
brand name to amstrad. this deal did not involve the company, merely its name and products .
in july 1977, sinclair instrument ltd was renamed science of cambridge ltd. which in 1978 launched the mk14 microcomputer kit; this was based on a national semiconductor sc / mp microprocessor and parts from a sinclair calculator, this had an 8 digit led display and a calculator type keyboard. also in 1977 the sinclair wristwatch calculator was launched, an early example of' wearable tech' !
the sinclair scientific provides the basic trigonometric functions and log / antilog. it uses reverse polish notation (rpn) like the hp - 35, and gives results in scientific notation. like many sinclair calculators it was available even cheaper as a self assembly kit .
dale, r. , (1985) ,
the sinclair story
, london, duckworth, isbn 0 7156 1901 2 .
sinclair x - 1, which looks like it could be the successor to the c5 is meant to go on sale for £595 .
20 feb - sinclair research restructures into tv and communications division (headed by bill jeffrey, brought in from mars electronics) and computer division (headed by davis chatten, ex - sinclair production director). hugo davenport appointed engineering director (ex - solatron - schlumberger )
in 1972 radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the executive, which was considerably smaller than its competitors since it had been possible to use hearing - aid - sized batteries. it had been discovered that there was considerable latency in the display and memory and that, with the addition of a timer, power could be withheld from these battery - draining components for much of the time .
in 1966, sinclair radionics re - entered the hi - fi market with the
stereo 25
, a low - cost pre - amp control system. production was halted in 1968 due to low supply of transistors which had been purchased in 1964 as rejects from other manufacturers. in 1969 it was replaced by the
stereo sixty
. this soon became sinclair' s most successful audio product, being the second product of the
project 60
range. the
project 60
products sold well and were supplemented by the
project 605
kit in 1972. it was eventually superseded by the more advanced
project 80
kit in 1974 .
the sinclair executive calculator was the worlds first pocket calculator and was launched in august 1972 at a price of £79. 95 + vat .
in 1972, radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the executive, which was considerably smaller than its competitors since it had been possible to use hearing - aid - sized batteries. it had been discovered that there was considerable latency in the display and memory and that, with the addition of a timer, power could be withheld from these battery - draining components for much of the time .
since then, sir clive, as he was honoured, has maintained a low profile, and sadly very little has appeared under the sinclair name. sinclair products have a good following among collectors, where the innovative designs which make them stand out from the others are greatly appreciated .
power is supplied through a 9v dc brick, similar to other sinclair machines, but with a new 3 pin adaptor going into the machine .
unfortunately, sinclair' s claims were a little too extravagant and the amplifier ran into the first advertising standards problem of sinclair’s career. wireless world reportedly refused to take sinclair’s subsequent advertising for the x - 10 because of complaints over the performance claimed for the amp. its stated output was 10 watts r. m. s. , but in reality it was capable of only a quarter of that, and was temperamental to boot .
in 1997 sinclair released the world' s smallest radio with the
z1 micro am radio
. in 2003, the sinclair
za20 wheelchair drive unit
was introduced, designed and manufactured in conjunction with hong kong' s daka designs, a partnership which also led to the seadoo sea scooter, an underwater propulsion unit. sinclair recently announced that they will release a folding bicycle, named the a - bike, in 2005 .
sinclair research profits of £13. 8m on £54. 53m turnover, including £1. 1m flat tv grants. clive' s salary £82, 000
17 june - robert maxwell announces rescue bid for sinclair research, which has £15m debts. deal to leave clive with 8 percent, chairmanship and consultancy
several things conspired to ensure the sinclair c5 didn' t succeed, here i' ll try to detail the issues with the c5 at launch .
sinclair had shown what could be done with miniaturising calculators, and the competition would soon start to follow, so he had to keep an innovative lead .
in 1984 sinclair finally launched a flat screen tv which was moderately successful, but by now there were competitors around in the hand - held tv market .
searle has been involved closely with the launch of the spectrum and he has decided to continue sinclair' s unusual marketing strategy of concentrating on mail order .
facing difficulties in raising capital, sinclair research sells cambridge computer to sci
for a nominal amount in return for a royalty stream on the satellite receivers
.
clive sinclair had an interest in eletric vehicles for a long time and wanted to develop his own. he asked chris currie to work on an electric motor .
the sinclair ql was seen by some as the successor to the sinclair spectrum, but in reality, it was aimed at the professional, business and serious home user markets. launching in january 1984 by mail order (albeit with a several month shipping delay), the ql (standing for quantum leap) was touted by sinclair themselves as the solution to fend off ibm, commodore, acorn and apple, who had or were soon to be releasing, more professional systems .
in january 1983 the zx spectrum personal computer was presented at the las vegas consumer electronics show. in september the sinclair tv80 television was launched, using flat - screen technology unlike sinclair' s previous crt televisions, the tv80 was a commercial failure only selling 15, 000 units and not covering its development costs of £4m .
the unusual, sinclair designed keyboard also contributes to the small size of the executive, with the little rubber pips which press directly on the beryllium - copper contacts .
no longer able to legally market computers under his own name, clive sinclair rebranded himself as cambridge computer ltd. their first and only product? the z88 computer .
during the majority of the 1970s sinclair focused on building the most affordable pocket calculators, with the best design. in 1972, sinclair released the world' s first slim - line pocket calculator, the sinclair executive, for £79. 95. the calculator only included basic math functions, and the led display required lots of power. it is often credited as being the world' s first attractively - styled calculator, that didn' t require mains power to be used like prior calculators. the executive was a phenomenal success, earning sinclair £1. 8m in profit. in 1973 the
executive memory
was introduced at a far cheaper price of £24. 95 .
12 mar - plans to form and seek funding for separate company for wafer - scale chips under robb wilmot are announced by clive. wilmot appointed a director of sinclair research
1995 - 96 results: a loss of £122, 873 on a turnover of £255, 826. by now the staff has been reduced to one - sinclair himself .
mr. sinclair is now producing 10, 000 zx80' s a month, which puts him third in volume of personal computers, behind apple and tandy radio shack .
mr. sinclair is aiming at the novice who wants to learn his way around a computer rather than the small - business executive who wants storage and information processing capacity .
he added that the original idea behind the mail order decision was that when sinclair first went into the computer market there was no obvious retail outlet for a personal computer .
the story of the sinclair black watch, a digital watch that, for some reason, was sold in kit form. it was not an easy watch to build .
exactly a decade before the c5 fiasco, sinclair was nearly brought down by another disastrous product - the black watch, launched in september 1975 at £17. 95 in kit form and £24. 95 ready - built. its name was uncharacteristically descriptive by sinclair' s usual standards - virtually every other sinclair product had an arbitrary, often made - up name or jumble of letters and numbers attached to it. in fact, it is actually a pun; the original black watch was a famous scottish army unit .
clive sinclair is getting his staff by advertising. already he has received several hundred replies from his recent campaign. he is looking for top - notch scientists and engineers who can work under the peculiar pressures induced by high - risk projects. they will be classically trained, unlike sinclair himself who cheerfully admits that he might not qualify for a job in metalab. they will be employees of sinclair research and, as such, are freed from the worries of having to run a business just as bushnell' s are .
earlier sinclair oxford 200 with red led display, on the left, and later version with green vfd (vacuum fluorescent display) and more rounded casing, on the right .
clive sinclair was very innovative in the field of consumer electronics and, for many years in britain, was widely known as
the man who invented the pocket calculator
.
the sinclair flat - screen pocket - sized television which cost such a lot to develop. the screen is actually a cathode ray tube with the electron beam coming from the side .
bushnell believes he is motivated by boredom. he feels he always has to have something interesting to work on. i read somewhere that he even regards sleep as a personal insult! sinclair is driven by the excitement of seeing his ideas become reality. sinclair' s achievement orientation seems more healthy and personally satisfying than bushnell' s pathological compulsion to be doing something interesting .
1989 saw sinclair produce a digital mobile phone, however this needed to be near a transmitter to make outgoing calls, this did not provide the coverage that the later gsm system acheived .
the keypad is rather strange by sinclair’s standards because normally sinclair products use a membrane with carbon contacts as switches. the keys use a plastic button that sits inside the plastic mould which sit on the surface mounted metal tactile switches. this gives a really nice tactile feel when using the keypad and you get feedback from the switch to know that you have in fact pressed it .
two men whose lives are dedicated to making dreams come true are clive sinclair and nolan bushnell. sinclair made a major impact by introducing the world' s first true pocket calculator and bushnell by inventing the videogame. both men went on to further successes and they have recently both started what can best be described as idea incubators. david tebbutt takes up the story ...
march 1975 - sinclair oxford models. initially there were 3 models, the 100, 200, and 300 with led displays. later versions had vfd displays, and other oxford models followed .
clive sinclair is an electronics genius and is noted for his miniature electronic products achieved by using very innovative designs. the first sinclair executive calculators used one of the standard calculator chips of the time, the texas instruments tms1802. this normally has a current consumption of about 300 ma which dictates that normal aa size batteries, or larger, need to be used to give a decent battery life .
in january 1985, sinclair released the
fm wristwatch radio
, an lcd wristwatch with a radio attached. the aerial was built into the strap and the battery was hidden in the clasp, presumably in an attempt to balance out the considerable weight of the watch. the watch had several usage problems, and never went into full production, making it one of the rarest sinclair products .
to cut down production costs, sinclair used these teeny tiny 7 - segment displays. these are great for power consumption and compactness but they are also really difficult to see. so, to get around this, sinclair had the brilliant idea of using small plastic lenses over each display to magnify the segments and make them appear larger than they really are. and what a difference they make !
the pocket calculator had been a great success for sinclair, but by the late 1970s the calculator line was starting to feel the effects of small, cheap, highly reliable calculators from japan. sinclair had also decided to stick with led and vfd displays, whereas japanese manufacturers were starting to shift to lcds (liquid crystal displays), which had very low power consumption and batteries lasted for months .
i' ll describe each man' s history separately up to the point of starting his 'incubator'. after that i' ll thread the two tales together. first, clive sinclair. .
although combined watch - calculators became very popular, starting with led display models such as the pulsar and compuchron, only two models of pure wrist calculator are known, the sinclair and the quik check .
but mr. sinclair' s highly individual style did not mix well with state capitalism. in 1979, mr. sinclair left, with a $ 22, 000'' golden handshake,'' his design team, and his ideas. the n. e. b. wrote off the venture as a $ 17 million loss. the financial community watched, with a note of self - congratulation .
sir clive sinclair and i go way back and i first fell for one of his famously optimistic advertising campaigns back in the late sixties when i attempted to build several of his matchbox sized micromatic transistor radios .
an intel 8049 chip was used to control the rather limited sound output. unfortunately, we had to wait until 1985 and the spectrum 128k + for a proper sound chip to appear in a sinclair machine .
unfortunately, the down side to this business model was soon discovered. if a new product was very attractive, so many orders were received that production was overwhelmed and there were long delays in sending them out. this was to be a recurring problem for sinclair, as also was poor quality control in the rush to meet orders. to mitigate this was the sinclair policy of exchanging faulty items immediately with no questions asked .
adamson, i. , and kennedy, r. , (1996 )
sinclair and the' sunrise' technology
, harmondsworth, penguin books ltd. , isbn 0 - 14 - 008774 - 5 .
some sort of roof and side protection from the elements is essential. looking at the sinclair x1 (which hasn' t seen the light of day yet), something similar on the c5 would work well .
fully working qls were not available until late summer; complaints against sinclair regarding delays were upheld by the advertising standards authority in may of the year (in 1982 it had upheld complaints about delays in shipping spectrums). especially severe were allegations that it was cashing cheques months before machines were shipped. the ql was nowhere near as successful as sinclair' s earlier computers. in the autumn, sinclair were still publically predicting it would be a
million seller
, with 250, 000 sold by the end of the year. ql production was suspended in february 1985, and the price was halved by the end of the year .
however, mr. sinclair promptly sold his house and his car (a collector' s rolls - royce), set up sinclair research and began production of the zx8o, an inexpensive, $ 199. 95 microcomputer. he also managed to continue the government connection with a $ 1 million grant from the state - controlled national research and development corporation for development of the pocket television, in return for an undisclosed royalty .
description: a sinclair cambridge electronic pocket calculator: the original four - function cambridge which carried out the four basic mathematical functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. it is powered by 4 aaa batteries .
the pcb is made of a paper - based epoxy material (fr2) and only has solder mask on copper. the sinclair logo can be seen on the bottom of the main pcb that holds the processor .
sinclair' s c5 electric tricycle, launched in 1985 was a very environmentally friendly electric vehicle. however, it was discontinued despite some 17, 000 units sold, which compares well with many later electric vehicles .
the sinclair business philosophy was to research and design its products itself but to sub - contract manufacture. in this way it could respond quickly to market changes. however, this makes modification of the design tricky and quality control more difficult, which caused problems with the thousands of calculators now being exported, and being sold to non - hobbyists. in 1973, sinclair set up its first quality control department to address this problem .
that may be rather too hasty a judgment. mr. sinclair is back, as head of sinclair research, maker of a highly successful line of microcomputers - and now he has what he hopes will be truly a first. it' s pocket - sized television, a 6 - by - 4 - by - 1 - inch black - and - white model that weighs only a few ounces. again, he has government support. and this time, mr. sinclair vows he is not going to repeat past mistakes.'' we aim to be first in the market - and stay in the market,'' he said .
calculators are always taken for granted, especially in the age of smartphones. today we will look at a calculator from 1975 (40 years old) which was one of clive sinclair' s fantastic, innovative products !
the sinclair ql was announced on january 12, 1984, shortly before the apple macintosh actually went on sale. this was a new computer, to be aimed at the business market and costing £399. however, at this point the final design had not yet been completed. shipping finally started in may, with 13, 000 orders taken, but only a few hundred units delivered at first. because the initially supplied rom had proved insufficient, early machines were shipped with a
kludge
hanging out of the machine with additional rom space. your sinclair noted that it was
difficult to find a good word for sinclair research in the computer press
.
'' the sinclair model has gadget appeal,'' said gavin embry, an electronics consultant.'' i have two, one to play with and one to take apart to see how it works.''
'' clive gets ideas so fast that sometimes he does the last thing he thinks up before he finishes with the first,'' explained one electronics expert who has watched mr. sinclair' s roller - coaster career .
despite not achieving it’s expected sales, the ql did make some progress into professional and home markets, selling 150, 000 units. enough for several companies to pop up and support users who had plunged into the machine. however, it was no where near enough to save sinclair’s fortunes, having already failed with the sinclair c5 and suffering the video game crash of ’85. out of this innovative misfortune, alan sugar’s amstrad stepped up, and using purely capitalist driven skills, acquired sinclair in early 1986, immediately abandoning the ql. fortunately the same companies who supported the machine beforehand, quickly stepped up to fill the void, including cst and dansoft, who created the thor line of compatible machines .
featured on this page are two wrist calculators, the sinclair wrist calculator and the quik - check. wrist calculators are pure calculators for strapping to the wrist and should not be confused with calculator - watches which are combined watches and calculators .
1988 - 1989 results: a loss of £183, 015 on a turnover of just £7, 825. by now the company employs only three people - sinclair himself, a sales and admin person and a research - and - development person .
in 1974 sinclair produced a design for gillette, since the shaver manufacturer had decided to diversify into consumer electronics. the result was the gillette gpa calculator, which was sold for a short period before gillette reversed its decision on moving into calculators .
also unusually for sinclair, normally an unashamed populist, the tv1a was aimed initially at the business / exective market with a cost of $ 400. weighing some 26 ounces, this made it - ounce for ounce - more costly than solid silver .
the sinclair oxford range comprised several models, with the early ones having led displays. later a change was made to the lower power consumption green vfds (vacuum fluorescent displays), and the case was made more rounded as shown in the photograph below .
this was to be the pattern of sinclair' s electronics business. the products were miniaturised and highly innovative; the advertisements for them were large and eye - catching; they were sold by mail order, generally as kits; and they were competitively priced .
n. m. rothschild & son place 400, 000 shares (10 per cent of equity) of sinclair research at £34 each with financial institutions, valuing the company at £136m. clive now owns 85 per cent, gains £13. 6m as result of sale
the main project within sinclair research limited is a pedal bicycle dramatically lighter than any previously made. this uses lightweight composite materials to the almost complete exclusion of steel. development is well advanced and tooling will commence soon. we intend to launch the bike in 1992.
sinclair radionics ltd was a company founded by sir clive sinclair in cambridge , england which developed hi-fi products , radios , calculators and scientific instruments . 
sinclair radionics ltd was a company founded by sir clive sinclair in cambridge, england which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.
sinclair radionics ltd was a company founded by sir clive sinclair in cambridge, england which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.